Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger - these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamin Labatut thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence.

They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity.

Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear.

Written by Sywert, Maarten and Bob

Sywert

Part actual history, part fiction, this is an amazing look into the lives of the scientists who have shaped our world.
Colleague Bob tried to get everybody to read this title and for a damn good reason. It’s amazing.

Maarten

One of my dear colleagues has been “pestering” me for months to really read some of his favorite books. In this case, he wasn’t wrong. This is very good!
Being a sort of “novelization” of some episodes of the history of science—although it often reads as non-fiction, but then better written— this book is hard to categorize. Except as “very good!” that is.

Bob

A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining.

  • The Safekeep
  • To Be Taught, If Fortunate
  • Educated: A Memoir
  • A Deadly Education
  • The Gay Best Friend
  • Viscount in Love
  • What I’d Rather Not Think About
  • Abroad in Japan
  • These Violent Delights
  • The Courage to Be Disliked