What I require from life : writings on science and life from J.B.S. Haldane
By, Dronamraju, Krishna, ed.
Publisher: Oxford
Class No.: 500 DRO
Accession No.: 023592
Year: 2009
Pages: 231 p.

Of the week: 22nd March. 2010 to 27th March. 2010

J. B. S. Haldane (1892-64) was one of the scientific giants of the 20th century. A polymath who made important contributions to sciences ranging from physiology to genetics and biochemistry, he was also a highly skilled writer and an extraordinary character - brilliant, witty, idealistic, funny, and pugnacious.

What I Require From Life is a compilation of his popular scientific essays written from the 1940s to last years of his life, that reflect not only his masterful ability to communicate scientific understanding, but also his deep commitment to socialism. The essays included here fall into two groups; those written by Haldane during the 1940s when he embraced Marxism, and those written during his last years in India (1957-64), and they range from An Autobiography in Brief (written three years before his death), to his Marxist view of evolution The Chicken or the Egg? , to his poignant poem Cancer is a Funny Thing.