The Times obituary mentions two books that give a sense of what Dyson was like as a thinker and conversationalist. > He appeared in John McPhee’s book “The Cur

The Times obituary mentions two books that give a sense of what Dyson was like as a thinker and conversationalist. > He appeared in John McPhee’s book “The Curve of Binding Energy” (1974), a portrait of Ted Taylor, the nuclear scientist who led the Orion effort, and in Kenneth Brower’s “The Starship and the Canoe” (1978). In a memorable scene, Mr. Brower wrote of Dr. Dyson’s reunion with his son, George, who had turned his back on high technology to live in a treehouse in British Columbia and build a seafaring canoe. Both books are very much worth reading.