Good Benito

by Alan Lightman

Bennett "Benito" Lang is a lonely and confused young boy who finds solace in the ordered and rigorous laws of mathematics and physics. But as an adult, when he most needs the irrefutable order and precision of science itself, Benito will learn that, despite its expansive beauty and power, it is no match for the unfathomable desires and pains of the human heart. Lightman is the acclaimed author of Einstein's Dreams.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Novels, American, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Science Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Alan Lightman is an American writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur. Born in 1948, he was educated at Princeton and at the California Institute of Technology, where he received a PhD in theoretical physics. He has received five honorary doctoral degrees. Lightman has served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. He is currently professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT. His scientific research in astrophysics has concerned
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.

Reviews

[Gorab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly impressed by the debut - Einstein's Dreams, picked the next published book by the author.

Seems autobiographical. Bennett joins a university, and is entrusted to get a paper publication from the works of Professor Scalapino, who hasn't published anything since the university hired him a decade ago.
Bennett's encounters with the professor were too good. Trying to keep his sane, deriving sense from the complex written mathematical sheets of the eccentric Professor.

The narrative shifts to flashbacks, where Bennett recounts his childhood days. Benito was the nickname given by his close friend John. The episodes reminded of Surely you're joking Mr Feynman (without the pranks!)

Outside of the autobiographical plotline, the power of writing could be especially felt in the first and last parts of the book - beginning with Professor, ending with Bennets relation with his wife, Penny.

Overall:
A portrait of a fictional physicist, having too many similarities with the author's own life, exploring the emotional side of a man of science.
Much recommended.

P.S.: Einstein's Dreams is a tough benchmark as a debut, do not read this with any expectations.

[Jaksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and special read. A unique kind of book. Small in a physical sense, but grand in an emotional and insightful one. The story of a man - Bennett Lang - who lives more through the mind - his intellect - than having a more 'traditional' existence. (Traditional? Family, friends, co-workers, work routines and maybe a spouse or partner, children.) He's someone who'd be at home on a deserted island - as long as he had a few books, some paper and a supply of sturdy pencils.

Honest to God, I knew a man just like this! My grandfather's older brother, Alvin, who lived alone, was happy alone, and went to work each day happy and fully satisfied just thinking about 'things' and working out the answers to problems. Alvin was a machinist by trade, and one of the best in the small company for which he worked. Give him a problem; give him a day to think about it; he'd solve it. I only knew him 'til age ten, but even as a child I was fascinated by him...

And back to the book, Bennett is the same way - nicknamed by a childhood friend 'Benito.' What he enjoys most is thinking - purely thinking. A theoretical physicist, he ventures outside his own small world only a few times, but each one is like a sparkling little ornament on a huge Christmas tree. This book is more a character study than a 'story' with plot and action; it moves in little jolts, jumps through Bennett's life with what I like to call 'episodes:'

The time he works with a reclusive physicist. The time he falls in love. The time he takes in his Uncle Maury and how that all works out - or not. This is a small and fascinating read.

Worth a few hours of anyone's time.

Five stars.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bennett Lang “wanted to burrow into his solitude and quietly celebrate physics.” He was a theoretical physicist whose “necessary equipment…consisted of a large stock of unlined white paper and a wastebasket.” When he solved a problem he had grappled with for months, “he knew something was true that no one else knew, and he had vast power in the world.” Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams , a celebrated physicist in his own right, certainly must have drawn on his own life to write this absorbing novel about a young physicist who grew up in Memphis—Lightman’s hometown—and becomes a professor at a mythical small college in Baltimore.

Lightman’s descriptions of Bennett’s life conjure thoughts about the people we meet in our lives who have important roles to play only to fade with time. The same applies to episodes that seem all-consuming and pivotal only to be compartmentalized as experiences in retrospect, some more profound than others. The style reminds me much of Saul Bellow, Nathaneal West, and Wallace Stegner with a tinge of Theodore Dreiser. Good Benito is deceptively dense and thoroughly original. As I reflected on what I had read, it brought back memories of events and persons in my life I had long forgotten or chose not to remember. This is a charming, reflective story that is hard to put down; there is much more to it than what one reads.

[Alyson Larrabee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A plot that travels in waves, like sound, or the ocean. The characters create the plot as they move through time and space. A beautiful story about a physicist with pure intentions who attempts to control his environment but in the end cannot even control his own thoughts or actions. He learns that his life is like a problem that was assigned to him as a graduate student; he only finds the true meaning when he stops actively trying. Exquisite writing.

[Nancy McClure · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel almost guilty recommending this book SO highly, because I feel that my personal connection to it is so dependant upon some personal correlation - to throw in the (non-dramatic) spoiler: the scene in which the protagonist has a FLASH moment of 'break-through' clarity while in the shower..... how more personal can that moment be?? and YES, I felt the writing EXACTLY captured the nature of such a lightening bolt breakthrough, which I think relates to ANY creative person - science, mathematics, design - ALL of it.

*amendment: realizing that not ALL my design friends 'got' this - I think it's basis of truth hits me bc the design of the protagonist is under the scrutiny of being a Fundamental Truth. A concept of philosophical and scientifically structural validity that new worlds could be built upon. I realize that not all of my design comrades feel this 'longevity necessity' to their work, but I related to it completely.

I loved this book, seriously. I've given the compact 4x7 hardback away to no less than 3 other 'thinkers' I know. Can't say they truly appreciated it (har har) but they still talk to me. So far, so good.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lightman's coming of age novel fits both as a physics and also a generational lesson. His family and friends raise him as much as his prodigious mind drives him. The multiple episodes of Bennet's maturation fill a mosaic of false starts, unfinished business, family wounds, missed connections, and random incidents signify a physic quest in which "a mixture of particles was more fragile than a pure population, a mixture made the gravothermal catastrophe more likely to happen."

It's a short, redeeming novel to read. It didn't slay me but gave me hope that the multiple little catastrophes in the daily living of life still cannot equal its grandeur.

[Annett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Buch hat schon lange auf meinem Regal ausgeharrt, bis ich es nun endlich einmal in die Hand genommen habe. Die Geschichte des auf seine Wissenschaft fixierten Bennett, der teilweise am Alltäglichen und Zwischenmenschlichen scheitert, hat mich angesprochen, aber nicht unbedingt vom Hocker gerissen. Der Autor springt extrem zwischen den Zeiten (Bennett als Kind, Jugendlicher und Erwachsener) und irgendwann war mir das fast zu viel. Wie er als Junge mit einer Nanny aufwächst und schon früh anfängt zu experimentieren, welche Erfahrungen er an verschiedenen Hochschulen und mit verschiedenen Frauen macht wird bunt durcheinandergewirbelt. Gleichzeitig werden die verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen so dargestellt, dass sie zumnindest oberflächlich auch für Laien verständlich sind. Das hat mir gut gefallen.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lightman, in general, doesn't write very nuanced, or realistic characters: they're there are ciphers for larger belief systems. Most tend to be very light philosophical work, and Good Benito is no different.

This wasn't a bad book - 3 in my world means average - but his novels never seem to click to me, they always seem to feel a little cold and hollow. His physics books, on contrast, feel full of life to me.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Good Benito" was a very enjoyable read overall, however it left the reader hanging in such a way that it's hard to feel completely satisfied upon finishing the book. Specifically, the first and second-to-last chapters leave the reader deeply unfulfilled.

The first chapter sets up an intriguing story but upon beginning the second chapter you realize that you've left nearly everything behind - from the characters (with the exception of Bennett) to the plot - and have begun what appears to be a memoir of Bennett's, or possibly Lightman's childhood. The Scalapino debacle so wonderfully described in the first chapter hooks you into a story that never really develops (indeed Scalapino is only mentioned once again in passing much later in the novel) and by the end of the novel you realize that it would have been much better placed later in the book where it would have had context and supported the overall story.

The second-to-last chapter similarly captures the readers attention, and emotions, displaying some very real(istic) character and plot development. Finally the reader is getting somewhere, the troubles and social awkwardness that have plagued Bennett since his childhood are all nicely coming together (and to a head) in his response to his wife Penny's own issues. And Lightman's brutally honest portrayal of Bennett's actions, emotions and confusion is so beautifully real that at the chapters end you can barely wait until the next and final chapter to find out what finally happened with Bennett and Penny. Yet, you never find out. The final chapter skips ahead in time to Bennett spending time with his niece (an entirely new character). Penny is never even mentioned. And the reader is forever left hanging.

Occasionally it can be a good thing to be "left hanging" where the reader is drawn into the story making and can come up with the "what happened next" on their own - but not here. In "Good Benito" we find that the most developmental chapters stand alone and are at best loosely tied to the rest of the novel - either because they are misplaced within the book itself or because they need supporting chapters to bring closure.

Had all the other chapters been so isolated and disjointed perhaps it all would have worked better - coming out as a collection of short stories instead of a novel. Yet while the other chapters did have a feeling that they could potentially stand alone, Lightman was able to effectively tie them together and construct an overarching story of a beautiful, curious and brilliant yet troubled man. Unfortunately, he either could not or purposely did not tie in two of the novels most substantive chapters.

Still, "Good Benito" is worth reading and enjoyable - but be prepared to be left with a sense of fragmentation or lack of closure upon finishing it.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very interesting so far. Not sure I will continue. On hiatus, for now.

Closing out as 2 star, DNF, eh, Not for me. Recycled my copy.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could someone please explain the last Chapter to me? Don't want to spoil it for anyone, and I have a theory and a problem with it. Just like Bennett at one point not being sure if his problem is a good one and there is a comment on it by another character. My rating of the entire book could be bordering on "meaningless" too.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author's other works have been compared to Calvino, but I just didn't see it in this book. It's not surprising that a physicist wrote this book; it's very mechanical. The story is very cut and dry, the characters are caricatures, and the only thing exciting happening is the occassional love affair with science.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful Bloomsbury 1995 edition, perfect to hold while you read this novel about seeking answers to everything through science. Dr. Bennett Lang remains mystified by personal relationships, yet somehow as a reader I felt I knew him. An inconclusive ending, but Good Benito will remain with me for ages.

[Ken Ronkowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right off, let me say that I loved Lightman's first novel Einstein's Dreams and this followup novel is nothing like it - but that is not a bad thing at all. 'Einstein's Dreams' was a very unusual book that played with imagined dreams about the nature of time that Mr. E might have had and it was sometimes compared to Italo Calvino 's.

I loved that first book, but I'm sure there were people who hated it for its structure and style. I read it because my son was assigned it as the freshman "common book" at Virginia Tech. He was not a fan. If you're expecting more of the first book, this will disappoint you. If you didn't like the first book, you may prefer this one. I do like this book's mixture of physics and science and humor and good old storytelling about Bennett's life.

'Good Benito' is also about a physicist and sometimes about physics. But it is equally about a boy who loved science who grows up, gets married and becomes a professor of physics.

When we first meet Bennett ("Benito" to one friend) he is teaching physics at a small college in Baltimore. He is tasked by his dean to get another elusive professor to publish some of the assumed brilliant research he is keeping hidden from the world. That other physicist, Scalapino, and his daughter who cares for him and protects him from the world become a big part of Bennett's life.

Novelist Alan Lightman is also a physicist and currently Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and there are lots of digs and inside jokes about the academic life that I appreciated having spent some time there myself. (Humanities at NJIT - the MIT of New Jersey. No joke.)

The novel flips back and forth between the present and Bennett's past. We see him as an inquisitive child working his way through science to physics. He finds logic and predictability in science that is missing from his home life and much of the world.

Bennett gets really involved with Scalapino and his daughter. It turns out that Scalapino does have lots of research - and could care less about publishing it. He loses interest in the theories after he finishes them, so Bennett tries to work with him to polish the equations for presentation. This is what the dean had hoped would happen as he sees a Nobel Prize and stature for the college in the future.

Bennett marries Penny, who is a gifted artist. Like Scalapino, she produces work but doesn't put it out into the world. He secretly shows her work to a curator at a gallery who agrees to exhibit it but she refuses saying she's not ready and is still learning how to paint. This disappoints him so much that it leads him to eventually leave her.

But Bennett's own great potential is never realized either. He doesn't do really important work and is at a second-tier college. And he's alone.

I did note that some readers posting here were confused and/or unhappy with the very open-to-interpretation ending of the novel. It also left me wondering if there was another chapter to follow. I think it left Bennett wondering too.

I gave this *** which I take at its definition (I liked it). I'm a tough grader so that rating isn't a bad one from me. I did like this novel. I've read other books by him that I liked more.

[Garry Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

written in May 1995

Lightman’s newest novel is more human in some ways than Einstein’s Dreams, or maybe it’s just that his central character, Bennett Lang, is more familiar, at least to this reader. He is a young male child of the ‘50s, of Sputnik and fallout shelters and faith in science as the solution to mankind’s problems. Like many of us did, he builds rockets and radios and ponders in his room for hours. His life reminds me of Thomas Mallon’s Aurora 7 (1991), or of my own boyhood. Lightman does a wonderful job developing anecdotes of Bennett’s life in short stories.

What I miss is the whole out of these moving parts. The story begins with Bennett as a young assistant professor of physics discovering his limitations and despairing of ever making it in world-class physics. By the book’s end he has made it, but we never learn how, or why it no longer matters. He has also finally married, and the marriage seems to have failed, but maybe his wife has recaptured him with a nearly successful suicide – it isn’t clear. (It is tempting to look for parallels to Lightman’s own academic path in physics, from his Princeton and Cal Tech degrees to his positions at Harvard and M.I.T. and his segue into creative writing.)

The book’s publicist reports on the fly leaf what we are supposed to make of the book:
As Bennett struggles between reason and intuition, he slowly learns to allow the imprefections of daily life – the chaos he has worked so hard to control – to broaden his understanding of the world and his place in it.

Bennett’s increasing acknowledgement of life’s imperfections is clearly apparent in the book; his broadening understanding as a result of them is not. It is certainly reasonable for a work of modern fiction by an MIT scientist to emulate the uncertainty that both modern physics and modern philosophy celebrate. But that does not make this mimetic fallacy as enjoyable or satisfying as the old-fashioned kind of writing that consoled by concluding.

I would love to meet Lightman, and I will continue to read his books and, I suspect, to be both greatly moved and a little disappointed.

[Temy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bennett (Good Benito) is a highly analytical and talented physicist who prefers precision and absoluteness in life like those math equations he solves. However life is vague and blurry and full of uncertainty which confuses and irritates him. He struggles to understand people around him and experiences awkward situations in his life.

His wife, Penny, who is an artist, is so unconfident and unambitious. She never shows her work to anyone. When she has a chance to exhibit with a group of leading artists, she turned it down. Being very analytical myself, I find it extremely hard to empathize with this character. It puzzles me why one can be so self-destructive to oneself.

This book is not as well written as Einstein's Dreams. The first chapter is loosely related to the rest of the book. By the time I turned to the second chapter, I realized this book is about Bennett's life from his childhood to his adulthood, and the genius physicist Scalapino and his intriguing story was not developed or mentioned again. The ending is hanging in an unsatisfied way. You have no idea if Penny and Benito get back together. In the last chapter, Benito goes fishing in a canoe with his niece, which may imply he is able to reconcile with life and with himself.

This novel is a good reading overall. There are beautiful descriptions of a pure scientific mind and the stunning moments scientists discover the truth, solutions to their math/ physics problems.

[cypher · Rating 5 out of 5]

the portrait of one character, an unusual one. i quite liked this book, it made me nostalgic in relation to a few people i have met, very similar to this character, all incredibly absorbed by work beyond what humanity offers, more comfortable...and happy in the world of abstract and logic. i think it was written nicely, to bring the right feel for the character, a bit disconnected and detached.
one person's life highlights are not necessarily the same with another person's, even if they were side by side, things do not look the same to all people, and some can appear very cryptic, strange or without emotion to others, who are used to perceiving the world in a more common way, or who absorb the culture of a community they grow up in differently.

[Saige · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but mostly because it was so short and I was able to finish it in one rainy day. A day in which the power was out and I didn't want to wear down the phone battery reading something from my kindle so I picked up the nearest book. There isn't any plot. Just snippets if various parts of Bennett's life. None of them tie together. There is no resolution or true ending. The main character is odd but likeable. The other characters don't seem to serve much purpose. A lot of science talk but all very superficial and theoretical. No great correlations between his theories and his life which could have been interesting.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple, slow story about a lonely, lovely physicist. Not too heavy on the physics, and all of his work is explained clearly without feeling as though Lightman thinks the reader is an idiot/layperson, a fine balance to achieve. I fell a little bit in love with Bennett (the titular Benito) and most of the ancillary characters, too. Beautifully written, but then, it's Alan Lightman, so that's to be expected.

[Martin Gallois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I came to read about a physicist's life around mathematics, equations, problems, and how to, in parallel, deal with real-life problems, this book is more about his life as a whole. It is interesting to see the people he meets and leaves, and never sees again, almost too quickly. I especially like the part centered on solving his graduate physics problem and the moment he found out an important result whilst showering.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written book that was enjoyable but I just didn't find it all that fascinating. Life seems to just happen to the main character, a physicist who clearly likes physics problems more than people or other things in life. It's kind of written in a monotone, with no drama, which is effective but not that much fun...

[Diane Eskridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book expecting and hoping but for me it never quite culminated into something I would recommend to a friend. I suppose it might appeal to some so take my review collectively and follow your book instincts...

[Drew]

Beautiful prose, with a disjointed narrative concerning itself more with tone, character, and ideas than a cohesive story. The lack of formal punctuation around dialogue lends even more emphasis on getting the impression of the scene than knowing the mechanics.

[Gretje · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was absorbed by it until the last few chapters when the narrative took a confusing and odd turn. A good read, though, with an interesting main character obsessed with science.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely, visually poetic. a pleasure reread.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bunch of random vignettes from a physicist's life. I can't believe I forced myself to read the whole thing.

[Amy Place · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some things that bothered me about this book.

[Bill Zawrotny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great writing. I love Lightman's style. This was a dark novel, though. It touched me, but it was darker than I expected. And it had a very unique structure.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fractured, fragmented telling of a physicist's life. Master storyteller Alan Lightman wove the weird with wonderful, leaving me wanting more...

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the first chapter was expanded to fill a whole book. After that the story rambles, with no particular order becoming more sad and seemingly pointless.