(Image: OUP)
WHY did the egg definitely come before the chicken, why are migrating fish like operatic heroes and how do you write well about science? This collection of brief and varied pieces by polymath J. B. S. Haldane covers everything from town planning to astronomy, climate change to the origins of words and the existence of a fourth dimension.
Haldane’s sweep is breathtaking and his clarity (as well as some of his dated politics) is reminiscent of Orwell. The pieces, all written for a general audience, never feel forced: they are playful, focusing on the “glorious uncertainty” waiting to be explored. They invoke a…
