Reading, uh, Thursday
I did mean to do this yesterday, but it ended up being a hectic day.
Read in the past week: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, by Brenda Maddox. A thorough, solid biography of Franklin. I found it a little slow to start, but I think that was nearly inevitable. Maddox started at the very beginning with Franklin's childhood, and I think very few people are fascinating as children.
The reality of Franklin has been obscured over the years, starting with James Watson's nasty caricature of her in The Double Helix. In addition, while she's become somethig of feminist symbol, how much do people actually know about her? Maddox doesn't stray away from Franklin's faults, but mostly reveals a strong willed, highly intelligent woman, who did a great deal. Interesting to me that during her life Franklin was mainly known and highly regarded for her work on coal and viruses.
While Maddox mainly plays the unimpassioned biographer, I think you can sometimes tell what especially matters to her. I think she's actually even more angered by Watson and Crick's smearing of Franklin after her death, than their use of Franklin's work.
Currently reading: Red Hood's Revenge, by Jim C. Hines. As should be obvious, this book heavily uses the Red Riding Hood myth, which is one of my favorite fairy tales to analyze, and strongly focuses on my favorite character in the Princess Series, Talia. So, yes.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/421270.html. Please consider commenting there.
Read in the past week: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, by Brenda Maddox. A thorough, solid biography of Franklin. I found it a little slow to start, but I think that was nearly inevitable. Maddox started at the very beginning with Franklin's childhood, and I think very few people are fascinating as children.
The reality of Franklin has been obscured over the years, starting with James Watson's nasty caricature of her in The Double Helix. In addition, while she's become somethig of feminist symbol, how much do people actually know about her? Maddox doesn't stray away from Franklin's faults, but mostly reveals a strong willed, highly intelligent woman, who did a great deal. Interesting to me that during her life Franklin was mainly known and highly regarded for her work on coal and viruses.
While Maddox mainly plays the unimpassioned biographer, I think you can sometimes tell what especially matters to her. I think she's actually even more angered by Watson and Crick's smearing of Franklin after her death, than their use of Franklin's work.
Currently reading: Red Hood's Revenge, by Jim C. Hines. As should be obvious, this book heavily uses the Red Riding Hood myth, which is one of my favorite fairy tales to analyze, and strongly focuses on my favorite character in the Princess Series, Talia. So, yes.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/421270.html. Please consider commenting there.