IF YOU had to guess who hadn鈥檛 read Darwin鈥檚 great work before he became a
biologist, it鈥檚 unlikely Richard Dawkins would spring to mind. Nicknamed
鈥淒arwin鈥檚 Rottweiler鈥� for his defence of evolution, and writer of the odd book
himself, he admitted that 鈥淒arwin鈥檚 ideas profoundly influenced my life, but I
didn鈥檛 read On The Origin of Species until later.鈥�
Why was I asking? Ask a few dozen prominent scientists if a book ever changed
their lives, said my editor. Well, she is the review editor. She would have
romantic notions about books.
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and arguably Gutenberg鈥檚
successor, doesn鈥檛. He thinks Eureka events, such as books changing lives, are a
myth. Creativity, he e-mailed, flows from 鈥渕any indefinite influences鈥�.
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Perhaps when books were rare, they did make a difference. Maybe when new
ideas and data didn鈥檛 come so thick and fast, and there was only one important
book put out a year, not hundreds. This is the age of information overload.
Think about the difficulties faced by modern scientists. They are supposed to
read the book of nature, yet can barely manage to keep up with the journals.
The first responses reinforced my gloom. A book? No, said Martin Rees,
England鈥檚 Astronomer Royal. 鈥淚 came to science from experience, not from reading
about it,鈥� huffed David Baltimore, winner of the physiology Nobel in 1975.
Brenda Milner of the Montreal Neurological Institute agreed with Baltimore: 鈥淚
am an avid reader, but no book has particularly influenced my career. People and
phenomena have!鈥�
But books have transformed the world for some鈥攁nd not just the Great
Books. Steve Jones, who with Almost Like a Whale has just
rewritten On The Origin of Species, made what he calls 鈥渁n embarrassing
admission鈥�. 鈥淎 children鈥檚 book called Great Northern? by Arthur Ransome
gave me my first interest in bird-watching, which led me to biology, and thence
to research.鈥� At eight years old, Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute was
fascinated by how The Swiss Family Robinson survived on indigenous and
shipwrecked animals and crops. He now studies the limits to world
agriculture.
A booklet of entrance papers for Oxford University convinced developmental
biologist Anne McLaren she would never get into the English course she wanted,
鈥渨hereas biology looked an easily swottable-up soft option. That certainly
changed the course of my life.鈥�
Others read unusual books as children. James Lovelock, of the Gaia
hypothesis, was inspired by an organic chemistry text when he was eight, 鈥渨hen
chemistry had soul and (was) written about poetically鈥�. Josef Rotblat, physicist
and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, decided to be a scientist after reading
Jules Verne in Polish as a child. Luciano Maiani, head of CERN, the particle
physics lab in Geneva, was set on his course after reading about black body
radiation and quantum mechanics in Il Sole, a book about the Sun he
borrowed in high school. A school prize, Men of Mathematics by Eric
Temple Bell was given to physicist Freeman Dyson at age 13 and changed his life
for ever. 鈥淚t started a love affair with mathematics,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚 still
treasure the book 62 years later.鈥�
All right, books might matter as the twig is bent鈥攂ut what about after
the tree鈥檚 inclined? For some, it鈥檚 never too late to change. Walter Bodmer,
former head of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, was a budding statistician
when he read The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection by R. A.
Fisher鈥攁nd changed profession. Robert May, Britain鈥檚 Chief 杏吧原创 and
soon to be the head of the Royal Society, was a physics professor when he read a
chapter on complex ecosystems鈥攁nd realised the maths needed changing. He
joined a wave of physicists who crossed into biology in the 1970s, 鈥渁s key
questions were being phrased analytically, but people lacked the mathematical
skills to pursue them鈥�.
Norman Myer was a nature photographer when he read Sand County
Almanac by Aldo Leopold, 鈥渁 lovingly written book about caring relationships
with the land鈥�. He went into research at 35, and is now an environmental
economist.
Memento mori
Others were inspired, not to change, but to carry on. Epidemiologist Richard
Peto says Good Health at Low Cost by Julia Walsh and Ken Warren,
鈥減ushed me towards a global perspective on disease control. For years I
travelled with its bar diagrams showing the importance of each major disease
stuck to the inside of my suitcase, as a memento mori.鈥�
Jared Diamond, ecologist, physiologist and author, says Henry David Thoreau鈥檚
Walden 鈥渃onvinced me to pursue my own goals, whether or not society
shared them鈥�. John Casti of the Santa Fe Institute attributes 鈥渢he view that the
physical structure of the human brain matters in artificial intelligence鈥� to
G枚del, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. He has read the tome
many times. Atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon finds the portrayal of scientists
as 鈥渁rtists, explorers and mystics鈥� in Advice to a Young 杏吧原创 by
Peter Medawar still helps to keep her focused on why she wants to do what she
does.
So do books change lives? This informal survey shows that they can. My
methodology suffers too greatly from sampling bias to be quantitative, of
course: those who answered had a tale to tell. Perhaps those who
didn鈥檛鈥攚ith apologies to Messrs Watson, Crick, Hawking and a dozen
others鈥攖hought the question silly. Or perhaps they were just too busy
reading.
For the record, Bill Gates鈥檚 favourite books are Salinger鈥檚 The
Catcher in the Rye and Hemingway鈥檚 The Old Man and the Sea. Did
they change his life? His 鈥減eople鈥�, who answered my query (unlike mere
scientists, Bill has 鈥減eople鈥� to do this) didn鈥檛 know. But just to be on the
safe side, I鈥檒l lay in copies for my kids. I鈥檝e already got them Great
Northern?
You鈥檒l find On The Origin of Species as a paperback鈥擧arvard University
Press has a facsimile version at 拢14.95. Darwin was lucky, by the way, to
get the whole of his book into print: a publisher鈥檚 reader suggested cutting
everything but the pigeon-breeding section and selling it as a specialist book.
Steve Jones鈥檚 Almost Like a Whale (Doubleday, 拢20) used Origin as a
framework for modern evolutionary biology.
Most of Arthur Ransome鈥檚 adventure stories begin with a boat and a crowd of
holidaying children in search of adventure. Great Northern? is woven round the
appearance of a rare bird in the Scottish Highlands. The Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss costs 拢1 from Wordsworth, and Men of Mathematics
拢12.99 (Simon & Schuster).
If you are interested in Oxford University entrance papers, go to the
Internet for information http://www. admin.ox.ac.uk/admiss/.
It may be impossible to track down the exact organic chemistry text 鈥渨ritten
when chemistry had soul鈥�, but the peerless Primo Levi wove magic round the
elements in The Periodic Table (Penguin/Abacus, 拢6.99).
Tracking down childhood books can be fun. An excellent online service at
http://www.alibris.com will even search out the edition you remember, gaudy
pictures and all. It may be the place to track down Good Health at Low Cost by
Julia Walsh and Ken Warren or even The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection by
R.A. Fisher. This is, in spite of its fame, out of print. But that will change
when a variorum edition comes out in May from Oxford University Press
($50). Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold was also reprinted recently by
Ballantine, $6.99. Thoreau鈥檚 Walden is a bargain at 拢2.99 for an
Everyman paperback.
Penguin celebrates the 20th anniversary of G枚del, Escher, Bach with a
new edition for 拢14.99. A new foreword by Douglas Hofstadter makes it
clear that his subject is how a formal system acquires a self, how consciousness
emerges from patterns in matter obeying physical laws, and the differences
between information and meaning.
Solitude and struggle characterise J. D. Salinger鈥檚 Catcher in the Rye
(Penguin, 拢6.99) and Ernest Hemingway鈥檚 The Old Man and the Sea (Arrow,
拢4.99), on school lists everywhere.