Brave Genius: A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize

The book by Carroll, Brave Genius, is a wonderfully and lucidly crafted exposition of two major French figures at mid twentieth century; Camus and Monod. In CP Snow's book, The Two Cultures, written about the same time of these events of the book which bemoans the gap between the cultural intellectual and the scientist. This book clearly belies that tale.This is a tale of two men, from and in different walks of life in their day "jobs" and yet drawn to a common theme by the invasion and capture of France in the early 1940s (1940-1944). It tells the tale of each of them, their divergent lives and the convergence of common interests. It is, in many ways, a uniquely French tale of intellect, action, culture and friendships.Monod is the biologist, seen first as a student seeking, albeit slowly, what to focus on. Monod clearly has little personal angst due to his coming from a solid middle class family, his mother even being American. He is a multi-talented young man, married to a Jewish woman. Camus on the other hand is from Algeria, from near poverty, but educated and with the intents of being a writer. His early work is marginally accepted yet he continues to extol the ideas of what was to become broadly speaking, the Existential School.Camus is well known for his works such as The Plague and the Myth of Sisyphus; Monod, for explaining the details of DNA to protein synthesis. Monod complemented the work of Watson and Crick, it let those of us in the late 50s and early 60s to say; oh, that is how it works. Camus also framed the challenge of life for many in the same period, as a clear voice for those seeking the meaning of existence, and also as a strong counter voice to Sartre.This book throws these two together, not in an artificial way, but as a telling of the factual interaction of what would become two Nobel Prize winners; Camus for Literature and Monod for Medicine and Physiology.The book starts before the War and its main discussion is during the War itself and the actions of Camus on the underground paper Combat and Monod as a significant participant in the underground. The book details their exploits, of frustrating the Germans and of their cat and mouse games of avoiding being identified or capture. Monod is a most interesting character since at one time he is trying to pursue his research career while at the same time he is rapidly moving up in the Resistance hierarchy. Camus, still hindered by his Tuberculosis, manages to continually get his underground newspaper out which is an ongoing assault to the Germans. Both Monod and Camus have by this time interacted but their lives are each dominated by their goal to defeat the Germans by deed or word.The book does discuss the significant ambivalence of many of the French during the occupation. Many just wanted to allow the Germans to occupy them and not make things worse. In effect whether in Occupied France or in Vichy the attitude was that they would like to have things as "normal" as possible. In contrast it was truly a small band of quite brave resistors like Camus and Monod who took a stand which not only placed them at odds with the German occupiers but also with many of their French compatriots. The book does tell the tale of the German opposition side but could have somewhat better explored the dissonance in the French people at large. For it was the latter that often created the greatest risks?The last part of the book concerns the two of them and the post War life and politics in France. French intellectuals of many types were often Socialists and Communists. That included Camus and Monod. But the challenge came when the Stalin and his extreme treatment of the people and truth became common knowledge. For Monod it was Lysenko and the Stalinist theory of genetics.For Monod this was a breaking point and he took a public stand and denounced Lysenko and by default Russian Communism. For that he received the reprobation of the French Communists. For example on p. 279 the author states: "...The fundamental flaw in Mendel's ... and other Western scientists' theories...was this insistence that inheritance was independent of the conditions experienced by animals and plants, such that no characteristics acquired during their lives were passed on to the next generation...the Lenin Academy objected to the idea that the hereditary substance of animals and plants was not influenced by the conditions experienced by the organism and that it acted alone in determining inheritance..."To this Monod took a strong negative position. Ironically it would take another fifty plus years to somewhat alter the facts. Although the gene was the controlling factor, and genes were passed on in a manner according to Mendel, the impact of conditions of the parents, not just their genes, could give rise to hypermethylation, which could them be imprinted and in effect be passed down. The irony was that this was being demonstrated as a result of the German starvation of the Dutch people (Dutch Famine 1944-1945).Probably the most moving part of the book is the letter Monod wrote to the US Counsel Office after his visa to the US was rejected because of Communist affiliation. This letter on 305-306 is worth reading several times, and it was subsequently published in Science.For Camus it was the denouncing of Stalinist tactic of suppression of Russians and their imprisonment. This was exemplified by the classic battle in the press between him and Sartre. Sartre remained a devout Communist and Camus moved into what at best could be termed the French anti-Communist camp.By the mid-50s Camus had begun to be well recognized for his writings and in 1957 he is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. To some this was a surprise but to others who had seen his reputation and literary influence spread it was anticipated.The book is exceptionally well written and smoothly interlaces the stories of each man. Overall it does a superb task of blending together two lives, arts and science, into a coherent tale which is truly French; Camus and the absurd and Monod and the control of cellular metabolism at the genetic level. It would have been an improvement if the author, a skilled research in the field, took the reader a bit more thoroughly along the details of Monod's work and the problems he was addressing. Understanding the work of Watson and Crick, and then taking it to another level, via brilliant experimental technique, would have truly brought this work to the fore. The Watson book, The Double Helix, reads like a detective novel, and one can feel the excitement as they progress to the discovery of the DNA structure and function. This book takes you down the path with Monod but somehow it lacks the intensity.Secondly the Camus tale could also have discussed his world view a bit more, by using context, and it would have been interesting to see his works in contrast to say Sartre, who became an antagonist in later parts of his life. There are discussion regarding this but they assume a somewhat well-read reader.Overall, the book is a wonderful addition to the literature on Camus and adds to an understanding of Monod, a man of dimension and character.

An amazing story about a great writer and two great scientists who were part of the French resistance to the Nazis in WWII. Although much of the story takes place in Nazi occupied France it resonates with current events given the current struggle in Europe where again ordinary citizens must decide between collaboration and resistance.

Brave Genius by Sean B. Carroll (2014)primarily about Albert Camus and Jacques Monod whoboth joined Communist Parties in order to activelyparticipate in resistance to Nazi Germany'sinvasion of France in 1940.Camus worked for Combat, the Resistance paperwhile Monod rose in the para military ranks.Many of their associates died during resistance efforts.Experiences with Party politics caused both to leavethe Communist Party by war's end.See also Orwell's Homage to Catalonia & Koestler's Darkness at Noon.In 1948 Camus & Monod joined in the argument againstLysenko's destruction of Russian biologists:firings, jailings, executions.Monod produced key molecular biological evidenceagainst Lysenko's anti-genetics claims.They favored science over ideology,diminishing the influence of Communists in Europe.Key evidence: Lysenko’s claim was that environmental conditions/exposures would elicit appropriate (permanent & heritable). Monod, had recently worked out the dynamics of the lac operon in E. coli. He exposed the bacteria to a variety of sugars, including lactose and lactose-like varieties. Sometimes enzymes were induced, but they were always those for using lactose and never those to fit other sugars used in the exposures.The argument convinced enough of the French that Communism was fatally corrupt so that a French Communist electoral victory faded into the impossible.Lysenkoism was recommended to the CCP by Russia in the 1950’s, resulting in tens of millions dead by starvation.The corruption of Communism was essentially complete,in favor of ideology (Whatever the Party says ...).Today and here we have significant distortion ofscience in favor of ideology on both the left and on the right:climate change, CDC distortions, governments colludingwith Big Tech to skew information availability, attacks on dissentingscientists for publicizing unfavored facts, ... .Can ideology be reduced in favor of science?------------------------------Raymond R. White------------------------------

This book details the lives of Albert Camus and Jacques Monod, two giant intellects of 20th century France. The book is a rich tapestry of history, politics, science and philosophy, brilliantly weaved together by Carrol.

Fascinating work

superb,educative, welwritten

This book is written in straightforward narrative style yet conveys brilliantly the essence of the philosophical, ethical and personal issues that occupied the two main characters Camus and Monod. These two geniuses and Nobel Laureates were far from being just some of the most profound thinkers of their generation - they were both active members of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation, risking everything including their lives.Almost as a free extra the story draws on both private and public sources to present a compelling feel of that period of oppression that in the context of all that has since happened in Europe I found amazing - yet it has all happened within my own lifetime.There is a good deal of heavy stuff about molecular biology in the mid-section of the book and I would recommend reading the explanatory chapter in the appendix prior to tackling the technical bits.The final summary of Monod's and Camus' conclusions regarding life and its meaning for the individual and society expresses my own strongly held beliefs, so no doubt some cognitive assonance influences my five-star rating!

Was in Paris while reading this book and found myself constantly looking for places named and imaging what is was like during the occupation and then got caught up in the science.