Possible Worlds

Although written in the 1920s, the essays in this book remain readable, informative and fascinating. J.B.S. Haldane's famous essay on "Being the Right Size" has lost nothing of its force and brilliance, while even those essays whose facts have decayed in the progress of scientific knowledge lose nothing of the lucidity, honesty and dedication to science that characterized Haldane as a biologist. Even when writing on areas outside his personal specialization and even when the "facts" have been overturned by the passage of time and by revolutions in scientific knowledge, Haldane has something worth saying and worth reading.In fact, the value of his writings as science history increases, for he was a great scientist and he rarely steers the reader wrong. When he makes a prediction it has a better chance of being correct than those of many well-known futurists for he has a clear idea of the future possible and does not lose his self-critical honesty looking forward or back. This is truly rare even among scientific geniuses. Some scientists, like religionists or philsophers, become "married to their ideas". Haldane does not, nor is he a dogmatic apostle of anybody else's thinking.I recommend this collection to all people interested in a scientist's view of science. It's uncommon for such a good scientist to be such a good writer and populizer of science. Most scientists have time and skills for one or the other job. They can produce papers or teach but not both. This is unfortunately imposed on many, but some just don't have the skill sets for both jobs.

I see that no preview is provided for these essays. That's a shame, a lot of people won't buy the book without reading a sample. A lot of Haldane's essays are available on-line, though google's sample of this book doesn't provide anything but part of the introduction by the editor; not very helpful. You can find a sample of some of his essays over on https://www.marxists.org/archive/haldane/index.htm though, to see if you like them or not. I personally find them charming. You'll notice that the website is marxist.org, but there is a wide sampling of his works there, not just his political ones.

Haldane wrote some really cool articles back in the day. They are thought provoking and take your brain to a different point of view. I like to think about things from a different perspective and this compilation of science articles allows that very nicely.

This is a delightful collection of essays by one of the true giants of 20th century biology. I once asked Ernst Mayr what he thought of Haldane and he replied "Oh, he was a LOVELY man". That about sums it up. Haldane -along with Fisher & Sewell Wright- is justly credited with creating the "Modern Synthesis" of genetics, morphology, and evolutionary biology. He was also responsible for the original "dive tables" that modern SCUBA divers rely on to avoid the bends. Apart from his literally massive contributions to technical biology, Haldane had an enormous interest in what we now call "Science and Society". He wrote extensively for the "common person" -publishing in newspapers such as "The Daily Worker" essays that he hoped would demystify developments in science. This collection captures some of the best of these pieces, including the delightful "on being one's own rabbit" and "Some enemies of science" -which I have used (along with C.S. Lewis' essay on Vivisection) to generate some intense debates in my anatomy classes. Although the language is clearly early 20th century, many of the points that Haldane makes are as cogent today as they were 75 years ago. You will find yourself intrigued, amused, and best of all INFORMED by this highly accessible mixture of ruminations on science by one of its most important practicioners.