BOOK REVIEW : Soft Light on Scientific Enterprise

THE LITERARY COMPANION TO SCIENCE edited by Walter Gratzer W. W. Norton & Co. $24.95, 517 pages

Today’s book, “The Literary Companion to Science,” is a collection of 216 excerpts from a variety of novels, biographies, essays, short stories, poems and nonfiction accounts having to do with science. “My aim in this collection has been to explore the incursions of science into literature,” the editor, Walter Gratzer, tells us at the get-go.

When I began reading, frankly, I was skeptical about the value of such an undertaking. But by the time I finished, I was won over.

This is a collection to be savored. You don’t have to read it in one fell swoop. In fact, it’s probably a better idea not to. Though the excerpts are grouped into broad categories, each one, ranging in length from a few paragraphs to a few pages, stands alone. Virtually every one resonates with the broad appeal of science.

It’s important to note that they are not about science in the sense of explaining a law of physics or a discovery in biology. For that, look elsewhere. Rather, they are about scientists, and they illuminate the scientific enterprise. They appeal to the imagination, and they link science with human themes.

Each is introduced by a few sentences that put the selection in context and explain who the people are and what’s going on.

For example, “Newton’s absent-mindedness is well attested,” Gratzer writes. “A handed-down story, recorded by Thomas Moore in his Journal, goes like this:”

“Inviting a friend to dinner and forgetting it; the friend arriving and finding the philosopher in a fit of absorption. Dinner brought up for one: the friend (without disturbing Newton) sitting down and dispatching it, and Newton, after recovering from his reverie, looking at the empty dishes and saying: ‘Well really, if it weren’t for the proof before my eyes, I could have sworn that I had not yet dined.’ ”

Some of the authors represented are well-known, and others should be. A few are scientists and many are literary figures. Samuel Butler, Jonathan Swift and Charles Darwin are included along with Gustave Flaubert, H. G. Wells, Kurt Vonnegut and Primo Levi.

There are two selections from Michael Frayn’s wonderful but little-known novel, “The Tin Men” (Little, Brown, 1965). I had never heard of Mitchell Wilson’s novel, “Live With Lightening” (Little Brown, 1949), but I’d like to read more now that I’ve had a taste of it. Here is how two characters experience a great experimental breakthrough:

“They were both silent for a moment, a little stunned at the sudden release of pressure on them.

“ ‘Is that all there is to it?’ Erik asked.

“ ‘What did you expect?’

“ ‘I don’t know. I guess I had the idea that you go along doing the work, and you reach a high point where electricity is discovered or the new invention called the telephone says, “What hath God wrought?” Then you’re supposed to stand up and say Eureka! The President of the United States marches in, puts his hand on your shoulder and says “You have done a fine thing, young man.” But this--’ He spread his hands. ‘Where’s the big moment?’ ”

Ah, yes. It’s the old story. The only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want.

The collection is idiosyncratic, which is another of its strengths. Gratzer, a British medical researcher, has clearly spent a lifetime reading widely and collecting this material along the way. Other editors might choose different selections, but it would be hard to match the breadth of authors and styles represented here.

Peter Medawar describes what happens to someone who wins a Nobel Prize:

“Immediately upon his designation as such, a Nobel Laureate becomes beneficiary--or, as most of them believe, the victim--of a variant of the kind of notoriety enjoyed by pop stars and anyone reputed by the media to be a ‘personality.’ Overnight a Laureate is deemed to have become an authority on all the problems that plague society. His opinion is sought upon the efficacy and propriety of fertilizing human ova inside the body, on the desirability of nuclear weapons, the fitness of women for holy orders, and much else besides. The contents of his mailbag change accordingly, for in addition to the professional man’s usual ration of letters from persons offering to make his fortune, there are letters from people suggesting various means by which he may make theirs.”

Delightful. The whole book is delightful.