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A review by kaytemi
We Are All Stardust: scientists who shaped our world talk about their work, their lives, and what they still want to know by Stefan Klein
3.0
Overall, this was a pretty interesting and enjoyable read. I did have a few problems with it, but that's to be expected with so many different opinions on the same kind of issues.
Stefan Klein interviewed nineteen scientists from different fields. Klein states in his introduction that this leads to a very narrow cross-section of a very large whole, and I have to agree. The interviewees are people with whom Klein himself has wanted to interview, people who have made a difference to his own research and worldview. The majority of these scientists are European due to Klein's own German upbringing.
If not conducted in German, the interviews were then translated into Klein's native tongue. When 'We Are All Stardust' was published in English, all the interviews were translated from the German edition. At times the translation feels clunky and has some trouble with reading.
It could be due to the translation issues, but it feels like Klein has difficulty in asking the right questions. There were a few interviews I felt weren't taking the path they should have been, but that could just be me. Klein's interviews did give a nice insight into the lives and personalities of the scientists themselves but personally I would have preferred to have a bit more insight into their hypotheses and experiments.
Despite my few issues and dislike of one of the scientists, I have to agree that this book achieves what it sets out to do. As it says on the cover: "Scientists who shaped our world talk about their work, their lives, and what they still want to know."
Stefan Klein interviewed nineteen scientists from different fields. Klein states in his introduction that this leads to a very narrow cross-section of a very large whole, and I have to agree. The interviewees are people with whom Klein himself has wanted to interview, people who have made a difference to his own research and worldview. The majority of these scientists are European due to Klein's own German upbringing.
If not conducted in German, the interviews were then translated into Klein's native tongue. When 'We Are All Stardust' was published in English, all the interviews were translated from the German edition. At times the translation feels clunky and has some trouble with reading.
It could be due to the translation issues, but it feels like Klein has difficulty in asking the right questions. There were a few interviews I felt weren't taking the path they should have been, but that could just be me. Klein's interviews did give a nice insight into the lives and personalities of the scientists themselves but personally I would have preferred to have a bit more insight into their hypotheses and experiments.
Despite my few issues and dislike of one of the scientists, I have to agree that this book achieves what it sets out to do. As it says on the cover: "Scientists who shaped our world talk about their work, their lives, and what they still want to know."