Bernard Dixon (1938–2020)

A collection of science writings from the seventeenth century to the twentieth. The goal of the editor is to counter the idea that scientists can't write, and that their prose is flat and dull. Some of his selections succeed; others not so much. Overall, it's a mixed bag, and I found some of his choices peculiar. For instance, for Charles Darwin he didn't include anything from Origin, in spite of the fact that one of the most beautiful pieces of science writing ever is the concluding paragraphs to that book; he chose a relatively dull portion of his autobiography instead. Some of the pieces were quite short; those were in many ways the best pieces. There were a few that were way too long, and not particularly interesting. He includes Colin Tudge, who has done some wonderful writing on natural history, so why did he give us a selection on nutrition? Strange. Still, there are some decent pieces in here, and if you want, you can always pick and choose, rather than reading all of them.… (mais)

This book falls into three parts: a review of the history of medicine, the areas where the prevailing philosophy of try to find a drug for each ill starts to break down and a look at the problems of the developing world. The first part was an excellent potted history, if you are happy to focus on infectious disease, the second thought provoking (given that it was written over thirty years ago but the criticisms and suggestions still seem current) and the third, a bit more optimistic in the sense that there seems to have been more progress that with the previous part.… (mais)