judyward's review against another edition
3.0
I have been interested in the work of Gregor Mendel since I first learned about him in a high school biology class and was thrilled to stumble across this biography. Mendel had an interesting life. He failed the examinations several times to become a high school teacher and he was finally led into the religious life where the humble, plump, and very michievous monk found himself interested in science and the traits that parents pass down to their children. He began his work with mice, but the bishop overseeing his monastary objected so he began to work in the garden with sweet peas. Mendel became the abbot of St. Thomas Monastery in Brunn and died there in 1884. While he had published his genetic findings in the papers of a local scientific society, it wasn't until 20 years after his death that Mendel was "discovered" by the larger scientific community. A very interesting biography of a pioneer in the field of genetics. Talk about religion and science being compatible--Gregor Mendel combines the best of both worlds.
embingham's review against another edition
5.0
Biographies are always a toss up because it seems to me that whether the book is enjoyable depends more on the author than it does on the subject matter. This book was a very pleasant surprise for me. I got it at a secondhand store, and I didn't have high hopes for it, but it turned out to be one of those rare nonfiction page turners. I learned a lot about the life of Gregor Mendel, and there were also various other scientists that are discussed as side stories. Mendel really was an interesting character, and I had no idea that he died not knowing that his research made an impact at all. Well worth the read!
charbel14's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I have always been fascinated by Mendel and how his work started, but I never really considered his personal life, in fact it was completely insignificant to me; all that really mattered were the results he offered the world. To me he was always this monk who had high intellectual capacities and led the world to the discovery of genes (even if he didn't know what genes are). This book didn't do it for me because I already had expectations of what it should be like. In my opinion there should have been more focus on the science and less on the historical documentations of that time. Many obviously disagree and would probably want to be more biographical, despite what I thought of as lack of evidence.
atticmoth's review
2.0
im not gonna finish this beacause im failing the clas i was reading it for anyway but this is a bad book
this is what happens when you don't have enough information on a subject. it feels like some kid whos trying to reach a word count for a school essay but its an entire book.
theres like very little information about mendel's life in this and the author takes unrelated digressions for pages and pages and it's kind of painful to read.
I feel like this could have made a really good like, article, or shortform piece, but to make it into a whole damn book is extremely extra.
this is what happens when you don't have enough information on a subject. it feels like some kid whos trying to reach a word count for a school essay but its an entire book.
theres like very little information about mendel's life in this and the author takes unrelated digressions for pages and pages and it's kind of painful to read.
I feel like this could have made a really good like, article, or shortform piece, but to make it into a whole damn book is extremely extra.
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