4thace reviewed Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
Review of 'Uncle Tungsten' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This is a memoir of the author's boyhood and family life, focusing on but not limited to his early fascination with chemistry. Although he was brought up by loving parents and enjoyed friendly relations with the extended family, he recounts the pain of being sent off to English boarding schools during the second World War, some of them run by seriously abusive headmasters. Several of his relatives on his mother's side had spent time doing practical science in South Africa including the "Uncle Tungsten" of the title, and more than willing to pass on their scientific knowledge to the young boy. It seemed as though the wartime experiences had a bad effect on his personality, but he discovered he would feel some relief when he concentrated on the orderly world of hard science, both through books and by doing experiments in his own chemistry lab. For him, the stories of …
This is a memoir of the author's boyhood and family life, focusing on but not limited to his early fascination with chemistry. Although he was brought up by loving parents and enjoyed friendly relations with the extended family, he recounts the pain of being sent off to English boarding schools during the second World War, some of them run by seriously abusive headmasters. Several of his relatives on his mother's side had spent time doing practical science in South Africa including the "Uncle Tungsten" of the title, and more than willing to pass on their scientific knowledge to the young boy. It seemed as though the wartime experiences had a bad effect on his personality, but he discovered he would feel some relief when he concentrated on the orderly world of hard science, both through books and by doing experiments in his own chemistry lab. For him, the stories of the elements, their discovery and their properties was like stories of characters he grew to love. Besides the description of what went on in the lab, the author includes historical sections about how chemistry came to an understanding of the elements (including extensive footnotes). I liked these, but it might be a lot for a reader who is mainly interested in the memoir sections.
Of course, we know that in the end the author did not become a professional chemist, instead going on to be a famous physician, like his parents, specializing in neurology. It comes off as a powerful passion that helped get him through part of his early life, before adolescence, and maybe it made it possible for that kind of passion to transfer to his ultimate work.