Louis pasteur

by debre patrice

French

Genres: Biography, History, Science, Nonfiction, Medicine, History Of Science, Medical

576 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 6, 1998

Reviews

[Lynne King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louis Pasteur was the choice for my memoir at university. I took the easy way out as I had heard that the other choice of translation was more difficult in which to get a good grade, and so to ensure that I achieved this, I chose memoir. I was right in my choice.

Who can possibly doubt the lasting influence that Pasteur had on the world with pasturization, anthrax and rabies, and the Pasteur Institute in Paris is the living proof of this today. Even now, they are still trying to find that elusive vaccine for AIDS and I have no doubt that they will ultimately succeed.

Out of all the biographies and other books that I have on Pasteur, I think that Patrice Debré's is the best. His account closely follows all aspects of Pasteur's life and it is a real pleasure to read. As I browse again through this book now, I still don't know why I chose to write about Pasteur at the time. I guess that he just literally popped into my mind and I followed my instinct.

I really recommend this book.

Incidentally, if you want to read a controversial biography on Pasteur, do try "The Private Life of Louis Pasteur" by Gerald L. Geison. It "finally penetrates the secrecy that has surrounded much of this legendary scientist's laboratory work".

[Sara Van Dyck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars instead of five only because it is not for everyone. Granted that there were large chunks of this bio that were not of interest to me, or scientifically too technical, I skimmed through those and still recommend the story for the non-specialist. It’s an in-depth portrait of a brilliant, tenacious, and often combative scientist. It offers uncertainty, suspense, and mystery, with life-and-death issues at stake. The chapters titled “The Wager of Pouilly-le-Fort” and “Rabies Must Be Defeated!” are worth reading alone as colorful historical dramas.

Even after the efficacy of Pasteur’s treatments for rabies had been demonstrated, attacks against his findings persisted. These controversies illustrate confiicts that are probably everlasting in medicine: the need to ensure that research is carefully done, the urgency of helping patients, adherence to tradition, the worry over doing harm with new procedures, and battles between physicians over theories or egos. These issues are fought out today over experimental therapies, the “vaccine-deniers,” and alternative medicine.

[Konstantin Ivanovitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

In conversation with most biologists today after reading this book, it is painfully clear that even those involved in the life sciences know very little about where our knowledge came from and what means humans arrived at to get there. For all the talk of great man fallacy these days, one cannot offer up a better example than Louis. This book especially creates a hero out of Pasteur in its extensive descriptions of the sparing that he had to undertake to fight for his ideas and discoveries. The book is as much about his epic scientific victories as it is about the obstinacy and recalcitrance one encounters when promoting new concepts. How disappointed would all of Pasteur's opponents be to find out that I had never heard their names and do not remember them even now after spending months reading them. We can thank Pasteur himself for ensuring their obscurity.

I agree with some of the other reviews that while there are sections about his personal life I had very little interest in, the variety of drama surrounding the scientific debates at the time is well worth picking up this book for. These stories are masterfully written and display to the reader just how public scientific debate can (and should) be. The problems and solutions should be simple enough that they are easily demonstrated on a stage to the public. Perhaps this is a relic of a bygone era but I still think as a scientist we can always strive for this level of clarity. Pasteur is a hero precisely because of his ability to generate drama and controversy, and to generate the experiments and demonstrations that only the nitpickers could criticize. One can even say that the book is thrilling for this reason, and really succeeded in inspiring me. I'm talking hold the book to the breast and flop backward onto my divan type of emotion here.

In the same way the author really transports the reader into the level of understanding and knowledge at the time - sometimes it can a little difficult to follow since the terms and ideas of the time are employed. For example, when describing fermentation, the author will describe any biochemical process, either alcohol or lactic acid fermentation, as 'fermentation' being the result of different 'yeasts' or simply requiring a 'ferment'. The author invokes the sense of confusion of the time, when bacteria and yeast had not been distinguished, and the biological processes were only distinguished based on the byproduct that could be detected with the senses. I am not sure if this was intentional but it did require a little bit of research on my own. This resulted in the book losing a star, since I also agree with others that it isn't a book for everyone.

That being said, any student of science should be familiar with Pasteur's achievements, courage, work ethic, and flaws. I loved the book.

[Robert Koslowsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent biography of one of the world's greatest chemist-become-biologist who discovered germs and found the field of microbiology and immunology. Pasteur was one of those rare individuals who was able to transfer scientific discoveries to industry and medicine for the benefit of humanity. He was an enabler of the "technology transfer" in the 19th century.

[Ghazwan Butrous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anybody learning or researching Pasteur

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent biography, covers the territory. Doesn't always explain points of scientific discovery in ways general readers can understand. The translation also sometimes irritates, as if the translator is not a native English language speaker. Also makes odd choices, like quoting an English language author at one point by translating him, rather than going to the original English text.

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

So dense it is painful. I only made it through a few pages.

[Bradley Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pasteur was a great scientist, but not always a pleasant man.