Mino: A Young Scientist's Lifelong Journey Through Outer and Inner Space: A Young Scientist’s Life-long Journey Through Outer and Inner Space - Tapa dura

Novelist Hisako Matsubara has written an “autobiography“ in the voice of her remarkable son, Mino. Saya (as Mino calls his mother) records her son’s thoughts from his earliest years as a precocious pre-toddler, through his formal education, and on to the beginning and the ascent of his career as an astrophysicist at NASA. Alas, the rise of this brilliant star ends too early, when a tumor the size of a lemon intrudes and occupies space in his brain. Mino fights for his life, unwilling to leave before learning all there is to learn about the universe. This man has had a lot of experience resisting authority; it’s a talent he discovered as a determined child when he challenged his stern father and sometimes won the skirmish. The ending seems to answer the Prelude: this hero isn’t interested in anybody else’s promise of an afterlife. He’s not done exploring. This book, like the man who tells his story (with help from his mother) is fascinating, inspiring, and honest. The voice is full of wonder at the vast universe he explores through both telescope and microscope.

Hisako Matsubara was born and grew up in Kyoto, the daughter of a Shinto priest. She studied comparative religion and literature at the International Christian University in Tokyo and did graduate work in theater arts at Pennsylvania State University. She earned her doctoral degree at the University of Göttingen, Germany (1966-1970) in Comparative History. Living in Cologne, Matsubara taught herself to write in German, and within five years she had her own weekly column in Die Zeit. Her many novels were written in German, Japanese, and English and have been translated into eight languages.