Books
Books by Robert M. Hazen
The Breakthrough: The Race for the Superconductor (Summit, 1988; softcover by Ballantine, 1990) describes the intense competition in early 1987 to discover superconductors that work at practical temperatures. The book appeared on The Washington Post nonfiction top-10 bestsellers list.
See The Breakthrough: The Race for the Superconductor at Amazon.com
"Hazen writes with wonderful clarity about science. ... The Breakthrough remains in the best tradition of popular science writing. It's an exciting read that effortlessly teaches as it zips along." Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
"A lively, pungent description of life in the laboratory. ... There are not many books about science that read so well." Philip J. Hilts, The Washington Post
"The Breakthrough is an enthralling account of leading edge science being carried out at breakneck speed, leading up to a tense climax." Robert Matthews, The Times, London
"Part diary, part cliffhanger, Hazen's book brings home the thoroughly human side of science - the high-pitched emotion, clashing egos and occasional betrayals. ... deftly woven with scientific details, The Breakthrough is itself a kind of breakthrough." David Stipp, The Wall Street Journal
"Class A popular science writing." Booklist
"An exhilarating account of one of the most exciting technological developments of the century." Kirkus Reviews
Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy (Doubleday, 1991; softcover by Anchor, 1992), coauthored with James Trefil outlines a strategy for reforming science education and summarizes the great principles of science. It has appeared in a dozen foreign language editions. The book rose to #6 on The Washington Post nonfiction best-seller list.
See Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy at Amazon.com
"For overall page-turning readability, Science Matters is as good as they get. ...Lucid and lively. Hazen and Trefil have a particular genius for picturing even formidably abstract ideas in concrete images." Curt Suplee, The Washington Post
"Good, down-to-earth, we-can-explain-anything science teachers, the kind you wish you had but never did." The New York Times Book Review
"Confident overview of the fundamentals of science .. the text is comprehensible and carefully paced." Booklist
"A first-rate exposition - thorough, accessible, and entertaining - of the rudiments of scientific knowledge. ... Easily one of the finest single-volume introductions to science." Kirkus Reviews
The New Alchemists: Breaking Through the Barriers of High Pressure (Times Books, 1994); revised and published in softcover as The Diamond Makers (Cambridge University Press, 1999) is a historical review of efforts to synthesize diamonds. Aimed at a non-specialist audience, it was a "Library of Science" alternate selection.
See The New Alchemists: Breaking Through the Barriers of High Pressure at Amazon.com
"Hazen makes the story profoundly exciting, conveying the scientific passion of the researchers, himself included. ... It's a gem." Curt Suplee, The Washington Post
"A highly entertaining and insightful look into real problems of high-level research efforts." John Angus, Chemical and Engineering News
"Written in a style that has the drama and suspense of a murder mystery, yet it is true to the science. ... A thorough and exciting account of the history of diamonds and the efforts to synthesize them." Francis Bundy, Physics Today
"A brilliant exposition, very absorbing and gripping. I could not put the book down. ... Reads like a first-rate novel." A. Jayaraman, Science.
"Multifacted and glittering with drama and wit." Kirkus Reviews
Why Aren't Black Holes Black: The Unanswered Questions at the Frontiers of Science (Anchor, 1997), with Maxine Singer, examines some of the most compelling mysteries of science, including dark matter, the origin of life, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
See Why Aren't Black Holes Black: The Unanswered Questions at the Frontiers of Science at Amazon.com
"For the non-technical layman, it is simply the best, liveliest and most accessible broad summary of the hottest topics in science today." Curt Suplee, Washington Post, Book World
"A well-written popular account of the whole of science." Lewis Wolpert, Nature
"Very refreshing ... timely counterweight to the many things physicists don't really understand." Michael Redhead, The New York Times
"This exceptionally cogent introduction should well acquaint the curious with the foci of contemporary research." Booklist
Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins (Joseph Henry Press, 2005) is a first-hand account of research on chemical evolution and the origin of life.
See Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins at Amazon.com
"Hazen's mesmerizing "Genesis," [is] an account of the exciting and often eccentric quest for answers to the great conundrum on the outermost frontier of the earth sciences. ... [a] delightful guided tour of the wild theories, daring experiments and raging feuds." Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"[Hazen's] writing is clear and entertaining, giving a delightful look into his unpredictable experimental work without shying away from the complexity of the science." Publishers Weekly
"A lively insider account of the various ongoing scientific investigations into the origin of life... (An) evenhanded and compelling read." Library Journal
"In clear, careful prose Hazen takes us into laboratories, meticulously describes experiments, offers theories, supports them, and then questions them. His process mirrors science's own, step by step from details to educated guesses about larger designs, pointing out possible pitfalls along the way. ... Before we submit to raising a nation of scientific illiterates -- can we really afford to do that? -- we should read books like Hazen's. He presents evidence clearly and leaves mystery, for me the core of religious faith, intact." Sam Coale, Providence Journal
"Clear, direct, friendly, and occasionally philosophical or poetical, he makes an excellent guide through some difficult and arcane thickets of scientific inquiry." David Loftus, California Literary Journal
"Hazen has constructed a beautiful, interesting account of this research field, full of discoveries and tragedies, large and small. ... This is the best origins-of-life account that I have seen." Jack Cohen, BBC Focus
The Sciences: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition, with James Trefil (Wiley, 2007).
See The Sciences: An Integrated Approach at Amazon.com
Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics, with James Trefil (Wiley, 2005)
The Poetry of Geology (George Allen & Unwin, 1982)
The Physical Sciences: An Integrated Approach, with James Trefil (Wiley, 1995)
Comparative Crystal Chemistry: Temperature, Pressure, Composition and the Variation of Crystal Structure, with Larry Finger (Wiley, 1982)
Keepers of the Flame: The Role of Fire in American Culture, 1775-1925, with Margaret Hazen (Princeton University Press, 1992
The Music Men: An Illustrated History of Brass Bands in America, 1800-1920. with Margaret Hazen (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987). This book won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for 1989.