This first detailed ethnographic account of the Pahang Malay people of peninsular Malaysia focuses on the society's traditional agricultural system, particularly on its specialization in the production of rice on largely unmodified natural swampland. Dr. Lambert discusses the historical development of Pahang Malay rice farming, its dependence on indigenous knowledge of local ecology, and its adaptability to adverse conditions. Farmers experimenting with cultivars, adapting new technologies to local conditions, and using their own seed selection skills have over several decades substantially improved their rice yields. Dr. Lambert suggests that well-adapted indigenous farming systems found throughout the world should be studied and the adoption of these successful agricultural practices should be encouraged by governments and development planners.
History and fiction intertwine in this untold tale of Marie Curie’s love affair with physicist Paul Langevin, as seen through the eyes of Marie’s favorite graduate student, George Fournier. Intertwined in the plot, set in Paris of the early 1900s, is Fournier’s youthful infatuation with the young Marie. In his memoir, George Fournier recalls meeting the young and beautiful Marie on her arrival as a new instructor at the Sevres Lycee, where he was a student. A few years later, George does well on his final exams in physics at the University of Paris, and the now widowed Marie Curie accepts him as a graduate student in her laboratory. One day, George sees Marie scurrying to a small apartment with Paul Langevin, a brilliant young physicist who is married. An intruder into the Curie-Langevin love nest steals Marie’s letters to Paul and has them published in the Parisian press. Langevin’s wife, Jeanne, threatens Marie with violence and aggressively attempts to break up the love affair that jeopardizes her marriage and the security of their four young children. In an attempt to provide Madame Curie with protection, Professor Jean Perrin, a long-time friend of the Curies, asks George Fournier to become Marie Curie’s confidential protector, a role placing the love-struck George in a close yet secretive relationship with Marie. As far as possible, details of Marie Curie’s life and relationships, as well as information on the other major characters are historically accurate.
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