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 Learn about the obsessive and bizarre personalities of some of the greatest
geniuses of our time: Tesla, Einstein, Bentham, Kirwan, Heaviside, Johnson, Galton,
Pyke, and so many more. Is there a link between genius and madness? What
role does the brain play in alien abduction, religious experience, UFOs, and cryonics?
Where is Einstein's brain?
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"Filled with 200 years of eccentric geniuses, this delightful
collection of profiles assembles an eclectic and fascinating sampling of
scientists (as well as some artists and writers) with a far-ranging assortment
of phobias, compulsions, odd belief systems and extraordinarily weird habits.
Chief among the scientists is Nikola Tesla, father of alternating current
and countless other electrical devices, who could be seen on New York City
streets covered in pigeons, was obsessed with the number three, and repulsed
by jewelry, particularly pearls. Then there is Oliver Heaviside, a Victorian
mathematician and electrical researcher who painted his nails bright pink,
signed his correspondence "W.O.R.M.", and cruelly kept the woman charged
with his care a virtual prisoner in her own house, later driving her into
catatonia. Also explored are the lives of Samuel Johnson, van Gough, and
legendary mathematician Paul Erdos, among others. Pickover, a high-tech
inventor and researcher at IBM and a prolific author (TIME -- A TRAVELER'S
GUIDE, reviewed Apr 20) shows genuine fondness for his subjects and an
appreciation of their accomplishments, which he explains clearly and succinctly.
More than simply cataloging unusual traits, Pickover also speculates on
causes and diagnoses, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and temporal
lobe epilepsy. This is a lively and immensely enjoyable scientific history.
Photos throughout." - Publisher's Weekly, May 25, 1998
"Clifford Pickover in Strange Brains and Genius provides
more than enough evidence to show that an astounding intellect can be a
passport to insanity. Pickover has gone deep to uncover the sordid, and
frequently tragicomic, lives of some of history's most notorious eggheads....
Nikola Tesla is merely the tip of the iceberg. Electrical engineer Oliver
Heaviside replaced his conventional furniture with granite blocks and insulated
his loft with vast swathes of unpublished, yet brilliant papers. His low
self-esteem manifested itself in his idiosyncratic signature: WORM. Pickover
has sympathetically exposed the mental weaknesses which may accompany many
of these people's amazing intellectual strengths. We see that most of these
people contributed more in an afternoon than us dunces achieve in a lifetime.
For that, we should be thankful." - NEW SCIENTIST, May 1998
"Who else but the maestro of mathematical creativity, Clifford
Pickover, to curate a museum of Strange Brains and write biographies of
the scientific geniuses who formerly owned them? I'll never look at a pigeon,
a pearl, or a Wheatstone bridge the same way again."
"Do geniuses tend to have strange beliefs and to exhibit
bizarre behavior? Read this fascinating account of nine such men and decide
what you think. Before you put the book down -- not easy to do! -- you
will also learn a lot about the human brain and its major disorders. One
cannot but wonder: Does Pickover, himself a genius in explaining mathematics
and science in clear, entertaining ways, have any eccentricities?"
- Martin Gardner, Author of LAST RECREATIONS
"Pickover's originality has found itself the perfect topic....A
compulsive account of minds just this side of the thin edge of madness
-- and possibly beyond it."
- Ian Stewart, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
"Given his prolific nature and endless supply of ideas,
Pickover would have been justified in adding a self-referential entry to
this book. He certainly deserves to be described by the word genius, and
this fascinating book is a testament to that fact."
- Charles Ashbacher, JOURNAL OF RECREATIONAL MATHEMATICS
"An extraordinary wealth of bizarre details about the
life and behavior of many well-known scientists and others....Leaves one
in awe of the variety and complexity of the human mind."
- Julien Clinton Sprott, Author of STRANGE ATTRACTIONS,
Professor of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Pickover presents a fascinating mix of scientists, inventors,
and philosophers. Besides learning about the profound impact their works
have had on our lives, we get a look at their darker sides. Most informative
and entertaining."
- Theoni Pappas, Author of MATHEMATICAL SCANDALS
"Delightful descriptions of wonderfully peculiar people....Pickover
is the first to bring an insider's view to such a list, and he does so
with authority, but also with a light touch. It puts our Uncle Albert in
context for us, too!"
- Dr. Jack Cohen, author of FIGMENTS OF REALITY
In this unusual and penetrating work, Clifford Pickover --
internationally recognized science popularizer -- takes us on a wild ride
through the bizarre lives of brilliant, but eccentric geniuses who made
significant contributions to science and philosophy. Unveiling the hidden
secrets of a number of the most intelligent and prolific real-life mad
scientists, Pickover delights us with unexpected stories of their obsessive
personalities and strange phobias. These common threads lead us to wonder
if creativity and genius are inextricably linked to madness.
A highly entertaining collection of oddity and mischief, this original new work playfully uncovers the scandalous details that lurk behind the unseemly lives of these geniuses. We discover the "Unabomber", Ted Kaczynski, a mathematical whiz with an IQ of 170, was pathologically shy, had an uncontrollable obsession with loud sounds, especially earthy bodily noises, and enjoyed playing practical jokes in high school, such as creating homemade gadgets that would pop loudly and emit a stream of violet smoke amid class -- a compulsion that may have turned deadly.
Then there was the great
inventor Nikola Tesla who had a peculiar love for pigeons, particularly
white ones, and was terrified of women's pearls. Plenty of other surprises
abound, including the statistician and world explorer Francis Galton who
quantified anything he saw -- including the curves of women's bodies, and
then there are others who all lived exceedingly unusual sexual or celibate
lives.
Moreover, a fascinating "curiosity smorgasbord" to whet our appetites teases us with provocative questions to ponder along the way... How does manic depression affect the creativity of artists? How does epilepsy effect religious and alien abduction experiences? Where is Einstein's brain? Is it true that humans use only 10% of their brain capacity? What is IQ? What is obsessive-compulsive disorder? Also, find out how you would fit into the astonishing results of Pickover's human mind survey on intelligence, memory, and the brain, which he conducted exclusively over the Internet.
This whimsical romp through mad obsessions, compulsive rituals, and brilliant theories will allow you to gaze unrestrained into the secret lives of extraordinarily brainy but peculiar people. An illuminating page-turner, it will surely satisfy anoyone's curiosity as Pickover opens the doors to a disturbingly alluring realm of geniuses, eccentrics, and madmen.
"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." - Nikola Tesla"I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by married men." - Nikola Tesla
"Mr. Marconi is a donkey." - Nikola Tesla
"Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the results of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle. Yes, so far reaching is his work that it has become the warp and woof of industry." (B. A. Behrend) "Nikola Tesla is the world's greatest inventor, not only at present but in all history... His basic as well as revolutionary discoveries, for sheer audacity, have no equal in the annals of the intellectual world." (Hugo Gernsback, science editor and publisher)
(This is meant to give a clearer indication of topics covered.)
Aesop, 258 Alcohol, 41 Alexander the Great, 258 Alien abduction, 266-267 Alternating current, 10, 13, 28 Alzheimer's disease, 202 Amnesia, 28 Anafranil, ix, 188, 189, 307 Archimedes, 258 Aristotle, xvii, 258 Asimov, Isaac, 257 Attention-deficit disorder, 303 Attila the Hun, 258 Auditory hallucinations, 24, 26-27, 308 Autism, 303 Beauty index, 138 Beethoven, 259 Bentham, Jeremy, ix, 98-103 Bentinck-Scott, 191, 252 Berryman, John, 2 Bibliomania, 194-195 Bierce, Ambrose, 259 Bipolar disorder, ix, 2, 184, 188, 265, 273, 297 Blake, William, 258 Body dismorphic disorder, 307 Boulard, M., 194 Boxing, 203 Boyle, 258 Brain shelter, 201-203 Brain, 3, 209-213, 219, 300; see also Questionnaire, human mind Breakthroughs, 298-310 Buddha, 267, 297 Burton, Clive, 202-203 Byron, 272 Carroll, Lewis, 262 Cavendish, Henry, 3, 104-112, 252, 258, 261 Celibacy, 10, 52, 105, 155, 158, 259; see also Women Cerenkov radiation, 52 Chemistry, 92, 104 Cheney, Margaret, 20 Cholesterol, 309 Claustrophilia, x Clomipramine hydrochloride, ix Clothing, 31 Collyer brothers, 191 Corpses, x, 103 Corsellis, Nick, 202 Cryonics, 3-4, 311 Cyberspace, 197 Darkness: see Scotophilia Darwin, Charles, 116, 258, 288-290 de Maupassant, Guy, 271 Deformities, 258 Demosthenes, 258 Depression: see Unipolar disorder Descartes, 259 Diamond, Marian, 205 Dick, Philip K., 271 Diets, 48 Dostoevsky, Fyodor, 154, 262, 267 Earth cracker, 38 Edison, Thomas, 10, 14, 28, 70, 259-260 Einstein, Albert, viii, 25, 204-208, 257, 260 Einstein's brain, 204-208 Einstein's children, 208 Electricity, 10, 13; see also Tesla, Nikola; Heaviside, Oliver Electroplating, 4 Epilepsy, ix, 142, 154, 188, 262-270, 297, 303, 317-318 Epilogue, 251-243 Erdos, Paul, 280-285 Eugenics, 114, 132 Ezekiel, 269 Father figures, 261 Fear of Germs: see Germs Fears: see Phobias Feynman, Richard, 257, 286-288 Fielding, Amanda, 294 FitzGerald, George, 66 Flaubert, 259, 262, 271 Fleming, Alexander, 258 Fluoxitine hydrochloride: see Prozac Fluvoxamine, 188 Fly man: see Kirwan, Richard Flying, 21-22 Food, 48, 70-73, 105, 142, 154, 178 Freudians, 313 Galileo, 259 Galton, Francis, 3, 113-140, 260 Geissler tubes, 31 Genetics, 301, 303, 306, 308, 309 Geology, 94 Germs, 30, 84, 90, 96-97, 182, 292 Gleick, James, 287 Glial cells, 206, 212 Hair-pulling, 189-190, 316-317 Hallucinations: see Visual hallucinations Hand-washing, 30 Happiness, 309-310 Harvey, Thomas, 205 Harvey, William, 191, 252, 296 Heat loving, 57 Heaviside, Oliver, viii, 3, 51-79, 82, 260, 264 Heber, Richard, 195 Height, 258 Hemingway, Ernest, 2 Hesse, Herman, 2 Hoarding, 190-194 Homosexuality, 306; see also Celibacy Hotels, 20 Hughes, Howard, 184, 291-293 Hunter, John, 258 Hydrocephalus, 212 Hyperacusis, 26 Hypergraphia, 152, 155, 264-265, 271 Hyperreligiosity, 263 Hypochondria: see Germs Immune system, 303 Inheritance of intelligence, 127 Ionosphere, 60 IQ and race, 128 IQ, 117, 165, 216-221; see also Questionnaire, human mind Jamison, Kay, 273, 297 Jewelry, 21, 31, 34 Jews, 10, 132, 142, 147 Johnson, Samuel, 80-89, 154, 185 Joyce, James, 259 Kaczynski, Theodore, 157-182, 314-315 Kennedy, Susanna, 296-297 Kennelly-Heaviside layer, 60 Kirkegaard, 259 Kirwan, Richard, 90-97 Language, 304 Lasher, 219 Laxative, 3, 11 Leedskalnin, Edward, 293-295 LePlante, Eve, 258, 262-269, 275 Lister, Joseph, 258 Lorber, John, 212 Ludwig, Arnold, 260-261 Luvox: see Fluvoxamine Mahler, Gustave, 2 Major depression: see Unipolar disorder Manic depression: see Bipolar disorder Marconi, Guglielmo, 10 Mars, 36, 39 Maxwell, James, 53, 57, 107, 260 Measuring: see Galton, Francis Mellen, Joey, 294 Memory, photographic, 29 Memory, 219 Michelangelo, 317 Mill, John, xi Mineralogy, 94 Mingus, Charles, 2 Mohammed, 267-268 Moses, 268 Motors, 13 Mozart, 260 Multiples of 3, 20 Music, 304 Musicians, 297 Nahin, Paul, 63, 65, 76, 79; see also Heaviside, Oliver Nelson, 258 Neurons, 3 Neurosis, 308 Newton, Isaac, 2-3, 56, 109, 258, 260, 312-313 Nollekens, Joseph, ix Numbers, 130, 186 O'Keefe, Georgia, 2 Obesity, 309 Obsessive-compulsive disorder, 20, 82-84, 183-200, 262-265, 275, 292, 300 Ogden, Charles, x Oscillator, 38 Out-of-the-body experiences, 266 Panic disorder, 320 Paul (Saint), 259, 268-270 Pearls: see Jewelry Persinger, Michael, 266 Philosophers, 297 Phobias, 31; see also Germs Pickover, Clifford, 326-327 Pigeons, 10, 41-44, 67 Plath, Sylvia, 2 Poe, Edgar, vii, 2 Pope, 258 Porter, Cole, 2 Pound, Ezra, 2 Priapism, 158, 182 Prozac, ix, 97, 188, 307 Pyke, Geoffrey, 26, 141-156, 216, 264, 271 Pykrete, 142, 149 Quaternion, 51, 174 Questionnaire, human mind, 214-250 Race and IQ, 128 Radio, 19 Radiometer, 34 Rapoport, Judith, 183, 185 Ratsr: see Bentham, Jeremy Rawlinson, Thomas, 194 Reading disability, 303 Religion, 40, 47, 53, 66, 81, 114, 128, 136, 263-270, 275 Richards, Ruth, 274 Rock furniture, 62 Rothko, Mark, 2 Runners-up list, 279-297 Scheibel, Arnold, 205 Schizophrenia, 275, 301-302, 308, 318 Scotophilia, 40 Serotonin, ix, 188 Sexton, Anne, 2 Sexual abuse, 306 Sexuality: 259, 264; see also Women; Celibacy; Shakespeare, William, 259 Shyness: see Cavendish, Henry; Bentham, Jeremy; Kaczynski, Theodore Smith, Adam, 258 Smith, Anthony, 261 Speaking problems, 258 Stammers, 258 Stieglitz, Alfred, 259 Strieber, Whitley, 266-267 Superluminal radiation, 52 Swallowers, 299 Synesthesia, 21 Temporal lobe epilepsy: see Epilepsy Tennyson, Alfred, 271 Tesla, Nikola, viii, 5, 9-50, 63, 67, 82, 184, 258, 259 Thermophilia, 57, 90 Thoreau, Henry, vii Thought photography, 46 Transhumanism, 219 Trazodone, 158, 181 Trepaning, 294 Trichotillomania: see Hair-pulling Twain, Mark, 2 UFO, 266-269 Unabomber, 157-182, 314-314 Unipolar disorder, ix, 142, 297, 305, 309 Updates, 298-310 van Gogh, Vincent, 2, 154, 262-264, 270 Venusian, 30 Victorian age, 256-257 Virgil, 258 Virus, 305 Visual hallucinations, 23, 25, 135, 263-265 Visualizing numbers, 130 vos Savant, Marilyn, 215 Waterton, Charles, x Wheatstone, Charles, 56, 49 Whitman, Walt, 2 Wiener, Norbert, 261 Williams syndrome, 26 Williams: Tennessee, 2 Women, 44, 54, 155, 259 Woolf, Virginia, 2 Worm Man: see Heaviside, Oliver Wren, 258 Writers, 297 X-rays, 34
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