Vacation Stories: FIVE SCIENCE FICTION TALES - Hardcover

Ramon Y Cajal, Santiago; Otis, Laura

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252026551 ISBN 13: 9780252026553

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2001

Synopsis

A world-famous neurobiologist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal won the Nobel Prize for his scientific research in 1906. The previous year, he published these stories: five ingenious tales that take a microscopic look at the nature, allure, and danger of scientific curiosity. Ramón y Cajal waited almost twenty years to publish these stories because he feared they would compromise his scientific career. Featuring the cutting-edge science of the mid-1880s (microscopy, bacteriology, and hypnosis), they probe the seductive power that proceeds from scientific knowledge and explore how the pursuit of such knowledge alternately redeems and ensnares humanity. Here revenge is disguised as research and common fraud as moral purification. Critical thought vies with moribund tradition and stifling religion for a hold on the human spirit; rigid divisions of class and wealth dissolve before the indiscriminate assault of microbes. One man's faith in science gives him the tools to outwit superstition and win the true love and happiness for which he has sacrificed. Another's bitterness and disillusion are cured by a supernatural intervention that melds the epiphany of A Christmas Carol with the macabre detail of an Edgar Allan Poe story. Now available for the first time in English, Ramón y Cajal's stories reveal a great deal about human nature and the collusion of ambition and greed that prey on the hapless and thoughtless, whether in the name of science, religion, or the state. Laura Otis, whose dual background in literature and science echoes that of the author, has crafted a sparkling translation that captures the wit and imagination of the original.

About this title

Book Description:

Stories about the bright and dark side of scientific curiosity from a world-famous scientist

Fearing they would compromise his scientific career, neurobiologist Ramón y Cajal waited almost twenty years to publish these stories: five ingenious tales that take a microscopic look at the nature, allure, and danger of scientific curiosity. Now available for the first time in an English paperback edition, Cajal's stories reveal a great deal about the collusion of human ambition and greed that prey on the hapless, whether in the name of science, religion, or the state. Laura Otis, whose dual background in literature and science echoes that of the author, has written a substantial introduction that describes Cajal as a scientist and an artist. She has also crafted a sparkling translation that captures the wit and imagination of the original.

From the Inside Flap:

"Those in the scientific world who know him only though his scientific works will find a different Cajal in the Vacation Stories: less constrained by the formulaic demands of anatomical description typical of the era in which he wrote, and at liberty to indulge wit and flights of fancy that, while commonly showing through in his scientific works, are here unbounded. . . . Laura Otis has done a fine job of producing a readable and at times racy account which preserves much of the élan of the original." — Edward G. Jones, director, Center for Neuroscience, University of California at Davis "Fascinating reading . . . Laura Otis provides a superb introduction to Cajal's visual thinking as well as to the relationship between his creative writing and his science. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended to anyone interested in neuroscience or the thinking of this great neuroanatomist!" — Hugh R. Wilson, York University, Toronto

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0252026551
• ISBN 13: 9780252026553
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272