Doubly Nobel

This is Linus Pauling for the masses: Linus Pauling: A life in Science and Politics by Ted and Ben Goertzel (Basic Books, £18.99/$27.50, ISBN 0 465 00672 8). It’s an easy-to-read, light and not too long survey of the life of a man who was awarded two Nobel Prizes (for chemistry and for peace), just about invented quantum chemistry, and ended his life regarded by many as a crank for his belief in the health benefits of vitamin C. It is a “warts and all” story, but told with no malice and the accent on the positive.