SOURCE: Kadanoff, Leo P. “The Elements of an Education.” Science 295, no. 5554 (18 January 2002): 448.

In the following favorable review of Uncle Tungsten, Kadanoff asserts that “readers, from practicing scientists to intellectually curious high school students, can expect to appreciate the colorful life story recounted, the interesting person revealed, and the excellent history of chemistry retold.”

Oliver Sacks is a physician, scientist, and author known for his fascinating stories of people coping with amazing neurological disabilities. In Uncle Tungsten, he recounts his scientific boyhood in Britain during the period around World War II. Sacks was born into a large and close-knit family, and he was surrounded by relatives who made science both their work and their hobby. This memoir focuses on the traumas of his separation from family during the war, his fears of insanity, and the redemption he achieved through throwing himself into scientific studies. As Sacks tells his own...