The Bourbaki Gambit

by Carl Djerassi

Book Overview

"A beautifully ingenious, funny, brilliantly intelligent, and moving tale of very human scientists. A splendid novel."--Iris Murdoch At the age of 68, distinguished Princeton science professor Max... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140254854
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent premise, but not as well crafted as "Cantor's Dilemma"

Djerassi is once again to be commended for writing an entertaining novel to educate the general public about the forces that really drive scientists as individuals, and the world of scientific research in general. If the public is to make intelligent decisions about how to fund, teach, and promote science, then this kind of insight into the (sometimes messy) realities of the research world is a must. For this purpose, a well-told story is worth a hundred dry, factual reports. The premise of "The Bourbaki Gambit" is excellent. (The title of the book comes from the pseudonymous mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki, although only one character in the book is a mathematician.) An older and highly successful biochemist, feeling that he has been prematurely put out to pasture, seeks revenge by recruiting three other like-minded colleagues to form a pseudonymous and anonymous collaboration. Their goal? To expose the ageist prejudices of the scientific world by publishing outstanding research under a pen name and then, after the kudos roll in, to reveal their true identities. The plan seems perfect---until paradoxically, they become victims of their own success. In a world where people are living increasingly long and healthy lives, and where collaboration is becoming increasingly important even in traditionally "solitary" fields (as I write this, the renowned mathematician Tim Gowers is experimenting on his blog with "Polymath," a large-scale pseudonymous---but not anonymous---wiki-style collaborative research entity), the premise of "The Bourbaki Gambit" is extremely relevant. Scientists themselves (and not just the general public) would do well to grapple more directly and openly with the problems and issues that are highlighted in this book. I must confess, however, that I found "The Bourbaki Gambit" to be less well-written than Djerassi's more famous book, "Cantor's Dilemma." One gets the feeling that the author overindulged himself by inserting a lot of trivia about his favorite hobbies and pet interests. These details can be interesting if you happen to share the same interests---for example, even though I am a mathematician and know about Hy Bass, I did not know that he contributed to Bourbaki---but too often they fail to enliven the characters or plot, or contribute to the underlying social commentary, and thus they cause the book to drag. The characters in "Cantor's Dilemma" are more believable, three-dimensional, and likable. So if you have never read Djerassi before, I recommend you start with "Cantor's Dilemma." By the way, the characters' main scientific discovery in the book is in fact a real piece of science, and the true story of its discovery is quite fascinating in its own right. Be sure to check it out after finishing Djerassi's book.

Djerassi did not win a nobel prize.

This excellent book explored the collaborative process of science in the framework of an interesting story. It is a must read for scientists who should learn lessons from this book. It should be noted however that the author is not a nobel prize winner as the first review would have us believe.