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Another biography of Marie Curie would seem superfluous, but this one has some distinct advantages for readers seeking a short, intelligent, and accessible story of her life and her contributions to science. It also contains some interesting photographs helpful to the text and not readily available elsewhere. Using many quotations from letters written both by Marie Curie and her husband Pierre, Dry chronicles Curie's contributions to scientific thought as well as her private life and something of her political passion, all in a brisk but inviting text that invites the reader into the cultural context in which the Curies lived. Also included is an essay about Irene Joliot-Curie, their oldest daughter, who also received a Nobel Prize but suffered a period of neglect due to her political sympathies. The book's virtues are its scholarly scrupulousness combined with a graceful style, its substance despite its brevity, and a chronology of Curie's life and achievement paired with the larger cultural context, the works of contemporary thinkers, artists, and writers. Well-documented sources; suggestions for further reading that include both primary and secondary sources. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates. M. H. Chaplin Wellesley College

Concise and engaging, this amply illustrated history of Madame Curie, the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize, makes an excellent introduction to the feminist icon and scientific pioneer. Dry does an excellent job of delineating the major events of Curie's life, including her early education in the underground schools of the 19th-century Polish resistance movement, her heady intellectual courtship with Pierre Curie in France, and later their discovery of radioactivity in 1898. Sidebars on topics such as the invention of the laboratory, and the inclusion of Seifert's essay on Irene Joliot-Curie, Marie Curie's less famous daughter and co-worker, make this pocket sized book especially comprehensive, and a wonderful introduction to a fascinating and inspiring career. 40 color and b&w photos and illus. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.