The Nobel Book of Answers

ANNOTATION

A collection of essays written by various Nobel Prize winners about their fields of endeavor.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Dalai Lama, Mikahil Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, and Other Nobel Prize Winners Answer Some of Life's Most Intriguing Questions

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has honored outstanding men and women throughout the world who have made the most important contributions to physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics, and world peace. Now, for the first time, these creative thinkers, writers, experimenters, and politicians are challenged to answer twenty-two of life's most difficult and intriguing questions -- for children. The well-known contributors include the Dalai Lama, who explains "What is love", Desmond Tutu, who answers "Why is there war?", Shimon Peres, who responds to "What is politics?" and Mikhail Gorbachev, who tells us how one can win the Nobel Prize.

Imagine being able to ask internationally renowned experts who you can't eat french fries all day long, why you feel pain, and why there are poor people and rich people. Ranging from the practical to the scientific to the philosophical, the questions cover virtually every field and area of study. The answers are rich with surprise, humor, and of course, wisdom. And every single answer will make you think...and learn something new.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

First published in German in 2001, this absorbing book features answers by 22 Nobelists to questions posed by children -- questions that turn out to be less simple than they sound. — Elizabeth Ward

Publishers Weekly

Who better to answer life's most intriguing questions than the thinkers who have made the most important contributions to world peace, medicine, literature, economics and more? In The Nobel Book of Answers: The Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, and Other Nobel Prize Winners Answer Some of Life's Most Intriguing Questions for Young People, ed. by Bettina Stiekel, the luminaries tackle questions ranging from "Why can't I live on French fries?" to "What is love?" and "How much longer will the Earth keep turning?" With an introduction by former President and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Jimmy Carter, this book is a thought-provoking, surprising and sometimes humorous collection of wisdom for young people. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Cindy L. Carolan

Hats off to the 22 Nobel Prize winners who agreed to participate in the making of this book! The Nobel Prize has honored some of the world's greatest thinkers in the fields of chemistry, physics, economics, literature and world peace since 1901. This collection of questions about many of life's great mysteries and the answers provided by the Nobel laureates is beautiful. Children will not be intimidated by their answers and adults will be awed by the complex in depth, yet understandable, answers communicated by these amazing achievers. Some of the essays included are "Why do we feel pain?" by G￯﾿ﾽnter Blobel (Nobel Prize for medicine, 1999), "Why are some people rich and others poor?" by Daniel L. McFadden (Nobel Prize for economics, 2000), and "What is love?" by the Dalai Lama (Nobel Peace Prize, 1989). Former President and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Jimmy Carter gives a very strong yet humble introduction to the book, which is worth the price of the book in and of itself. Biographical information about each essayist is contained at the end of each chapter. An excellent book for anyone looking for a little bit more than the average story, for the gifted, for the aspiring, or for just about anyone. Recommended. 2001, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Ages 10 up.

VOYA - Beth E. Andersen

Stiekel, an editor with the well-respected German publication S￯﾿ﾽddeutsche Zeitung, gathers a series of delightful interviews with Nobel winners (as well as a couple of alternative Nobel-like winners) whose focus is children's curiosity about their world. Nobel prize-winning heavy-hitters such as the Jimmy Carter (Peace Prize, 2002), the Dalai Lama (Peace Prize, 1989), Mikhail Gorbachev (Peace Prize, 1980), Shimon Peres (Peace Prize, 1994), and Desmond Tutu (Peace Prize 1984) line up beside a roster of more elusive brainiacs, including Sheldon Glashow (Physics, 1979), Paul Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995), and Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (Medicine, 1995), to thoughtfully apply the concepts of their respective fields to such meaty questions as: Why do we feel pain? What is politics? How much longer will the Earth keep turning? Even the more whimsical questions - Why is pudding soft and stone hard? Why can't I live on French fries? and Why does 1 + 1 = 2? - trigger surprising answers that eschew condescension in favor of serious discourse. The contributors are straight shooters. In answer to the question, Why are some people rich and other poor?, Daniel McFadden (Economics, 2000) concludes a penetrating analysis by stating, "In the end, it all boils down to one sentence: The world is not fair." Glashow tempers scientific theory, which states that earth is slowing down and eventually will be destroyed by a disintegrating moon, by reassuring readers that this inevitability is millions of years down the road. This book of thought-provoking answers is a wonderful incentive for students to apply themselves in school and set high important academic goals. It is highly recommended. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J(Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2003, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 272p., Ages 11 to 15.

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