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Maybe someday
38
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
70/100Critics
7/100Scholars
Author:
Richard Rhodes
Publisher:
Doubleday
Date:
November 9, 2021
An exploration of the life and work of Edward Osborne Wilson, who, at 91, may be the most eminent American scientist in any field. Wilson's 1975 book Sociobiology created an intellectual firestorm with its contention that all animal behavior, including that of humans, is governed by the laws of evolution and genetics. Subsequently Wilson has become a leading voice on the crucial importance to all life of biodiversity and has worked tirelessly to synthesize the fields of science and the humanities in a fruitful way.
What The Reviewers Say
Mr. Rhodes...adds much useful context and detail to Mr. Wilson’s narrative [in his autobiography], even if he isn’t always able to match his subject’s boundless energy and charm.
As fascinating as this material is, it’s all been conveyed to much better effect in Wilson’s 1994 autobiography, Naturalist. In fact, Rhodes relies almost entirely on quotations from that book, supplemented by letters Wilson wrote to his sweetheart and eventual wife, Irene Kelley. Oddly enough, Wilson’s lively, vivid prose, at the heart of every chapter, consistently outshines that of the professional writer.
It’s through these quotes that the reader comes the closest to Wilson as a person. Though Rhodes met Wilson and interviewed him, he includes little about Wilson’s later private life. We meet the naturalist, the scientist and later the activist, but not the husband, father and friend.
And admiring biography.
