GG: Ostwald Book

[Mary Jo Watts <mwatts@rci.rutgers.edu>]

Kristen Immoor said:

"I wish that Ostwald, rather than re-printing the original "soundbite,"
would have gone back to the original source of the information (if that
person is still alive, that is) and asked them to re-examine what they
had said in the original biography."

I agree with Kristen that this habit in biography is annoying (not to
mention myth-making.) But to reiterate a point that's been brought up
before on the list:  Ostwald was writing the bio while he was dying of
cancer.  This kind of interview technique would have been impossible. 
What _does_ surprise me is that he even tried given the state of his
health.  Under such circumstances I would have expected a more personal
memoir from Ostwald.  I was kind of disappointed in Ostwald's (fairly)
impersonal narrative style.

-MJ