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Books : reviews

Edward O. Wilson.
Sociobiology: the New Synthesis: 25th anniversary edition reprint.
Harvard. 1975

Harvard University Press is proud to announce the re-release of the complete original version of Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, now available in paperback for the first time. When this classic work was first published in 1975, it created a new discipline and started a tumultuous round in the age-old nature versus nurture debate. Although voted by officers and fellows of the international Animal Behavior Society the most important book on animal behavior of all time, Sociobiology is probably more widely known as the object of bitter attacks by social scientists and other scholars who opposed its claim that human social behavior, indeed human nature, has a biological foundation. The controversy surrounding the publication of the book reverberates to the present day.

Bert Holldobler, Edward O. Wilson.
Journey to the Ants: a story of scientific exploration.
Belknap/Harvard. 1994

Edward O. Wilson.
The Future of Life.
Abacus. 2002

Bert Holldobler, Edward O. Wilson.
The Superorganism: the beauty, elegance, and strangeness of insect soieties.
Norton. 2009

Edward O. Wilson.
Letters to a Young Scientist.
Noton. 2013

rating : 3.5 : worth reading
review : 9 October 2022

In a lyrical and inspirational work that “delivers deep insights into how observation and experiment drive theory” (Jascha Hoffman, New York Times), Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O. Wilson imparts his wisdom and passion to the next generation. In these twenty letters, Wilson shares rich autobiographical anecdotes that illuminate both the successes and failures of his storied career. He boldly states that success in the sciences does not depend on mathematical skill or high IQ but rather on a passion for finding a problem and solving it. Wilson lays out not just the practical advice for how young people can excel in science but why it is vitally important that they do.

This book comprises 20 essays, of Wilson giving sage advice to aspiring scientists. Some of this is given through autobiographical example. Although the focus is on field biology, there is much here more generally relevant. However, I do wonder how much “survivor bias” is present in the advice (what worked for Wilson might not work for everyone), and how much is no longer relevant in today’s depressingly commercialised and standardised academic environment, which has little sympathy for the less conventional paths nearly every successful scientist of the past has taken.

Edward O. Wilson.
The Meaning of Human Existence.
Liveright Publishing. 2014

From an examination of our species and its place in the living world to a provocative look at what the future of humanity portends, The Meaning of Human Existence unites science and the humanities to propose answers to the most profound and vexing questions of all time.