The Lamentations of Julius Marantz

Marc Estrin follows another of his strange protagonists through a worldtroubled by what it knows and by how it applies that knowledge. From thefirst page we ar... » 

Marc Estrin follows another of his strange protagonists through a worldtroubled by what it knows and by how it applies that knowledge. From thefirst page we are plunged into a global riot of paranoia joy and fear. Butsomething is sadly familiar here perhaps because we have been taught toanticipate a world in which people suddenly fly off the planet. It might be TheRapture. Or it might be some violation of the force of gravity. Whatever it isits spreading madness religious hysteria and some truly formidablegovernment powers. The voice of these Lamentations is a sixtysomethingclubfooted scientist named Julius Marantz an obsessive researcher who suffersfrom both forbidden knowledge and and insistent conscience. As his spirit andhis heart begin to fail Julius realizes what is lost to him a childhood ofpossibility the consolation of belief and the undying optimism of a fatherwho taught him the principles of physics on the roller coaster and theparachute jump. Part a portrait of cynical politics and religious fervorpart scientific speculation and part meditation on the glories of Coney IslandThe Lamentations of Julius Marantz traces the rise and fall of science inatruly personal story that finally fairly ascends. «