Quantum

Title: Quantum – Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality
Author: Manjit Kumar
Publisher: Hachette India 2009 (First published 2008)
ISBN: 978-93-80143-10-1
Pages: 386

This is a definitive book on what quantum mechanics is and how it came about. Manjit Kumar, who lives in the U.K was the founding editor of Prometheus, an interdisciplinary journal that covered the arts and sciences. He has written for a variety of newspapers and periodicals, as well as co-authoring Science and the Retreat from Reason. His style is impeccable and lucid. Like a master dissecting the innards of an object worth studying, he lays out the bits and pieces on the table for everyone to see and appreciate clearly and then goes on to the details in a majestic way – an act which can be performed only by a well accomplished scholar, who means what he says. This book surpasses all others on quantum mechanics and is definitely not for those who fret over equations and graphs. Otherwise, for a genuine student of popular science, who wants to know how the most accurate description of reality so far, has come about to grab its place in modern science. The illustrated graphs and diagrams succinctly personify the ideas presented and the equations are presented only where it is absolutely required without which the argument can’t proceed beyond. A person with a secondary-school level exposure to physics won’t find the mathematical abstractions daunting. The book is well endowed with a timeline of the important events and an excellent glossary. Some photographic plates of the protagonists ensure added interest. Especially appealing was a group photograph of the 5^th Solvay conference in 1927. Of the 27 scientists pictured, 19 became Nobel laureates.

The origins of quantum mechanics lay in the intellectual curiosity of 19^th century of why a hot metallic body emits light of different colours when it was heated. The problem was extended to blackbody radiation and Wilhem Wien discovered the relation between energy and temperature of blackbody. The body, when heated up would start emitting light with higher energy as the temperature is increased. However, Wien’s formula was found to be incorrect in the infrared region. The theory and experiments seemed to differ. Max Planck made the apt discovery that energy is emitted or absorbed in small, discrete packets called quanta. He is regarded as the father of quantum physics. He found the theory difficult to reconcile with classical theory where energy is dissipated or absorbed in a continuous form. The next breakthrough for quantum came in 1905 from Albert Einstein who was a Swiss patent clerk at that time. He postulated that light also comes in discrete quantum packets and explained how the photo-electric effect takes place. It was for this theoretical explanation of the well known effect that he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The incredulous scientific community had to accept his theory as it was able to account for the observed paradox in specific heat capacities of elements.

The world of physics was shaping up crudely in this period and the many theories we study quite early in our academic curricula and take for granted had not even been postulated. The world was quite reticent to accept the atomic theory, the idea that everything is made of tiny atoms! Once it was established beyond doubt, the next question was how to account for atomic structure. Ernest Rutherford suggested that it consists of a central core called the nucleus, around which electrons orbit in a three dimensional space. Niels Bohr found this postulate to be riddled with inconsistencies. Any such being circling about a centre would radiate its energy and would collapse to the centre, unless some other force is acting upon them. The earth goes around the sun in a stabilized orbit because of the gravitational force between these bodies. But for atom, no such force existed and the stability seemed to be a mystery. Then Bohr came out with his world-famous atomic model in which electrons circle around the nucleus only at well defined and discrete distances from the central core. If the electrons follow these paths, they won’t radiate energy away. They can absorb energy from the outside and move to outer levels with higher energy and also can dissipate energy to move from outer levels to inner levels. This explained the reason behind the existence of bright lines in the emission spectrum of hydrogen. When an electron in a higher orbit in the hydrogen atom emits a quantum of radiation and moves to an inner orbit, that energy comes out with a specific wavelength (colour) which is expressed as a function of the orbits. It was later discovered that each line is not in fact one, but two separate lines. Along with Sommerfeld, he modified the model to accommodate elliptical, instead of circular orbits which solved the spliiting of lines problem.

Even though the pioneers of science in the first quarter of 20^th century, Bohr and Einstein differed on the theoretical implications of their work, the former thoroughly espousing quantum mechanics while the latter latching on to the classical interpretation of reality and causality. Some times, we feel that the animosity extended to the personal level and we see in many places that even the great luminaries quarrelled among each other when their firmly held ideas were challenged by others. Bohr opposed the light-quanta of Einstein, rechristened photons. When Arthur Compton experimentally proved that radiation acted in quanta in one of his x-ray scattering studies, Bohr confronted it with a theory that the conservation of energy doesn’t act in sub-atomic levels. However, this was proved wrong and Einstein’s postulate was proved right. Later, Louis De Broglie postulated that all matter, including electrons acted like waves, putting forward his wave-particle duality. Electrons were proposed to be like standing waves generated in a tightly tied string, when it was mechanically vibrated. The number of waves in a string will be depend upon the half-wave lengths. This theory explained why only specific orbits exist inside the atom. As per de Broglie’s postulate, only those orbits will be available in which the circumference equals an interger multiplier of the half-wave lengths of the electron. This neatly explained the unscrutable issue.

Even with all these discoveries, it was not possible to explain the fine splitting of hydrogen’s spectral lines. George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit proposed a quantum entity, spin, to the electron which would account for the phenomenon. The new parameter helped Wolfgang Pauli to come out with his exclusion principle. Up to then, the developments in the new field were purely piecemeal, without any effort to describe the underlying physical phenomena on the basis of a sound theory. Werner Heisenberg put forward the basics of quantum mechanics while working under the watchful eye of Niels Bohr at his institute in Copenhagen. Heisenberg’s formulae were stressed on the discontinuous, particular nature of quantum entities and used a matrix approach. Meanwhile, Erwin Schrodinger proposed a theory more at ease with the wave nature and which was mathematically simpler and more familiar with the physicists at that time. Naturally, animosity aroused between these two stalwarts and both exercised their influence on their fellows to stick to their own camp. Further studies in this area prompted Heisenberg to come out with his Uncertainty principle, which stated that the momentum and position of a sub-atomic particle, or energy and time of a wave, cannot be accurately determined. This was not due to any physical problem with the measuring instrument or method, but nature, in such microscopic levels doesn’t behave in a way which we expect her to be. This formally put an end to causality. The official stand based on these principles came to be known as the Copenhager interpretation with Bohr, Pauli and Heisenberg as its titans. Bohr announced the quantum mechanical theory as complete during a conference in Como, Italy in 1927. This gradually consolidated into a dogma among physicists.

Einstein, who was the greatest living scientist at that time opposed this conclusion tooth and nail. While he admitted that quantum mechanics was true, because it tallied with every experiment conducted till date. What he couldn’t digest was the assertion that it was complete. Einstein firmly believed that the quantum events have real, physical basis and the Bohr’s team asserted that such an event will be undecided until an observation is made which will make its wave function collapse. He challenged the quantum mechanics team with thought experiments during the Solvay conference in Belgium in 1927, but Bohr could counter all arguments effectively. Einstein came back with a bang during the 6^th Solvay conference in 1930 with his famous light box thought experiment. He proposed that a box full of light is made with a clock in it synchronised with another clock outside. At a predefined time, its shutter opened and a single photon went out. Thus, the moment or time of the wave can be determined. If the box is weighed again after the ejection of photon, the mass of the emitted photon can be determined, from which its energy can be found out by using his famous equation. Thus, Einstein argued that the energy and time can be accurately determined at the same time, making the uncertainty principle and quantum mechanics erroneous. Bohr was dumbfounded at first by the brilliancy of the argument at first. After a sleepless night and endless deliberations with his assistants who included Heisenberg and Pauli, he responded with a flaw in Einstein’s scheme. In order to weigh the box again, it have to be moved up and down to balance it. Since the clock is then moving under earth’s gravity, time will be dilated and clock affected according to Einstein’s own general theory of relativity! In a moment of rush, Einstein had himself forgot about his own theory! Even though he accepted the flaw in his argument, he was not convinced that quantum mechanics was a complete theory. He migrated to the U.S.A when Hitler ascended in Germany and continued to attack the Copenhagen interpretation from time to time, but the world physics community had come to the conclusion that senile decay was affecting his judgement and his arguments didn’t carry the weight which it once did.

Nazi accession in Germany was a violent affair who were bent upon the extermination of Jews in Germany and those countries which came under their yoke. Scientists were expelled from there under the new rule that public servants should be of the Aryan race. Hundreds of scientists, of which about 20 who’d go on to win Nobel Prizes in future fled Germany. Einstein settled in the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton. After 1930, no major breakthroughs in quantum mechanics came about, vindicating Bohr’s claim that it was complete. However, Einstein continued his tirades against it till he died in 1955, aged 76 and Bohr defended his position till his death came in 1962, aged 77.

This is the synopsis of the book, which in no way conveys the pleasant and erudite style of writing by Manjit Kumar. In fact, there seems to be no points which can be shown against the work. The last two chapters, which summarised the ongoing work in the field after Einstein and Bohr died were a little off the mark as it was somewhat difficult to understand. Except this, nothing can be held out against this fine piece of writing of popular science. The author’s consistent use of the symbol ω (omega) for π (pi) was and is confusing. Some interesting facts can be discerned from the general body of the book. For example, George Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1937 for discovering that the electron was a wave, while his father, Sir J J Thomson, had been awarded the same prize in 1906 for discovering the electron was a particle! Also, it was curious to learn that there were only three portraits in Einstein’s study, those of Faraday, Maxwell and Gandhi.

This book is highly recommended.

Rating: 5 Star

Recommended Books

Among the books reviewed in these pages and those I read before starting this blog, some titles of immense value need to be shared with the world. Any one who wishes to know the secrets of nature and how the world works without bias from authority or belief systems should read these works by eminent authors. All of them are granted five-star rating and provide for easy reading. This list is not complete, in any sense of the word. As soon as I encounter a book of great worth, it'd be included in this ever-open collection.

1. The Greatest Show on Earth - Richard Dawkins
2. DNA - James Watson
3. Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
4. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
5. Quantum - Manjit Kumar

The Extended Phenotype

Title: The Extended Phenotype
Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press 1989 (First published 1982)
ISBN: 0-19-286088-7
Pages: 264
 

Any work from Dawkins exudes promises of a minimum guarantee. Besides, Dawkins had earlier appealed that “it doesn’t matter if you never read anything else of mine, please at least read this”. That’s why I took this book for reading from the library, being thoroughly familiar with the mercurial style of Dawkins as reviewed elsewhere in this blog. His writings on evolution bear the markings of authority and wit. The recent title, ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is simply superb and can be regarded as the greatest weapon in Science’s arsenal on its ever raging fight against creationism and intelligent design.

However, this one was a huge disappointment. Dawkins had declared early in that he had biologists in mind as the target audience. True to his word, all the arguments goes above the lay reader. As I have no background to biology, save what you acquire before you leave high school, this book was utterly boring and a pain to read. It was only because of Dawkins’ exhortation to at least read this work and my desire to write a review which prompted me to complete the reading of this book. Believe me, it was not at all enjoyable and I didn’t understand even the main ideas. The author has meant this book to be a research paper somewhat and the references to other papers in the field don’t lend much reading value to the work. It was a torture to go through the pages. Even tough biological ideas are treated like they don’t need any explanation. I came across the term ‘haplodiploid’ without any reference to its meaning and only after a painstaking search through the glossary, could place it properly.

Dawkins’ ideas differ from the traditional Darwinian school in that he considers the gene as the basic unit of replication and natural selection is attributed to act upon this material. Phenotype means the manifested attributes of an organism, the joint products of its genes and their environment. A gene may be said to have phenotypic expression in, say, eye colour. In this book, the concept of phenotype is extended to include functionally important consequences of gene differences, outside the bodies in which the genes sit. Animals are expected to behave as if maximizing the survival chances of all the genes inside them. This is amended by Dawkins to a new central theorem of the extended phenotype: an animal’s behaviour tends to maximize the survival of the genes ‘for’ that behaviour, whether or not those genes happen to be in the body of the particular animal performing the behaviour.

The book is useless for the general reader and not at all recommended. How it will look like to a biologist, I am not able to tell.

Rating: 1 Star

The Last Testament

Title: The Last Testament
Author: Sam Bourne
Publisher: Harper Collins 2007 (First)
ISBN: 978-0-00-726606-7
Pages: 567

Jonathan Freedland is a British journalist writing under the nom de plume of Sam Bourne. He is touted by the Mirror as ‘the biggest challenger to Dan Brown’s crown’. This one is a thriller crafted on the Dan Brown mould, the story unfolding around the decipherment of cryptic messages by an ultra-nationalist archeologist in the holy city of Jerusalem. The plot of the work can be summarised as follows.

Shimon Guttman is a hardcore Zionist and archeologist who happens to stumble upon a piece of clay tablet among the antique smuggled-goods market of Jerusalem which he recognises as the will of Abraham, believed to be the common ancestor of the Jews and Muslims. The will specifies the bequeathal of Mount Moriah, present day Temple of Jerusalem or Al Akhsa Mosque - depending on which side you are on. Guttman tries to inform the Israeli Prime Minister, who had started a peace dialogue of this development and in the public meeting, he is shot down by security guards who mistakenly take him for an assassin. Maggie Costello, who is on the American side of the negotiating team, along with Uri Guttman, the deceased’s son tries to find out where the clay tablet is hidden by the professor. Meanwhile, a U.S secret operations group tries to kill anyone associated with the knowledge of the existence of the tablet as they fear it to wreak the peace process. The protagonists follow the clues given by the archeologist in his last message to his son on a DVD and finds out the historical document on the Israel Museum. It turned out that Abraham had entrusted the safe keeping of the city to both of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, considered to be the forefathers of Jews and Muslims respectively. This fact convinces all parties of the need to share the capital city in a fraternal spirit and the story ends in a happy note.

It is to be definitely noted that I am hugely disappointed in the end. If it was not for Mirror’s hyperbole about the author’s credentials, my expectations wouldn’t have raised sky high and would definitely have found this one out to be pretty good to read, being a real page turner. Though it lacks any depth of knowledge or intricacy of plot, it is nevertheless a good effort to stress the need for keeping peace in a sensitive region which is historically the birthplace of mankind’s civilisations. Abraham’s will to share Jerusalem between brothers, kept secret till the very end of the book is politically correct but turned out to be an anti-climax. Trivialisation of international dialogue is also a thing found very hard to digest. The offices of the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian leadership would obviously find better means of secretly communicating with each other than through chat rooms of the internet game ‘Second Life’!. This book also follows the classic Hollywood story line, that of a secret American operation trying to scuttle their own efforts among other fronts. The work is so amenable for turning out to be a movie.

The author is no serious contender to Dan Brown, as clear as daylight. The suspense, thrill and the subtle unfolding of the plot is sorely lacking in this book. Also, the body search of the protagonist, Maggie Costello is described in lurid detail bordering on soft porn. We close the book with a distinct feeling that it has not delivered what it promised. The ease with which the couple finds mail passwords of the professor is laughable. In one instance, the heroine guesses the length of a gmail password by the astrisks showed on the login field!

The book is recommended however, as it treats the pressing Middle-east issue as a thing to be resolved at the earliest and puts forward a solution which must be appealing to both sides and to the entire world.

Rating: 2 Star

Tales From The Bench And The Bar

Title: Tales From The Bench And The BarAuthor: Vicaji J TaraporevalaPublisher: Penguin Enterprise 2010 (First)ISBN: 978-0-670-08412-8Pages: 150

Born in 1923, Vicaji J Taraporevala is a senior advocate based in Mumbai. His legal career spans six decades in which he had produced several books. The present one is a collection of anecdotes, humorous instances, remembrances and a bit of the general history of the Indian judicial system in the 20^th century.

The judiciary, as it may seem to the common man is not a forbidding institution in which quixotic black-robed figures freely roam and ponder over minutiae which he doesn’t understand, but sometimes even decides his fate. The imposing and supposedly impartial judges are also human beings who are at times swayed by their personal prejudices and interests. A few instances of such behaviour are mentioned in this book. When the judge wanted to watch a cricket test match, he connived with counsels on both sides and caused a main witness not to appear in the court, on which the judge feigning anger, adjourned the case and happily viewed the match in the stadium. Such irresponsible practice goes against the spirit of the pledge the judges take while they assume office, no doubt. Lord Macmillan in Law and Other Things says “The judicial oath of office imposes on the judge a hefty duty of impartiality. But, impartiality is not easy of attainment. For a judge does not shed the attributes of common humanity when he assumes the ermine. Few minds are as neutral as sheet of plate glass, and indeed the mind of that quality may actually fail in judicial deficiency, for the warmer traits of imagination and sympathy are needed to temper the cold light of reason if human justice is to be done” (p.90).

Most of the anecdotes referred occurred at the High Court of Bombay where the author practised. Many eminent lawyers and judges like C K Daphtary, Jamshedji Kanga, Chimanlal Setalvad, Homi Banaji etc, are mentioned along with the curious incidents on which they took part. The facts (fiction, sometimes!) described are based not only on the author’s direct experiences, but also on some interesting accounts narrated by senior lawyers, and some rare writings by legal luminaries. The work is arranged in a thematic way, with chapters on Humour in court, chambers, witnesses and cross examination, chance and destiny, judges, lawyers, nostalgic indulgenses and the like. It is also adorned with a foreword by Soli J Sorabjee, the former Solicitor General of India. The book begins with the etymology of the words bench and bar as he says, “In the olden days, English judges sat on the central portion of a long bench. When a new judge sat for the first time, the newly appointed judge was said to have been ‘elevated to the bench’”. The term ‘bar’ is derived from an actual bar, which formerly divided the dais of the judge and the seating arrangement for counsel. Advocates presented their cases standing in front of the bar. Those who have just qualified for this privilege were said to have been ‘called to the bar’.

A good book in any sense of the term as it gives the lay public a peep into the heavily jargoned legal arena where modern day’s battles and duels are fought. However, the episodes are not properly organised into distinct themes. In every chapter, we are finding some topics which suit any other chapter. Rather, the entire book may also be called a single chapter! I also wondered at the very large instances of Parsee lawyers and judges in the pages considering the Parsees to be a micro-minority in India. But, being aware that the author also belongs to that community makes sense of this paradox. The unusually high number of instances of first person narratives may be condoled for the extensive careers of the author and his equally eminent lawyer-father. Any way, the book is recommended.

Rating: 2 Star

The Future of Life

Title: The Future of Life
Author: Edward O. Wilson
Publisher: Abacus 2003 (First published 2002)
ISBN: 978-0-349-11579-5
Pages: 189
 

A very fine work on conservation of environment and biological diversity from a leading influential scientist of the western hemisphere. Lot of salient points are discussed and solutions proposed. Wilson’s lifelong commitment to environment is made out in vivid detail by numerous anecdotes and by the prologue, which is a letter to Thoreau, the pioneer of conservation efforts in the U.S. His immense knowledge of the threatened habitats around the globe and in-depth knowledge of the conservation measures are outstanding. Several instances detailed in the book about how a pristine, natural habitat like the Hawaii was threatened by the introduction of modern civilisation there.

The book begins with an overview of the immense diversity of animal and plant species in the world, particularly in the tropical forests of the Amazon valley. Continuous new discoveries of species are being made daily, adding to the repertoire of the biological sciences. The tropics are particularly well adapted to the multiplicity of life forms. In fact, one single tree in Brazil was observed to host more ant species than the entire British Isles. The bottleneck the world experiences now is the population explosion which drives people to claim those areas where the flora and fauna used to live unmolested since time began. World population may peak to about 9 billion by 2050 by which time the pressure on farm land will be very great, but nature may just support so much of ourselves. On the other hand, if the entire people on the globe start to use the material comforts of the U.S. people, four globes are required to furnish such a huge call on nature’s resources.

The threat to natural habitats are really great, like in the Hawaii and Amazonian rain forests. The threats can be formulated to the key word ‘HIPPO’, where the letters stand for Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, Population and Overharvesting. The prime mover of the incursive forces around the world is Population, too many people consuming too much of the land and sea space and the resources they contain. Even though humanity owes its existence, civilization and standard of living to the nature, they are the planetary killers, the sole life form which makes other life forms go extinct. The author’s personal experience with such a threatened species, named Sumatran rhino is laid out among several illuminating examples.

The author stands apart from so called ‘conservation extremists’ in that he doesn’t blindly accuse the economy, large corporations and economists for the mess the world has turned out to be, in environmental matters. The economic aspects of conservation of the biological diversity and environment can prove to be economical too. Many pharma companies extract natural products from endangered species of trees, the loss of which can have lasting adversary impacts on these corporations. An intensive encouragement to ecotourism and natural extracts can be sufficient financial rewards for the people and governments. To protect nature, we have to love it first. Biophilia takes many forms. From analysing the preferences of people worldwide, it is conceived that they like to live in savannah-like terrain, which may be proving the theory that humanity originated in the African savannahs and spread out from there to every nook and cranny of the globe.

The cost of saving the environment is not huge, as Wilson asserts. Estimating the total Gross National Product (GNP) of the world’s nations as 30 trillions US$, the price to be paid for nature conservation is only 30 billion US$, or 1% of the GNP, which is manageable. In fact, several conservation organisations like the ‘The Nature Conservancy’ and the ‘Conservation International’ now collects so much money from benefactors that they are able to outbid logging companies in the third-world and protect nature in those countries in its undisturbed continuum.

The author identifies the need to produce from dwindling farmlands that the need for genetically modified food is clear cut. As he says, “As I write (in 2001), public opinion and official policy have come to vary greatly from one country to the next. France and Britain are vehemently opposed. China is strongly favourable and Brazil, India, Japan and the United States cautiously so. In the U.S. particularly, the public awoke to the issue only after the transgenie (so to speak) was out of the bottle. From 1996 to 1999, the amount of U.S. farmland devoted to genetically modified crops had rocketed from 3.8 million to 70.9 million acres. As the century ended, more than half of soybean and cotton grown was engineered, as well as nearly a third (28%) of corn.” (p.115-116).

Wilson’s proposals for the nature problem should be thoroughly studied by the scientists, policy makers, environmentalists, industrialists and all interested parties. These can be a manifesto of conservation effort. The salient features of the suggested remedies are,

1. Salvage immediately the world’s hot spots, those habitats that are both at the greatest risk and shelter the largest concentrations of species found nowhere else.
   

2. Keep intact the five remaining frontier forests, which are the last true wildernesses on the land and home to an additional large section of Earth’s biological diversity
   

3. Cease all logging of old-growth forests everywhere. For every bit of habitat lost or degraded, Earth pays a price in biodiversity.
   

4. Everywhere, not just in the hotspots and wildernesses, concentrate on lakes and river systems, which are the most threatened ecosystems of all.
   

5. Define precisely the marine hotspots of the world, and assing them the same action priority as for those on the land.
   

6. In order to render the conservation effort exact and cost-effective, complete the mapping of the world’s biological diversity.
   

7. Make conservation profitable. Find ways to raise the income of those who live in and near the reserves.
   

8. Use biodiversity more effectively to benefit the world economy as a whole.
   

9. Initiate restoration projects to increase the share of Earth allotted to nature.
   

10. Increase the capacity of zoos and botanical gardens to breed endangered species.
    

11. Support population planning.
    

A very good work which must be in the book shelves of all environmentally concerned individuals. The only drawback which can be cited is the total absence of photographs to graphically illustrate the arguments made. A picture of the Sumatran rhino which is declared to be a nice creature would have been greatly appreciated.

Rating: 4 Star

Chasing Churchill

Title: Chasing Churchill – The Travels of Winston Churchill
Author: Celia Sandys
Publisher: HarperCollins 2003 (First)
ISBN: 0-00-710263-1
Pages: 256

Winston Churchill’s grand daughter, Celia Sandys describes the travels her grand father made to various destinations across the globe in official and personal capacities. She retraced Churchill’s steps as far as possible and visited all those places, met people who remembered the presence of the British stalwart and stayed at those hotels where he had stayed decades back. All his travels are neatly catalogued under aptly labelled chapters. The authenticity of narration is superb, coming as it is from the former British Prime Minister’s grand daughter. Personal aspects of the travels are emphasized, bringing into fine detail the people he met, his relationships with them, personal quirks and interesting anecdotes which might not have found expression in history books. No official business is explained and even the general thread of history is not maintained.

Churchill was very fond of travelling, particularly to France and the U.S. He even commented late in his life that if he’d be born again, he wished it to be in the U.S. as he was so enamoured by the life style and opportunities that nation opened up for the young. He even referred Britain as his ‘other country’ while in the U.S. France presented itself over the artistic domain, as Churchill was no mean painter and his style borrowed heavily from extant French practice. He stayed there for improving his command of the French language, though there were no indications that it was improving. He always travelled in style, stayed at the most elegant premises, met with the most important people at the place and flouted rules and regulations at will. He smoked cigars even in the aircrafts of those times in which it was strictly banned. Once in Italy, he came to know that the train he intended to travel won’t stop at the nearby station. He asked his secretary to remember that he was Winston Churchill and instructed him to ask the station master to stop the train which was duly carried out! He drank freely while in U.S. where Prohibition was in place during one of his visits. Such scant disregard for rules is a curious paradox to be expected from the most widely known British statesman.

Churchill was a staunch imperialist and he vehemently opposed any move to grant more autonomy to the colonies. Extensive security arrangements has to be instituted for him in the U.S. in 1932 when Indian extremist elements were planning to assassinate him there for his objections to the proposals for granting India more freedom of government. During the second world war, President Roosevelt of the U.S. openly criticized France for keeping imperial possessions while herself conquered by the Germans. He strongly disapproved of such comments and promptly went out of the discussion to mark his disgust. Churchill was in India while in military service for about a year, but the book is practically silent on his travels in this country. May be the author found it worthless to pursue the thread in a country which was under the British yoke during that time. His unsympathetic attitude to India was further reflected when he was asked by an American journalist as to what he intended to do about those ‘wretched Indians’ to which Churchill replied as, “To which Indians do you refer? Those who under British rule have multiplied and prospered exceedingly, or do you mean the unfortunate Indians of the North American continent which under your administration are practically extinct?”

Undoubtedly a good book if you wanted to know the man behind the iron façade. Even the finest details of the entourage are given, but the international situation which pushed him to travel, are not mentioned. He made several hazardous journeys through dangerous terrain. He braved German warships and planes while pursuing international effort to isolate the axis powers. The book should’ve included some political background behind the numerous conferences which he attended in his official capacities. We can definitely pardon the author for unduly boosting up her grandfather’s image and in her accusations against those people who didn’t take Churchill’s opinions very seriously. He is credited with the idea of a unified Europe, though the evidence presented is scant and unconvincing.

A good book altogether and recommended for the not-so-serious reader.

Rating: 3 Star