Five Billion Vodka Bottles to the Moon: Tales of a Soviet Scientist

by Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky

Book Overview

The bizarre history of Russian science in the Soviet epoch through the eyes and anecdotes of a gifted iconoclastic practitioner--Iosif Shlovsky, one of the most outstanding Soviet astronomers of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393029905
• ISBN13: 9780393029901
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Insightful...

This out-of-print book is full of great stories by/about a little known soviet scientist whose work foreshadowed many of the ideas later popularized in the west. For example, a book by Shkolvsky was the launch-pad for Carl Sagan's career; "Intelligent Life in the Universe" was Shkolovsky's (translated by Sagan and with Sagan's annotations marked) but no royalties or fame ever came Shkolvsky's way and surprisingly enough this caused no (apparent) animosity between them. If you would enjoy a book by/about a better known scientist such as Sagan you will find this an excellent and enjoyable addition to your shelf!