Posted by John Thorpe at 17:51 on 2014 Jan 07
I take Terry Byatts point re Patricks friend Laura, but my point of view is very different. Martins biography is an immensely readable account, all the more so because it is totally true to his research, not avoiding or changing any of the facts as he sees them about Patricks life. The result is an account which is both highly informative and interesting, precisely because it reveals Patrick as a real and complete human being. To me this is far more respectful to the memory of the great man than to distort or suppress facts because they may be interpreted as insufficiently reverential.I certainly do not think any the less of Patrick because he made up this story. Martin explains well what Patricks motives may have been, and I find his explanations fully understandable, and it helps me to get a better picture of Patrick.Just about every astronomer I have met acknowledges a debt to Patrick. Reading this account of his life will only strengthen that conviction, and also gives us what I am sure most of his fans want; a glimpse of what Patrick was really like.