Acid tongues and tranquil dreamers

In this fascinating, illuminating, and marvelously entertaining volume, eminent science author, editor, educator, and musician Michael White examines eight of the most spectacular breakthroughs of the last four centuries and reveals them to be the mutant offspring of sensational conflicts. From Isaac Newton's clashes with his despised enemy, mathematician Gottfried Liebniz, to Charles Darwin very publicly going head-to-head with Richard Owen over Darwin's "un-Godly and unnatural" theory of evolution to Bill Gates and Larry Ellison's nasty little war to rule cyberspace, here are the battles of brilliant minds and opposing ideologies that dramatically changed our world. - Jacket flap.