Scientist: E. O. Wilson: A Life in Nature Hardcover – November 9, 2021

Rhodes’s biography of E. O. Wilson is a very approachable description of the life and contributions of the Harvard biologist. I recall taking my young children down Oxford Street to see the “bugs” in the Harvard collection. Hundreds if not thousands of “bugs” pinned in some logical order. Yet this was just the static and at best morphological world of these creatures. Where Wilson managed to excel is understanding and explaining the dynamic societal world of these creatures, as living, organized, dynamic and adaptive entities.Rhodes takes the reader from Wilson’s early youth in the south and his interest in “bugs” and his travels up to Harvard and his establishment of himself as a world renowned experts in bot the statics and dynamics of these creatures.The book can be divided into three sections. The first is his early life and his establishment as an exemplar leader in his field. He accomplished this by the extensive field work and then the reduction of that effort into his writings.The second phase can be described as a combative phase focused on his work called Sociobiology. I read the book when it first came out and was amazed as to its comprehensive coverage and insightful integration of facts and processes. The basic premise in my mine of sociobiology was the integral part the genetics of the species plays in the social life of the creatures. For Wilson the genetics was viewed at the higher level not down to the DNA level. What I found most intriguing was the attacks and animus he generated in the Marxist crowd at Harvard, Lewontin et al, who felt his approach denied the fundamental deterministic tenets of Marxist dialectic. The presentation of the Marxist attack upon Wilson at an AAAS meeting where he was to speak is reminiscent of the “woke” crowds of today. It was the 60s/70s and I remember these all too well.In this second phase we also see the conflict between Watson and Wilson, the DNA chemist/physics crowd and Wilson’s dynamic environment understanding of species behavior. It would take a long time before the two managed to bridge the gap. Yet they did. The interplay of DNA level understandings with the observations of species dynamics is still a massive work in progress.The third phase is up to the present where Wilson has been both recognized and accepted.I found the ongoing references to Wilson and Camus of interest. It is especially of interest since Camus and Monod ( the French Scientist who explained the details genetic expression with a Nobel in 1965) were joint colleagues in the French Resistance. Perhaps more than just a coincidence.Overall, this is a superbly well written biography, being just the right length and flowing with details but not loading the reader with excess. Wilson is a classic, and most likely will just get better as time goes by and his view of nature can be integrated into a holistic understanding of nature.

A masterful, timely, fully authorized biography of the great and hugely influential biologist and naturalist E. O. Wilson, one of the most groundbreaking and controversial scientists of our time - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb."An impressive account of one of the 20th century’s most prominent biologists, for whom the natural world is ‘a sanctuary and a realm of boundless adventure; the fewer the people in it, the better.’” (The New York Times Book Review)Few biologists in the long history of that science have been as productive, as groundbreaking, and as controversial as the Alabama-born Edward Osborne Wilson. At 91 years of age, he may be the most eminent American scientist in any field.Fascinated from an early age by the natural world in general and ants in particular, his field work on them and on all social insects has vastly expanded our knowledge of their many species and fascinating ways of being. This work led to his 1975 book Sociobiology, which created an intellectual firestorm from his contention that all animal behavior, including that of humans, is governed by the laws of evolution and genetics. Subsequently, Wilson has become a leading voice on the crucial importance to all life of biodiversity and has worked tirelessly to synthesize the fields of science and the humanities in a fruitful way.Richard Rhodes is himself a towering figure in the field of science writing, and he has had complete and unfettered access to Wilson, his associates, and his papers in writing this book. The result is one of the most accomplished and anticipated and urgently needed scientific biographies in years.

What I enjoyed most about this book is how it described how science is made.Rhodes focus on how and why Wilson chose his field and topics, the logic and logistics behind his experiments and the difference between field and lab science mystified science for me somewhat.I particularly enjoyed reading about his battles with Watson and the critics of sociobiology as it confirmed my own sense of how scientists and academics can be just as hide bound and petty as the rest of us.Seeing Michael Crichton and Paul Simon pop up was also fun. After reading this, I do feel I am in a better position to understand what makes a great scientist and that is a desire to synthesize a unifying theory that reconciles key questions across multiple disciplines.

When two authors, both prolific Pulitzer Prize winning writers, collaborate to produce a biography of one of them, prepare for an excellent read.Richard Rhodes has published 23 books, including *John James Audubon: The Making of an American* (2004), and was awarded a Pulitzer for *The Making of the Atomic Bomb* (1986), which explains the intertwining biographies of the many scientists who - beginning in the early 20th century - discovered how matter and energy are related ... science that led to the production of nuclear fission. E.O. Wilson has been awarded the Pulitzer twice, first for *On Human Nature* (1979), which describes how realities of human biological evolution set the stage for observed cultural developments, the second for *The Ants* (1991), a comprehensive work describing this large class of social insects.Ed Wilson began his work as a scientist during his childhood (!) in Alabama and continues still at age 92, after a longstanding professorship at Harvard. *Scientist* is an excellent biography that will enlighten you, giving insight into how E.O. Wilson has sustained such an influential professional life for so long.