Synopses & Reviews
The triumph of science in explaining mans unique place in the universe might seem almost complete. But in this lucid and compelling account, James Le Fanu describes how in the recent past science has come face-to-face with two seemingly unanswerable questions concerning the nature of genetic inheritance and the workings of the brain–questions that suggest there is, after all, “more than we can know.”
“Scientists do not ‘do wonder,” he writes in his introduction. “Rather . . . they have interpreted the world through the prism of supposing there is nothing in principle that cannot be accounted for.” But Le Fanu argues that there is nothing so full of wonder as life itself. As revealed by recent scientific research, it is simply not possible to get from the monotonous sequence of genes strung out along the double helix to the infinite beauty and diversity of the living world, or from the electrical activity of the brain to the richness and abundant creativity of the human mind. Le Fanus exploration of these mysteries, and his analysis of where they might lead us in our thinking about the nature and purpose of human existence, form the impassioned and riveting heart of Why Us?
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
In this daring treatise on the current state of scientific inquiry, James Le Fanu challenges the common assumption that further progress in genetic research and neuroscience must ultimately explain all there is to know about life and man’s place in the world. On the contrary, he argues, the most recent scientific findings point to an unbridgeable explanatory gap between the genes strung out along the Double Helix and the beauty and diversity of the living world—and between the electrical activity of the brain and the abundant creativity of the human mind. His exploration of these mysteries, and his analysis of where they might lead us in our thinking about the nature and purpose of human existence, form the impassioned and riveting heart of Why Us?
Synopsis
An account of how science in the recent past has come face-to-face with seemingly unanswerable questions concerning the nature of genetic information and the workings of the brain; questions profoundly relevant to science's debate with religion.
About the Author
James Le Fanu is an international award winning author who for the past twenty years has contributed a twice weekly column on medicine, science and social policy to the
Sunday and
Daily Telegraph. His articles and reviews have also appeared in the
New Statesman, The Spectator,
GQ, the
British Medical Journal, and the
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. He has made original contributions to current controversies over the value of experiments on human embryos, environmentalism, dietary causes of diseases, and the misdiagnosis of non-accidental injury in children. His previous book,
The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2001. He lives in England.
www.jameslefanu.com