Denis Brian – författare

Blends the brilliance of the scientific genius with the compassion, playfulness, and wit of the private figure "A fascinating read with more interesting material about Einstein as a human being than I have ever seen before."--Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist and bestselling author "A thoughtful and captivating account of one whom I had the joy of knowing and loving."--George Wald, Nobel Prize Laureate His face is one of the most recognized on the planet. His very name is synonymous with genius. Yet, for all the attention and countless biographies, our images of Albert Einstein rarely go beyond the eccentric and larger-than-life scientist unraveling one cosmic mystery after another. In this engaging popular biography, Denis Brian draws on a wealth of new information recently opened to the public to bring us a broader, more authentic portrait of Einstein than previously available. The first full-scale Einstein life published in 20 years, it is also the first to integrate Einstein's genius with his private and public life to give us a complete impression of the real person. We meet an Einstein with a gift for friendship, a romantic with a roving eye for women. We confront a man whose countless scientific triumphs were tempered by tragic ironies in his personal life. We encounter Einstein the humanist who showed compassion for the children of others yet neglected his own sons. We learn from his former assistants how they revered Einstein, how he worked at his science, and of his warm relationships with other physicists. Based on information drawn from new access to the Einstein archives as well as exclusive interviews with colleagues and friends, Einstein: A Life reveals an endearing and sensititve man, but one slightly detached from even those closest to him, as if he inhabited his own world of lofty thoughts and cosmic dreams. DENIS BRIAN (West Palm Beach, Florida) is the author of The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him and Genius Talk: Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries.

Focusing on the lives and relationships behind their magnificent careers, The Curies is the first biography to trace the entire Curie dynasty, from Pierre and Marie’s fruitful union and achievements to the lives and accomplishments of their two daughters, Irène and Eve, and son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie. Biographer Denis Brian digs deep beneath the headlines and legends to reveal the Curies’ multigenerational saga in its entirety, featuring new, never-before-published personal information as well as newly revealed correspondence and diary excerpts. Brimming with endearing and often amusing anecdotes about this much-misunderstood clan, The Curies reveals a family as closely intertwined in their private lives as they were in their professional endeavors.

In this unique book, celebrated biographer Denis Brian draws on some of the greatest scientific minds of the twentieth century, in pursuit of their distinct views on life, knowledge, and the cosmos. A provocative and revealing interviewer, Brian weaves together the insights and personal stories of a stellar cast of Nobel Prize winners and other luminaries, including Linus Pauling's ill-fated support of Vitamin C as a cure for cancer, Ashley Montagu's explanation of why the sex drive is not innate, and various personal recollections of the making of the atomic bomb, Heisenberg's role in Nazi Germany, and the spy case of Klaus Fuchs.

In this biography of Colonel John Henry Patterson, Denis Brian reveals his subject to be a composite of diverse identities. An Irish-born soldier, lion hunter, bridge builder, East African game warden, author, man-about-town, and Zionist, Patterson's life is a fascinating story, and Brian's well-researched account gives a revealing look into the ebb and flow of circumstances that produced such a colorful character. Brian begins the narrative with Patterson's assignment in East Africa, where lion attacks were terrorizing workers on a railroad project. With the sure hand of the storyteller, Brian details accounts of Patterson quelling the rebellion and killing the lions himself. The colonel's indomitable energy and courage become a consistent theme in the book as the author traces Patterson's life from his days as a British socialite to his command of the Jewish Legion of volunteers who helped drive the Turks out of Palestine. Patterson spent most of his later years as an ardent Zionist, working for the creation of a Jewish homeland until his death in 1947, a year before the birth of the state of Israel. Drawing on an impressive range of sources, Brian's biography of this ""Righteous Gentile"" is an incisive portrait of a key figure in both Israeli and colonial British history.

This book vividly presents the gripping history of one of America's most notorious prisons. Based on extensive research with original sources, the author's narrative covers every period of the prison's checkered history, from the awful conditions of the 19th century to the relative improvements of the 20th century to today. For most of the 19th century Sing Sing was a bastion of inhumane treatment, where guards made every effort to break the spirit of inmates by a fanatic rule of silence enforced by shockingly brutal punishments and tortures.In 1920, a dramatic turnaround occurred, when one of criminology's most progressive wardens, Lewis Lawes, took over. In command for twenty-one years, Lawes-who believed in reforming prisoners, not just punishing them-brought almost miraculous changes for the better.During the 20th century Sing Sing held such infamous prisoners as members of Murder Incorporated, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Albert "the cannibal" Fish, Lucky Luciano, Louis Lepke, and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Brian recounts their stories and throws in "cameos" of such diverse visiting luminaries as Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, Johnny Cash, John Cheever, and Mother Teresa. Sing Sing has witnessed it all: from daring, ingenious escapes and the first blood donations by prisoners to inmates volunteering to be injected with syphilis in the interest of medical science.Brian's story ends with a glimpse of Sing Sing in the recent past and today, based on his interviews with the present warden, Brian Fischer; prison guards; a prison psychiatrist; and the daughter of Sing Sing's last executioner.A must for fans of true crime, criminology, and urban American history, Brian's powerfully told story is both a dramatic page-turner and a definitive history.

Focusing on the lives and relationships behind their magnificent careers, The Curies is the first biography to trace the entire Curie dynasty, from Pierre and Marie’s fruitful union and achievements to the lives and accomplishments of their two daughters, Irène and Eve, and son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie. Biographer Denis Brian digs deep beneath the headlines and legends to reveal the Curies’ multigenerational saga in its entirety, featuring new, never-before-published personal information as well as newly revealed correspondence and diary excerpts. Brimming with endearing and often amusing anecdotes about this much-misunderstood clan, The Curies reveals a family as closely intertwined in their private lives as they were in their professional endeavors.