Review : Staying conscious

18 January 1997

Great-grandson of Robert Schumann, pupil of Kurt Hahn, refugee from the
Nazis—Gerd Sommerhoff got off to an eventful start in a life that has been
devoted equally to inspiring technical creativity in hundreds of young people
and, encouraged by Peter Medawar, exploring the mysteries of consciousness. In
and Out of Consciousness: The Intimate History of a Search for Certainties
(published by Sommerhoff, available from Heffer’s, Cambridge, £8.95 ISBN 0
9528536 0 4) is the cheerful, highly readable, wide-ranging memoir of a
still-productive octogenarian.