The Eureka! series offers basic biographies of major science figures, such as Galileo, Newton, and Darwin, but this volume takes on the duo who were "partners in marriage and in work." Beginning with a simplified description of radioactivity, the book then spends two pages each on the youth of both subjects, from Marie's hard times as a poor child in Poland to Pierre's privileged education in Paris. Lin can't help but focus more on Marie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize as well as the first woman in France to obtain a doctorate. Her story continues after Pierre dies, though her own death ncer from too much radiation s a bitter irony. Lin dispenses with style, resulting in a dry, if admirably coherent, take on a number of difficult concepts. Photographs are prevalent, and often the captions do a nice job of bringing home the significance of the information r example, how the electricity flow of crystals discovered by Pierre powers the computers of today. A time line highlights the strong back matter.