Book Blurbs

“It is well known that youth have a tendency to attack the major problems and begin their careers with a major piece of work. It is necessary to restrain such ambition, which might easily lead to discouraging failures, and make the beginner see the advantages of starting with the minor problems. He runs little risk of committing mistakes with them, and when he does there is no chance of ridicule. Later on, there will be opportunity to carry out the great work he dreams of, when technical aptitude and greater understanding are developed.” (p. 148)

“The future scientist is typically an ardent patriot who is eager to bring honor to himself and to his country, captivated by originality, indifferent to material gain and ordinary pleasures, inclined more toward action than words, and an untiring reader. In short, he is capable of all sorts of sacrifices to achieve the noble dream of giving his own name to some new start in the firmament of knowledge.” (p. 146)

“The diagnosis of a scientific calling is…difficult. One must use finer distinguishing signs to cull the genuine from the counterfeit.

“Ostwald has dealt with more or less the same problem in his admirable book, Great Men. He believes that especially gifted students may be recognized by the fact that they never appear satisfied with what ordinary instruction offers them: ‘In terms of depth and range covered, ordinary instruction is directed toward the average student. When a pupil has great talent, he will see at once that the science being taught is inadequate quantitatively, and above all qualitatively, and he will demand more.’ Then he adds: ‘The most important quality of the scholar is originality, that is, the ability to picture something beyond what is taught. Precision in one’s work, self-criticism, conscientiousness, knowledge, and skill are also necessary, but all can be acquired later through suitable eduction.’

“These observations of Ostwald are judicious and generally correct. However, for the master to benefit from them, he must be in friendly contact with his students. In his laboratory discussions he should treat them like colleagues working on a common goal, encouraging frankness and spontaneous expression. In doing so, the master finds opportunities to study the character of his pupils, as well as to gauge their vigor and firmness.” (p. 143-144)