The Science of Life

by H.G. Wells, Julian Huxley, G.P. Wells

Three writers have joined forces in this compilation, this precise of biological knowledge. They are all very much of the same mind about the story they have to tell, they have all read and worked upon each other's contributions, and they are jointly and serially responsible for the entire arrangement and text. The senior member of the firm, so to speak, is Mr.Wells, who wrote 'The Outline of History', but equally responsible with him are Professor Julian Huxley, the grandson of Mr. Wells' own inspiring teacher, Professor T.H. Huxley, the great associate of Darwin, and Mr. George Philip Wells, the senior partner's son. The latter is a scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, who refreshes the detailed research he has been doing at Plymouth and London with his excursion into general statement. The senior partner is the least well equipped scientifically. His share has been mainly literary and editorial, and he is responsible for the initiation and organization of the whole scheme. Together this trinity, three in one, constitutes the actor of this work.

The triplex author claims to be wedded to no creed, associated with no propaganda; he is telling what he believes to be the truth about life, so far as it is known now. He is doing exactly what the author of 'The Outline of History' attempted for history (but for science). But no one can get outside of himself, and this book, like its predecessor, will surely be saturated with the personality of its writers. The reader has to allow for that, just as a juryman has to allow for the possible bias in the evidence of an expert witness or in the charge of a judge. This book is written with a strenuous effort to be clear, complete, and correct; each member of the trinity has been closely watched by his two associates with these qualities in view. But they cannot escape or even pretend to want to escape from their common preconceptions. The reader of this book will not have made the best use of it, unless, instead of accepting its judgements, he uses them to form his own.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Evolution, Biology

1514 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Herbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.

He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.

More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...

http://www.online-literature.com/well...

http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

Reviews

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The three authors of this book (they refer to themselves collectively as “the tri-partite author”) are H.G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and numerous other works, Julian Huxley, grandson of T. H. Huxley, the associate of Darwin, and George Philip Wells, son of H.G. Wells. The two younger men are mainly responsible for the scientific aspects of the book, while H.G. Wells admits to his contribution being mainly literary and editorial. It is perhaps due to his influence that this book, despite its great length, is so eminently readable even after all this time.

Given that the most recently updated copyright on the book was 1934, I expected that much of the material in it would be out of date and that the primary interest of this book would be historical. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, while there are one or two areas where the knowledge of that time has proved to be wrong, and several areas where continuing research and technological advances have added significantly to what was known at the time (this was, for example, prior to the invention of the electron microscope), much of what they have to say still appears to be valuable.

There are nine sub-books within this book, in addition to the introduction. The first book deals with the mechanism of life in man and in some related animals, such as mice. The second is a broad overview (the most complete I have ever read) of all the different kingdoms of life. Interestingly, they use a top-down approach, beginning their study of animals with the vertebrates rather than with one-celled or smaller animals. They also do an overview of plants.

The third book, one of the longer ones, concerns Evolution and all the myriad evidence for it. I was surprised at the completeness of the fossil record of the evolution of horses that they cited, for example. They also went into great detail about the development of embryos and the clues to evolution that can be found there. The fourth book concerns inheritance and genetics and covers variation and selection.

The fifth book gives the history of life, including the big geological periods and the types of fossil life revealed in each one. They talk about trilobites (I love trilobites, but apparently life in trilobite days was kind of boring) among other things. The sixth book talks about different habitats and the life in them, and about ecology. I didn’t know ecology was a thing that long ago.

The seventh book is about health and disease. This is one area where the book shows its age somewhat. The authors talk about microbes and mention the dysentery amoeba (which is a different critter from the amoeba you might get to look at under the microscope in biology class). They discuss bacteria a little bit, but apparently, at that time, most bacteria had not been too well studied because bacteria are mostly too small to be seen with a light microscope. Viruses in those days were known primarily from their effects, and hadn’t even been named yet – they were called ‘phages’ at that time. Also, the diseases that were of the most concern were different from those that are most troubling today. Vitamin deficiencies were still a big problem, as was tuberculosis. A lot of other diseases for which there are now vaccines were still a problem as well.

Book eight is a little more speculative. It concerns behavior. The sections on ants and bees are pretty straightforward, and the descriptions of the brains of vertebrates are pretty clear, but they also go into the development of consciousness and of the different ideas of proper conduct. And lastly, they dip into questions of borderland science – spiritualism, telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, and the like, which mostly they don’t believe in.

And finally, in book nine, they go into peculiarities of the human race and speculate on what the future of humans might be.

[Forked Radish]

I picked this up for comic relief. Wells and Huxley were two of Darwin's more loquacious parrots! 🦜🦜 But, actually, I plan to read Book Eight: Behaviour,…; Chapter IX: The Borderland…

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose this will another of the many books that I need to read more than once. Amazing that this great science fiction writer was so expertly knowledgeable of the sciences. By the way, I can't seem to find another oneof these. It was printed in 1934 having been copywrited in 1929, 1930, 1931 and 1934. I speculate it might be part of a set. Any information would be appreciated.

[Norm · Rating 5 out of 5]

The longest (around 1400 pages)- and packed with probably more information - than any single volume I've ever read. An extraordinary work of exposition, for both clarity and content!