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A passionate advocate of scientific endeavour, Medwar wrote, lectured and reviewed widely, describing the glories of scientific achievement and warning of the dangers of pseudo-scientific deception. In his view the greatest threat is posed not by science itself, but by a misunderstanding of science. A tireless searcher after truth and merciless debunker of myths, he was famous not only for his work in immunology, but also for the astonishing power and clarity of his writing, which had made - and continues to make - an incalcuable contribution to the public understanding of science. This selection, made posthumously from essays now unavailable elsewhere, and including some previously unpublished material, covers a characteristically wide range of subjects: genetics, evolution, creativity, philosophy, scientific fraud, how to survive in hospital after a stroke, and attitudes to death and the prolongation of life. In includes the 1959 Reith Lectures "The Future of Man" and a hitherto unpublished transcript of a BBC interview, "My Life in Science".
Written by the 1960 Nobel Prize winner in the field of immunology, this volume explores the nature and limitations of scientific pursuit. The three essays touch on some of mankind's greatest questions: Can science determine the existence of God? Is there one "scientific method" by which all the secrets of the universe can be discovered? The book aims to define the limits of science. The author's central purpose is to exculpate science from the reproach that it is quite unable to answer those ultimate questions that he shows to be beyond its explanatory competence. This charge, he argues, is "no more sensible than to reproach a railway locomotive for not flying". But in spite of this he believes science to be a great and glorious enterprise - the most successful that human beings have ever engaged in. Peter Medawar is the author of "Advice to a Young Scientist", "Pluto's Republic", "Memoir of a Thinking Radish" and "Aristotle to Zoos" (with Jean Medawar).