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A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane
One of the Wall Street Journal's 10 Best Books of 2020One of the New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2020A biography of J. B. S. Haldane, the brilliant and eccentric British scientist whose innovative predictions inspired Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
J. B. S. Haldane’s life was rich and strange, never short on genius or drama—from his boyhood apprenticeship to his scientist father, who first instilled in him a devotion to the scientific method; to his time in the trenches during the First World War, where he wrote his first scientific paper; to his numerous experiments on himself, including inhaling dangerous levels of carbon dioxide and drinking hydrochloric acid; to his clandestine research for the British Admiralty during the Second World War. He is best remembered as a geneticist who revolutionized our understanding of evolution, but his peers hailed him as a polymath. One student called him “the last man who might know all there was to be known.”
He foresaw in vitro fertilization, peak oil, and the hydrogen fuel cell, and his contributions ranged over physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, mathematics, and biostatistics. He was also a staunch Communist, which led him to Spain during the Civil War and sparked suspicions that he was spying for the Soviets. He wrote copiously on science and politics in newspapers and magazines, and he gave speeches in town halls and on the radio—all of which made him, in his day, as famous in Britain as Einstein. It is the duty of scientists to think politically, Haldane believed, and he sought not simply to tell his readers what to think but to show them how to think.
Beautifully written and richly detailed, Samanth Subramanian’s A Dominant Character recounts Haldane’s boisterous life and examines the questions he raised about the intersections of genetics and politics—questions that resonate even more urgently today.
J. B. S. Haldane’s life was rich and strange, never short on genius or drama—from his boyhood apprenticeship to his scientist father, who first instilled in him a devotion to the scientific method; to his time in the trenches during the First World War, where he wrote his first scientific paper; to his numerous experiments on himself, including inhaling dangerous levels of carbon dioxide and drinking hydrochloric acid; to his clandestine research for the British Admiralty during the Second World War. He is best remembered as a geneticist who revolutionized our understanding of evolution, but his peers hailed him as a polymath. One student called him “the last man who might know all there was to be known.”
He foresaw in vitro fertilization, peak oil, and the hydrogen fuel cell, and his contributions ranged over physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, mathematics, and biostatistics. He was also a staunch Communist, which led him to Spain during the Civil War and sparked suspicions that he was spying for the Soviets. He wrote copiously on science and politics in newspapers and magazines, and he gave speeches in town halls and on the radio—all of which made him, in his day, as famous in Britain as Einstein. It is the duty of scientists to think politically, Haldane believed, and he sought not simply to tell his readers what to think but to show them how to think.
Beautifully written and richly detailed, Samanth Subramanian’s A Dominant Character recounts Haldane’s boisterous life and examines the questions he raised about the intersections of genetics and politics—questions that resonate even more urgently today.
388 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 28, 2020
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About the author
Samanth Subramanian
5 books172 followersSamanth Subramanian is the India correspondent for The National and the author of two books of reportage, "Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast" and "This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War." His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Intelligent Life, Aeon, Mint, Travel + Leisure, and Caravan, among other publications. His longer reported articles occupy the confluence of politics, culture and history, examining the impact of these forces upon life and society; his shorter pieces include op-eds, cultural criticism, and book reviews.
He also co-hosts The Intersection, a fortnightly science and culture podcast from Audiomatic.
"This Divided Island" won the 2015 Crossword Prize for Non Fiction and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Non Fiction Prize the same year. "Following Fish" won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award in 2013.
Samanth Subramanian grew up in Madras, and he lives and works in New Delhi.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 10, 2021
When a science book does well in the mainstream press, the science content is often weak. In this biography of geneticist J. B. S. Haldane, Samanth Subramanian manages to get enough science in to make it worthwhile as popular science, but also piles on the biographical details, particularly on Haldane's political side, which unusually for a scientist dominated his life.
Haldane, it seems, was a classic posh boy who thinks he knows what's good for working folk - a communist who quoted the classics - and along with his irascible, blunt (well, rude really) personality, delight in shocking others and apparent enthusiasm for the dangers of warfare, comes across as a fascinating, if sometimes repulsive study (on the whole, Subramanian takes a more forgiving view, though without holding back on Haldane's faults).
Apart from his decades-long enthusiasm for the Soviet Union and ruthless (and fearless) approach to military life, we see how Haldane's science brought huge strides in the very early days of genetics, when they didn't yet really know what a gene was, but could deduce aspects of what was happening mathematically. In what was at the time a very descriptive science, Haldane always brought mathematical rigour. Although there's a bit of a dip in the book around the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, where the writing droops a bit, generally this is put across in a truly engaging fashion - if it weren't for this dip, the book would get a solid five stars.
Subramanian has clearly put a huge amount of effort in, going into extravagant detail, such as checking bank statements, to uncover the minutiae of Haldane's life. It's a shame the same care wasn't applied to finding out about the University of Cambridge. At one point we read that Haldane's future first wife, Charlotte 'killed time, walking around the campus...' - despite living several years in Cambridge, I never found a campus. We are also told that the university did not award Haldane a fellowship at Trinity College - missing that that's down to Trinity, not the university. There is also a large chunk of the early part of the book on Haldane's father - certainly interesting in his own right, but too much for me: I wanted to get onto the subject. And though much of Haldane's science is covered, I would have liked some more exploration of what the science actually meant, perhaps at the expense of a touch less verbiage on his political life.
A good book then, to find out more about a figure that most who are interested in science will have heard of as a name, but probably without much appreciation of either exactly what his scientific work covered, or how much he was a dupe of Moscow for a significant part of his life. At one point in the 1940s, when Lysenko was destroying Soviet science (and scientists), Haldane took part in a BBC radio broadcast where he used weasel words to defend the Soviet stance, putting his politics above his scientific and humanitarian side. A flawed, interesting character who, despite at the time being up there with the big names of science internationally, is now largely forgotten by the general public in a way that far less substantial literary types of the period, such as the Bloomsbury set, aren't.
Haldane, it seems, was a classic posh boy who thinks he knows what's good for working folk - a communist who quoted the classics - and along with his irascible, blunt (well, rude really) personality, delight in shocking others and apparent enthusiasm for the dangers of warfare, comes across as a fascinating, if sometimes repulsive study (on the whole, Subramanian takes a more forgiving view, though without holding back on Haldane's faults).
Apart from his decades-long enthusiasm for the Soviet Union and ruthless (and fearless) approach to military life, we see how Haldane's science brought huge strides in the very early days of genetics, when they didn't yet really know what a gene was, but could deduce aspects of what was happening mathematically. In what was at the time a very descriptive science, Haldane always brought mathematical rigour. Although there's a bit of a dip in the book around the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, where the writing droops a bit, generally this is put across in a truly engaging fashion - if it weren't for this dip, the book would get a solid five stars.
Subramanian has clearly put a huge amount of effort in, going into extravagant detail, such as checking bank statements, to uncover the minutiae of Haldane's life. It's a shame the same care wasn't applied to finding out about the University of Cambridge. At one point we read that Haldane's future first wife, Charlotte 'killed time, walking around the campus...' - despite living several years in Cambridge, I never found a campus. We are also told that the university did not award Haldane a fellowship at Trinity College - missing that that's down to Trinity, not the university. There is also a large chunk of the early part of the book on Haldane's father - certainly interesting in his own right, but too much for me: I wanted to get onto the subject. And though much of Haldane's science is covered, I would have liked some more exploration of what the science actually meant, perhaps at the expense of a touch less verbiage on his political life.
A good book then, to find out more about a figure that most who are interested in science will have heard of as a name, but probably without much appreciation of either exactly what his scientific work covered, or how much he was a dupe of Moscow for a significant part of his life. At one point in the 1940s, when Lysenko was destroying Soviet science (and scientists), Haldane took part in a BBC radio broadcast where he used weasel words to defend the Soviet stance, putting his politics above his scientific and humanitarian side. A flawed, interesting character who, despite at the time being up there with the big names of science internationally, is now largely forgotten by the general public in a way that far less substantial literary types of the period, such as the Bloomsbury set, aren't.
March 28, 2020
2/5 it was ok
What I liked about the book is that it discusses both virtues and vices of J. B. S. Haldane. It does a good job of conveying the extraordinary persona of J. B. S. and how he was who he was.
However, I was not so comfortable while reading the book; it was locally incoherent in places but the author somehow manages to make it globally coherent.
Overall a decent read.
What I liked about the book is that it discusses both virtues and vices of J. B. S. Haldane. It does a good job of conveying the extraordinary persona of J. B. S. and how he was who he was.
However, I was not so comfortable while reading the book; it was locally incoherent in places but the author somehow manages to make it globally coherent.
Overall a decent read.
August 6, 2020
n his day, J.B.S. Haldane was one of the most famous scientists (and popularisers of science) in the world. A colourful character, he was a lifelong rebel who became a committed Marxist and, near the end of his life, renounced his British citizenship and moved to India to live and work there. Seeing that there is clearly a great story to be told here, Samanth Subramanian has written a well-researched biography that can help revive interest in one of 20th century's most fascinating characters.
The book starts with an account of a 1948 meeting in Moscow where Trofim Lysenko used Stalinist tactics (including public confessions and purges) to force Russian biologists to reject "Bourgeois Genetics" and accept his pseudo-scientific nonsense in its place. When the BBC did a programme about this, they invited four eminent geneticists to discuss it. While his fellow panelists were unequivocal in their condemnation of these events, Haldane offered mealy-mouthed justifications, refusing to reject Lysenko's theories even though they clearly contradicted established biology as well as Haldane's own discoveries in genetics. Subramanian then asks: "Why did he side with the party against science?" The book is his attempt to answer this question.
Subramanian, who does not appear to have a background in science, does an excellent job of explaining Haldane's discoveries and the development of genetics in general. The story of Haldane's life is told in an extremely readable and engaging manner. And what a story it is-the son of a famous Scottish physiologist (J.S. Haldane), he went to Eton and Oxford (where he studied the classics and mathematics), served with distinction as an officer in the Black Watch in the great war, published his first genetics paper while fighting in France, taught at Oxford and Cambridge before settling into University College London and becoming a world-famous geneticist.
Haldane's famed willingness to challenge authority would desert him only when it came to the communist party. As a committed Marxist, he visited the Soviet Union, fought for the Republic in Spain and became chairman of the editorial board of the Daily Worker. But his famed willingness to challenge authority and think for himself seemed to desert him when it came to the Communist Party. Long after many fellow Leftist scientists saw the gap between the ideals and the reality of the Soviet Union, Haldane continued to defend Stalin (whom he described in 1962 as "a very great man, who did a very good job"), and refused to accept that his friend and Russian geneticist Vavilov had been purged and starved to death in prison.
The last section deals with Haldane's life in India and his struggle with cancer, which he faced manfully, quoting the Gita ("For one who has taken birth, death is certain. For one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, for what is unavoidable, do not grieve"), and, finally, leaving his body to science. Subramanian then adds some boilerplate liberal commentary about science, racism, eugenics and the role of politics in science-"We have realised the failures of the calm weight of scientific evidence to influence government policy, the need for scientists to find their voice has grown even more urgent." This is ironic, considering Haldane's attempt to "find his own voice" led him to admiring Stalin and defending Lysenko; less "engagement" might have been an improvement. Despite the shallow philosophical musings though, Subramanian tells the story of Haldane's life and explains his science well. Well worth reading.
The book starts with an account of a 1948 meeting in Moscow where Trofim Lysenko used Stalinist tactics (including public confessions and purges) to force Russian biologists to reject "Bourgeois Genetics" and accept his pseudo-scientific nonsense in its place. When the BBC did a programme about this, they invited four eminent geneticists to discuss it. While his fellow panelists were unequivocal in their condemnation of these events, Haldane offered mealy-mouthed justifications, refusing to reject Lysenko's theories even though they clearly contradicted established biology as well as Haldane's own discoveries in genetics. Subramanian then asks: "Why did he side with the party against science?" The book is his attempt to answer this question.
Subramanian, who does not appear to have a background in science, does an excellent job of explaining Haldane's discoveries and the development of genetics in general. The story of Haldane's life is told in an extremely readable and engaging manner. And what a story it is-the son of a famous Scottish physiologist (J.S. Haldane), he went to Eton and Oxford (where he studied the classics and mathematics), served with distinction as an officer in the Black Watch in the great war, published his first genetics paper while fighting in France, taught at Oxford and Cambridge before settling into University College London and becoming a world-famous geneticist.
Haldane's famed willingness to challenge authority would desert him only when it came to the communist party. As a committed Marxist, he visited the Soviet Union, fought for the Republic in Spain and became chairman of the editorial board of the Daily Worker. But his famed willingness to challenge authority and think for himself seemed to desert him when it came to the Communist Party. Long after many fellow Leftist scientists saw the gap between the ideals and the reality of the Soviet Union, Haldane continued to defend Stalin (whom he described in 1962 as "a very great man, who did a very good job"), and refused to accept that his friend and Russian geneticist Vavilov had been purged and starved to death in prison.
The last section deals with Haldane's life in India and his struggle with cancer, which he faced manfully, quoting the Gita ("For one who has taken birth, death is certain. For one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, for what is unavoidable, do not grieve"), and, finally, leaving his body to science. Subramanian then adds some boilerplate liberal commentary about science, racism, eugenics and the role of politics in science-"We have realised the failures of the calm weight of scientific evidence to influence government policy, the need for scientists to find their voice has grown even more urgent." This is ironic, considering Haldane's attempt to "find his own voice" led him to admiring Stalin and defending Lysenko; less "engagement" might have been an improvement. Despite the shallow philosophical musings though, Subramanian tells the story of Haldane's life and explains his science well. Well worth reading.
January 17, 2021
How is it possible that J. B. S. Haldane, one of the central figures of 20th century biology and scientific research, was such a staunch defender of Stalinism/Lysenkoism? That's the central question of this great biography of J. B. S.
As a biologist myself I knew a bit about Haldane, mostly his central role in the New Synthesis, the early 20th century set of research that merged Darwin's and Mendel's ideas with modern research, his communism, and I had some vague ideas about his crazy antics during the First World War. But there's much more to discover here!
Some notes:
- J. B. S. was the son of the highly eminent J. S., a physician who was interested in respiratory conditions, especially in British mines. J. S. is the guy who invented the canary in the mine! J.S. included J. B. S. and his sister Naomi (later Mitchinson) in his experiments from a very young age, often getting J. B. S. do go underwater, or do breathe noxious fumes, etc. My wife would kill me if I'd do that with the kids.
- on the topic of Naomi - she did publish some papers with J. B. S. Haldane at a very young age and Subramanian's book makes it sound like she was pushed out of science due to their day's preconception against women and then it's unclear of what happened to her, her Wikipedia article shows that she lived a full life: Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 90 published books, an autobiography in three parts (you could write mine in a leaflet), a strong voice in women's politics. I guess I need that autobiography now?
- J. B. S. had a degree in the classics, not in any science! He already had experience in research and writing papers when he entered university, so he figured that the science would follow anyway. Since then, scientific business has changed substantially, career paths have become much more narrow. There's no way you could pull this off today.
- too many strange War hijinks to list here, just noting that one time J. B. S. was on his way to a field hospital, flagging a car, which turned out to have the future king of England, Edward VIII, as its driver, who saw J. B. S. and said: "oh it's you." They had gone to Oxford together.
- J. B. S. was an amazing popularizer of science, at the same time, someone who was charged with politics - 'it is the duty of scientists themselves to think politically [...] Haldane had a voice, and he used it.'. You can see where the motivation for this book comes from; our days of fake news and lies becoming truth by repetition need more Haldanes.
Bonus quote:
As a biologist myself I knew a bit about Haldane, mostly his central role in the New Synthesis, the early 20th century set of research that merged Darwin's and Mendel's ideas with modern research, his communism, and I had some vague ideas about his crazy antics during the First World War. But there's much more to discover here!
Some notes:
- J. B. S. was the son of the highly eminent J. S., a physician who was interested in respiratory conditions, especially in British mines. J. S. is the guy who invented the canary in the mine! J.S. included J. B. S. and his sister Naomi (later Mitchinson) in his experiments from a very young age, often getting J. B. S. do go underwater, or do breathe noxious fumes, etc. My wife would kill me if I'd do that with the kids.
- on the topic of Naomi - she did publish some papers with J. B. S. Haldane at a very young age and Subramanian's book makes it sound like she was pushed out of science due to their day's preconception against women and then it's unclear of what happened to her, her Wikipedia article shows that she lived a full life: Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 90 published books, an autobiography in three parts (you could write mine in a leaflet), a strong voice in women's politics. I guess I need that autobiography now?
- J. B. S. had a degree in the classics, not in any science! He already had experience in research and writing papers when he entered university, so he figured that the science would follow anyway. Since then, scientific business has changed substantially, career paths have become much more narrow. There's no way you could pull this off today.
- too many strange War hijinks to list here, just noting that one time J. B. S. was on his way to a field hospital, flagging a car, which turned out to have the future king of England, Edward VIII, as its driver, who saw J. B. S. and said: "oh it's you." They had gone to Oxford together.
- J. B. S. was an amazing popularizer of science, at the same time, someone who was charged with politics - 'it is the duty of scientists themselves to think politically [...] Haldane had a voice, and he used it.'. You can see where the motivation for this book comes from; our days of fake news and lies becoming truth by repetition need more Haldanes.
Bonus quote:
On general principle, [J. B. S.] said, humans will make every possible mistake before choosing the right path.
October 4, 2021
A long, arduous read with very rewarding insight into one of the 20th century's greatest polymaths.
For all the positives this book has, it's biggest enemy is itself. The chapters are just too long. Samanth Subramanian has written an excellent, beautifully interrogative biography of J. B. S. Haldane here. But each chapter could easily be chopped into three smaller, more digestible chapters. The first half mostly deals with Haldane's family whilst the second half deals much more with Haldane's political and scientific character. Subramanian gives an impressive breadth of Haldane's life and follows a tradition of opening each chapter with a small, demonstrative anec dote, but none of this worked well for me. It's a very worthy book and anybody who does give it a go will likely find it more rewarding than I did by sheer capacity of their greater patience.
On that, Subramanian should be applauded for several things. Firstly, whilst his admiration for Haldane is very clear, he never lets the historical figure escape into mythological obscurity. He challenges a lot of Haldane's beliefs and place in the scientific and political community. Secondly, the author does a fantastic job of including three dimensional, independent characterisations of women. It would be far too easy, particularly for a figure like Haldane in a field so supposedly surrounded by men, to have left women out altogether. But he doesn't. Haldane's sister, his wife, his friends and students are all fully realised and given a lot of time to take centre stage in this biography. Finally, Subramanian does an excellent job of identifying Haldane as an intellectual, as a geneticist and as a political agitator, but then beautifully weaving the three figures together to make a realistic, human Haldane at the centre of the story. It really is astonishingly good biographical writing. I just wish I had the attention span to stay focused through each of the two hour long chapters.
This is a monumentally impressive biography. Students of intellectual history and really anyone who can stand the length, will find this to be a fantastic work. But sometimes you can see a beautiful piece of art and still not personally feel much connection to it, which sadly is what happened here with me. Objectively, this is a five star piece of work for what it is, but subjectively it wasn't for me.
For all the positives this book has, it's biggest enemy is itself. The chapters are just too long. Samanth Subramanian has written an excellent, beautifully interrogative biography of J. B. S. Haldane here. But each chapter could easily be chopped into three smaller, more digestible chapters. The first half mostly deals with Haldane's family whilst the second half deals much more with Haldane's political and scientific character. Subramanian gives an impressive breadth of Haldane's life and follows a tradition of opening each chapter with a small, demonstrative anec dote, but none of this worked well for me. It's a very worthy book and anybody who does give it a go will likely find it more rewarding than I did by sheer capacity of their greater patience.
On that, Subramanian should be applauded for several things. Firstly, whilst his admiration for Haldane is very clear, he never lets the historical figure escape into mythological obscurity. He challenges a lot of Haldane's beliefs and place in the scientific and political community. Secondly, the author does a fantastic job of including three dimensional, independent characterisations of women. It would be far too easy, particularly for a figure like Haldane in a field so supposedly surrounded by men, to have left women out altogether. But he doesn't. Haldane's sister, his wife, his friends and students are all fully realised and given a lot of time to take centre stage in this biography. Finally, Subramanian does an excellent job of identifying Haldane as an intellectual, as a geneticist and as a political agitator, but then beautifully weaving the three figures together to make a realistic, human Haldane at the centre of the story. It really is astonishingly good biographical writing. I just wish I had the attention span to stay focused through each of the two hour long chapters.
This is a monumentally impressive biography. Students of intellectual history and really anyone who can stand the length, will find this to be a fantastic work. But sometimes you can see a beautiful piece of art and still not personally feel much connection to it, which sadly is what happened here with me. Objectively, this is a five star piece of work for what it is, but subjectively it wasn't for me.
August 19, 2021
A reasonably interesting biography of JBS Haldane, a British geneticist and public intellectual whose contemporary fame outstrips his current fame. His major scientific contributions include mathematizing the rate of natural selection one can expect in response to environmental changes; creating the concept of genetic linkage; as well as the "primordial soup" theory of what created life on Earth.
One interesting thread in Haldane's life, and thus the book, is the interplay between his rigorous insistence on the scientific method/Bayesian reasoning in most of his life, alongside his willingness to fudge critiques of Communism. It goes to show how much of a role motivated reasoning plays in our lives.
Also featured an incredible quote about how Eton, while not being a strong academic school: “We are often told that they taught us nothing at Eton,” Herbert Plumer, the field marshal, remarked. “That may be so, but I think they taught it very well.”
Also, this great quote from Haldane: “If you’re faced with a difficulty or a controversy in science,” he liked to say, “an ounce of algebra is worth a ton of verbal argument.”
And this: In America, in state fairs that handed out prizes for the biggest pumpkin or the fattest pig or the bonniest baby, eugenicists held Fitter Families contests. Participants filled out a Record of Family Traits, allowed their IQ to be measured, and gave blood and urine samples. Then they waited for the results, in tents or sheds, amid exhibits that explained how marriages between “Pure” and “Tainted” people turned out. If they won, families received trophies or medals and a citation with a line from Psalms: “Yea, I have a goodly heritage.”
And: The wounded soldiers who made it home after 1918 were so biologically valuable, the government thought, that it issued them “eugenic stripes” to be sown onto their sleeves. The stripes were meant to signal to women that these men would be exemplary mates.
Also Haldane's advice about writing pop science: He grew so skilled at this craft that he once published a piece titled “How to Write a Popular Scientific Article,” a distillation of his methods that was filled with good sense. His first piece of stern advice: know a great deal more about your subject than you put on paper. Then look for a familiar analogy; pull it out of the facts of everyday experience. Some of his suggestions might well have come from a scientifically minded Hemingway. Go slow. Keep your sentences short. Use active verbs. Enunciate your theorem only after you provide its proof. Consistently, Haldane looked to the daily headlines for inspiration. Equally, he quoted Dante or Heraclitus when he felt like it—as a way, he said, of showing the continuity of human thought."
There's also a cool part about how evolution in humans is especially accelerated: In fact, though, there is evidence that evolution has accelerated in humans, as compared with chimpanzees, our closest relatives. Over the last 10,000 years, pegged roughly to the spread of agriculture, parts of our genome have shown more variation; over the last 5,000 years, human evolution has become 100 times faster. Among the new traits gained by humanity in the past 10 millennia, according to a 2007 study, are blue eyes, a limited protection against malarial parasites, and the adult ability to digest milk. The reasons for this acceleration are still speculative. Perhaps by controlling nature and cultivating it, we improved our diet so much that our population swelled dramatically. In our larger numbers, more mutations flickered in and out—more gene variants, more traits for natural selection to sift, more chances for beneficial alleles to roll out through our species. (Darwin and Ronald Fisher had foreseen this. In breeding cattle, Darwin wrote, the chance of useful variations appearing and being retained climbed as the population increased, “hence, number is of the highest importance for success.”)
And this: For most Londoners, the nearest tunnels were those of the Underground, but at first, when people spent their nights on station platforms, the government balked. The crowds hindered the movement of troops, officials claimed, so the entrances to the Underground were shut every night. As a result, queues began to form at midday, when families bought tickets ostensibly to catch a train, remained on the platform all night, and emerged the next morning. Eventually, the government yielded to the pressure from the throngs as well as from Haldane’s committee and permitted the Tube’s stations to host hundreds of thousands of people overnight. If you didn’t have time to sprint to the Underground, though, you risked being bombed in your bed or catching pneumonia in the Anderson Shelter. A Daily Worker cartoon compared the Andersons to dog kennels. “Now be British and be bombed while we go into the country to carry on the government,” a politician tells a family of four, presenting them with a new Anderson and prancing away to the limousine that awaits him.
One interesting thread in Haldane's life, and thus the book, is the interplay between his rigorous insistence on the scientific method/Bayesian reasoning in most of his life, alongside his willingness to fudge critiques of Communism. It goes to show how much of a role motivated reasoning plays in our lives.
Also featured an incredible quote about how Eton, while not being a strong academic school: “We are often told that they taught us nothing at Eton,” Herbert Plumer, the field marshal, remarked. “That may be so, but I think they taught it very well.”
Also, this great quote from Haldane: “If you’re faced with a difficulty or a controversy in science,” he liked to say, “an ounce of algebra is worth a ton of verbal argument.”
And this: In America, in state fairs that handed out prizes for the biggest pumpkin or the fattest pig or the bonniest baby, eugenicists held Fitter Families contests. Participants filled out a Record of Family Traits, allowed their IQ to be measured, and gave blood and urine samples. Then they waited for the results, in tents or sheds, amid exhibits that explained how marriages between “Pure” and “Tainted” people turned out. If they won, families received trophies or medals and a citation with a line from Psalms: “Yea, I have a goodly heritage.”
And: The wounded soldiers who made it home after 1918 were so biologically valuable, the government thought, that it issued them “eugenic stripes” to be sown onto their sleeves. The stripes were meant to signal to women that these men would be exemplary mates.
Also Haldane's advice about writing pop science: He grew so skilled at this craft that he once published a piece titled “How to Write a Popular Scientific Article,” a distillation of his methods that was filled with good sense. His first piece of stern advice: know a great deal more about your subject than you put on paper. Then look for a familiar analogy; pull it out of the facts of everyday experience. Some of his suggestions might well have come from a scientifically minded Hemingway. Go slow. Keep your sentences short. Use active verbs. Enunciate your theorem only after you provide its proof. Consistently, Haldane looked to the daily headlines for inspiration. Equally, he quoted Dante or Heraclitus when he felt like it—as a way, he said, of showing the continuity of human thought."
There's also a cool part about how evolution in humans is especially accelerated: In fact, though, there is evidence that evolution has accelerated in humans, as compared with chimpanzees, our closest relatives. Over the last 10,000 years, pegged roughly to the spread of agriculture, parts of our genome have shown more variation; over the last 5,000 years, human evolution has become 100 times faster. Among the new traits gained by humanity in the past 10 millennia, according to a 2007 study, are blue eyes, a limited protection against malarial parasites, and the adult ability to digest milk. The reasons for this acceleration are still speculative. Perhaps by controlling nature and cultivating it, we improved our diet so much that our population swelled dramatically. In our larger numbers, more mutations flickered in and out—more gene variants, more traits for natural selection to sift, more chances for beneficial alleles to roll out through our species. (Darwin and Ronald Fisher had foreseen this. In breeding cattle, Darwin wrote, the chance of useful variations appearing and being retained climbed as the population increased, “hence, number is of the highest importance for success.”)
And this: For most Londoners, the nearest tunnels were those of the Underground, but at first, when people spent their nights on station platforms, the government balked. The crowds hindered the movement of troops, officials claimed, so the entrances to the Underground were shut every night. As a result, queues began to form at midday, when families bought tickets ostensibly to catch a train, remained on the platform all night, and emerged the next morning. Eventually, the government yielded to the pressure from the throngs as well as from Haldane’s committee and permitted the Tube’s stations to host hundreds of thousands of people overnight. If you didn’t have time to sprint to the Underground, though, you risked being bombed in your bed or catching pneumonia in the Anderson Shelter. A Daily Worker cartoon compared the Andersons to dog kennels. “Now be British and be bombed while we go into the country to carry on the government,” a politician tells a family of four, presenting them with a new Anderson and prancing away to the limousine that awaits him.
April 1, 2021
An interesting person and absolutely worthy of a book. But unfortunately this book was simply boring at times.
February 15, 2020
This book needs a wider audience. Scholarly research and erudite rendition of the biography of a complex character. Extraordinary brilliance and extremely irritable disposition marks the subject matter of the book. Haldane is at once a generalist who dabbles across all subjects (including politics) as well as a focussed biologist shining light on Darwin’s theory.
The last chapter dedicated to his life in India brings out the bureaucratic troubles he faced at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. Overall an excellent book on a relatively abstruse scientist.
The last chapter dedicated to his life in India brings out the bureaucratic troubles he faced at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. Overall an excellent book on a relatively abstruse scientist.
June 18, 2021
I have always been a fan of Samanth Subramanian’s writing after having discovered him through the Indian quizzing scene. I picked this up having read the delightfully written Following Fish and the very poignant and moving This Divided Island, curious to see why JBS Haldane’s life could be so interesting. It didn’t disappoint - it’s a riveting account of not just JBS Haldane’s life, but also a fascinating narrative of the embryonic stages of evolutionary biology and genetics. If there is any field of science where the intersection with politics is inevitable, it is genetics and it’s very enlightening to read about how different schools of thought emerged and the personalities behind them - JBS Haldane included. Unlike what I expected in a biography, although the book was structured in broad narratives as chapters which roughly mapped to chronological periods, the contents of the chapters themselves isn’t strictly in chronological order, which I think enriched the text and helped me glean broader themes and patterns better.
Overall, I think this is an excellent read for anyone interested in the history of science, or anyone who likes to read in depth profiles of eminent people who lived a colorful life.
Overall, I think this is an excellent read for anyone interested in the history of science, or anyone who likes to read in depth profiles of eminent people who lived a colorful life.
January 7, 2021
An interesting and unusual look at one of the most influential scientists of the Twentieth Century.
The book is ostensibly about the life of JBS Haldane, a scientist reminiscent of an earlier age, a polymath and enthusiastic scholar who did not even possess a scientific degree, but came to be a key figure in the field of genetics. But the book is also about the political climate of the time, particularly relating to communism, as for many years Haldane was a card-carrying member of the British Communist Party, and arguably their most famous member.
The book is very well written, and the passion of Subramanian for the science and politics that he is discussing is evident. There are times when I felt the discussion of genetics was right on the boundary of what could be expected to be comprehended by those without a background in science, a group I myself am a card-carrying member of.
If you have never heard of Haldane, or don't have any interest in genetics, I really wouldn't let that put you off. It is a book about a genius of a man who had an endless passion for science and the scientific method, and the inevitable clash that arose between that and the dogmatic acceptance of Stalinist doctrine that was required to be a communist in the Thirties and Forties. Really interesting stuff.
4/5
The book is ostensibly about the life of JBS Haldane, a scientist reminiscent of an earlier age, a polymath and enthusiastic scholar who did not even possess a scientific degree, but came to be a key figure in the field of genetics. But the book is also about the political climate of the time, particularly relating to communism, as for many years Haldane was a card-carrying member of the British Communist Party, and arguably their most famous member.
The book is very well written, and the passion of Subramanian for the science and politics that he is discussing is evident. There are times when I felt the discussion of genetics was right on the boundary of what could be expected to be comprehended by those without a background in science, a group I myself am a card-carrying member of.
If you have never heard of Haldane, or don't have any interest in genetics, I really wouldn't let that put you off. It is a book about a genius of a man who had an endless passion for science and the scientific method, and the inevitable clash that arose between that and the dogmatic acceptance of Stalinist doctrine that was required to be a communist in the Thirties and Forties. Really interesting stuff.
4/5
September 11, 2020
This was an absolutely wonderful book about an absolutely fascinating man.
Subramanian does a great job of capturing Haldane's early influences, especially that of his father, and how they led him to the life of science and politics that he led. His curmugdeonly traits are here, of course, but they're presented kindly. Most of all, Haldane's relentless restless curiosity comes through.
The science in the book is very well reported -- clear for a lay audience, and accurate in the details of those fields I understand, so that I trust the details in those I don't. Subramanian must be a competent communicator of science himself, besides being a good biographer.
Haldane's marriages, his politics, his late love affair with India, and his shifting commitment to Communism and socialism over the course of his life were news to me. What I mostly knew about him was his extravagant experiments on his own body, in pursuit of the biological sciences. Those stories are here too, of course.
The book led me to re-read a number of Haldane's papers ("On Being the Right Size" is so good!), and reinforced my wish that I'd been able to meet the man.
Subramanian does a great job of capturing Haldane's early influences, especially that of his father, and how they led him to the life of science and politics that he led. His curmugdeonly traits are here, of course, but they're presented kindly. Most of all, Haldane's relentless restless curiosity comes through.
The science in the book is very well reported -- clear for a lay audience, and accurate in the details of those fields I understand, so that I trust the details in those I don't. Subramanian must be a competent communicator of science himself, besides being a good biographer.
Haldane's marriages, his politics, his late love affair with India, and his shifting commitment to Communism and socialism over the course of his life were news to me. What I mostly knew about him was his extravagant experiments on his own body, in pursuit of the biological sciences. Those stories are here too, of course.
The book led me to re-read a number of Haldane's papers ("On Being the Right Size" is so good!), and reinforced my wish that I'd been able to meet the man.
February 19, 2021
I enjoyed reading Samanth Subramanian's writing. Partly because it was almost poetic in all its metaphors (maybe slightly excessively so at some points), but mostly because it made the science that anchored this book easy to understand and super interesting. I did think the central idea, Haldane's science x politics got a little all-over-the-place along the way. But overall, I think Haldane himself would've enjoyed this book, and that's saying something.
May 12, 2021
Effortlessly switching back and forth between JBS Haldane's personal life and his academic achievements, A Dominant Character is an incredibly enjoyable biography that never seeks to downplay the complicated character of this British polymath. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...
September 10, 2022
A good biography illuminates more than a single life.
This book was a joy to read: excellent science facts, a fascinating life and personality, and cameos by so many other historical figures woven in seamlessly. Truly one of the best biographies I’ve ever read, and of a figure I’d never previously heard of (surprisingly!) The prose was excellent as well, carefully toeing a line in being accessible and charming while keeping speculation to a minimum— any suppositions about emotional state always had some sort of source backing them up.
Must read.
This book was a joy to read: excellent science facts, a fascinating life and personality, and cameos by so many other historical figures woven in seamlessly. Truly one of the best biographies I’ve ever read, and of a figure I’d never previously heard of (surprisingly!) The prose was excellent as well, carefully toeing a line in being accessible and charming while keeping speculation to a minimum— any suppositions about emotional state always had some sort of source backing them up.
Must read.
February 28, 2021
Amazing book about one of the less acclaimed titans of genetics - J B S Haldane. Extensively researched and wonderfully written by Samanth Subramanian. Haldane's membership in the British Communist Party probably ensured he was always caught in a total eclipse, but that never deterred him! His 'radical' science often included offering himself as a volunteer to be tested upon - to check the tolerance levels of CO2 and CO in the blood for instance. Evidently, this ran in the family, his father having perfected this art before him - to check effects of chlorine, during the war. Lesser know are Haldane's efforts to popularize science and his adopting Indian citizenship in 1957 to settle, work and die, in India. Quite an inspiring account of the man and his eventful life.
January 2, 2021
Really a marvelous biography, and so well written, with vivid imagery and the occasional short declarative sentence to highlight a point. Plainly Haldane had talents, intelligence, acumen, and personal bravery that were all off the charts. I wish he were alive today to advise on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
I would have ended the book at the penultimate chapter and avoided brief but strong editorializations about ongoing controversies in evolutionary biology in the final chapter. It seems like an afterthought and sufficiently disconnected from Haldane’s life that I wonder if the publisher asked for it to be tossed in. Elsewhere, however, the author’s commentaries about the nature of science and its uses and misuses by scientists and non-scientists alike are valuable, or at least entertaining.
I hate to do this with almost every book I review, but where are the copy-editors? I just finished reading a 500-page French novel that was free of any typos or other errors. Someone took the time to proofread it. Sadly, I can’t say the same about most books published in English these days. Here we find somber misspelled as somberr (p. 55), hemophilia as hemophila (once; p. 198), de rigueur as de rigeur (p. 162), and even, though I acknowledge that the battle over conjugating lie and lay is lost, this passage: Haldane “took to laying on the ground, dead as a log, with corn stuffed up his shorts, so that the pigeons would wriggle in to peck at the grain.” (P. 43.)
Running a spell-check would have caught the misspellings and running a grammar check might have changed laying into lying. These needless errors bother me—whether that’s more a reflection on me or on the attention-deficient nature of the world I leave for others to judge. For me, they fray the bonds of trust between author and reader, because one inevitably wonders what else the author got wrong but that is hidden from the reader’s view.
I would have ended the book at the penultimate chapter and avoided brief but strong editorializations about ongoing controversies in evolutionary biology in the final chapter. It seems like an afterthought and sufficiently disconnected from Haldane’s life that I wonder if the publisher asked for it to be tossed in. Elsewhere, however, the author’s commentaries about the nature of science and its uses and misuses by scientists and non-scientists alike are valuable, or at least entertaining.
I hate to do this with almost every book I review, but where are the copy-editors? I just finished reading a 500-page French novel that was free of any typos or other errors. Someone took the time to proofread it. Sadly, I can’t say the same about most books published in English these days. Here we find somber misspelled as somberr (p. 55), hemophilia as hemophila (once; p. 198), de rigueur as de rigeur (p. 162), and even, though I acknowledge that the battle over conjugating lie and lay is lost, this passage: Haldane “took to laying on the ground, dead as a log, with corn stuffed up his shorts, so that the pigeons would wriggle in to peck at the grain.” (P. 43.)
Running a spell-check would have caught the misspellings and running a grammar check might have changed laying into lying. These needless errors bother me—whether that’s more a reflection on me or on the attention-deficient nature of the world I leave for others to judge. For me, they fray the bonds of trust between author and reader, because one inevitably wonders what else the author got wrong but that is hidden from the reader’s view.
August 26, 2021
I really enjoyed this book, I think mainly because Haldane is such a fascinating subject. I first encountered Haldane (like many scientists with left-wing sympathies) by way of Hobsbawm’s “Age of Extremes”. And I felt compelled to learn more about Haldane after reading McKenzie Wark’s introduction to J.D. Bernal’s “The World, The Flesh, and the Devil”.
I think I’m a lot more sympathetic than Subramanian to the way Haldane handled difficult issues, like the one surrounding Lysenko. I don’t necessarily agree with what he did in hindsight, but I think the pressures of party discipline and what communists then thought was worth sacrificing for the cause, I can see how difficult it was for him, and the political calculus involved. Ultimately, when it came down to it Haldane did choose to publically criticize fellow comrades who were trying to bend science towards very particular party lines (that in hindsight were not at all worth fighting for and a serious hit to the credibility of radical politics). Haldane always focused on internal criticism and discussion within the party and did all he could to solve disputes internally before allowing things to leak into public discourse. It’s interesting that it was his first wife (Charlotte Haldane) that in many ways brought him into communist politics. She was a member before him, and he remained a fellow traveller until their split when he then joined the party as she departed from it.
It's difficult to understand how large a figure Haldane was, as maybe the most well-known popularizer of science in his time. Einstein owned a copy of Haldane's famous book Daedalus, which Einstein marked up, emphasizing Haldane's ethical commentary. Aldous Huxley not only borrowed concepts Haldane discussed (such as ectogenesis which found its way into Brave New World) but even based one of his characters on Haldane (the professor in Antic Hay). Haldane was friends with Aldous' older brother Julian Huxley from his Eton days, though Haldane became a staunch critic of the type of eugenics that Julian Huxley would become associated with.
Some of my favourite parts of the book involved Haldane’s time in the Spanish Civil War. He was acquainted with Norman Bethune, someone who I am incredibly enamoured with. In fact, Bethune is the person my department’s (STS’s) building is named after (Bethune College at York University) and there is a bust of him outside our building. He was a Canadian doctor, and a communist held in very high regard by the people of China (and Mao himself) for his lifelong dedication serving the people of China in the practice of modern medicine. Subramanian includes this moving account of Bethune that Haldane had written in recollection of the two weeks he spent in Bethune’s unit:
“A Spanish comrade was brought in with his left arm shattered. He was as pale as a corpse. He could not move or speak. We looked for a vein in his arm, but his veins were empty. Bethune cut through the skin inside his right elbow, found a vein, and placed a hollow needle in it. He did not move. For some twenty minutes I held a reservoir of blood, connected to the needle by a rubber tube, at the right height to give a steady flow. As the new blood entered his vessels his colour gradually returned, and with it consciousness. When we sewed up the hole in his arm he winced. He was still too weak to speak but as we left him he bent his right arm and gave us the Red Front salute.”
I loved reading about Haldane's admiration of other scientists and figures of the past. This is a great excerpt about Haldane's love of the Catholic microbiologist Louis Pasteur:
“For Haldane, the model scientist was always Louis Pasteur, who in the nineteenth century developed vaccines, discovered how to halt the contamination of milk, and tripped up the headlong spread of disease. His influence, Haldane thought, was supreme—greater even than Darwin’s. Darwin changed the intellectual beliefs of his time, and his appeal was almost entirely to reason. Pasteur transformed the state of humanity and the structure of society. He published few experimental results, but every experiment he ran was final, decisive; no one conducted those same tests after him and came away with different results. It was rare, Haldane wrote in an unpublished book on Darwinism, that a scientist stimulated both reason and emotion. But Pasteur did. ”
And of course the account of Haldane in India with his second wife Helen was extremely fascinating and endlessly interesting. Besides the amusing spat Haldane had with C.S. Lewis, I especially loved this passage that Subramanian wrote regarding Hinduism, which Haldane took an interest in. The account starts with a discussion of the opportunities as well as constraints Haldane faced as a scientist and teacher in India:
“The kind of work Haldane thought possible in India derived from its proximity to a luxuriance of plants and animals. The labs at ISI couldn’t afford electron microscopes or cyclotrons. But Darwin hadn’t needed any expensive instruments to observe the finches on the Galápagos Islands or the earthworms in his lawn. His primary research relied on his patient respect for other organisms and on his sense of kinship with them—qualities that, to Haldane, were analogous to Hindu philosophy’s nonviolence against nature. Christian theologians insisted that humans and animals were distinct, he wrote; in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths, “animals have rights and duties.” Sometimes Helen liked to say that Darwin had converted Europe to Hinduism—an exaggeration, Haldane held, but not terribly distant from the truth.
Under his guidance, his colleagues and students watched, counted, and measured. Helen bred guppies and silk moths; the fish did poorly, but the moths provided a paper on the two kinds of cocoons they produced and the varying quantity of silk from each kind.”
And this excerpt was also especially fun to read, especially as some background on why Haldane would have taken an interest to Hinduism:
“Why, Jack wondered, were the British so profoundly uninterested in the country they held? Most colonists made no effort to learn an Indian language or to understand the religions of the land… The British despised Indians and were unaffected by their condition—a state of being that Jack thought both ludicrous and uncivilized. The Englishmen around him conversed at any length only to Indians who spoke English—who had served as officers in the army or who had university degrees… In any case, he could only feel truly close to another human being when they could both presume to be equal to the other. In the relationship between colonizer and subject, that kind of equality was impossible. He knew the gulf was maintained deliberately, and he knew the British regarded India, above all, as an economic resource. But to his mind, in the absence of a genuine British passion for India, any possible intellectual rationalization for the imperial project evaporated. The Raj then became an exercise in exploitation, a machine to perpetuate iniquity.”
I also loved the excerpt of a letter that Haldane wrote to Nehru that Subramanian included in the book:
“I could, I believe, assist in the development of human physiology and of the more academic side of genetics. . . . However, I fully realise that the time has ceased when an Englishman can claim any right to advise Indians. If such a view is taken, I can make no complaint. If it is not, perhaps I may be of some service to India.”
Nehru responded and welcomed Haldane’s offer.
One last story I wanted to include alludes to the great and varied intellect of Haldane who was so well-read in everything, and had committed so much great literature to memory that I smile just at the thought of it. One of my favourite stories Subramanian tells is of a tram workers’ strike in the summer of 1913 when police and strike breakers would brutalize the workers, and Haldane one of the evenings strikers were out on the streets, went to a nearby street and started bellowing out the Athanasian Creed in Latin which drew quite a large crowd of curious onlookers, so large, in fact, that the strikebreaking trams could not get through. Haldane recalls police trying to dispel the crowd and pushing some pious old ladies into the gutter.
As a remark, the Athanasian Creed is one of the most fascinating creeds in my view, an important document on Trinitarian theology that Sarah Coakley makes quite interesting. Anyway, the idea of a communist geneticist loudly reciting the Athanasian Creed in Latin from memory to help tram strikers is so wonderfully hilarious to me. Maybe the best use of the creed and Trinitarian theology that I know of. How long theologians have been arguing over this creed, the filioque controversy, and interpreting Trinitarian doctrine. As Marx once said: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” Theory and praxis.
I think I’m a lot more sympathetic than Subramanian to the way Haldane handled difficult issues, like the one surrounding Lysenko. I don’t necessarily agree with what he did in hindsight, but I think the pressures of party discipline and what communists then thought was worth sacrificing for the cause, I can see how difficult it was for him, and the political calculus involved. Ultimately, when it came down to it Haldane did choose to publically criticize fellow comrades who were trying to bend science towards very particular party lines (that in hindsight were not at all worth fighting for and a serious hit to the credibility of radical politics). Haldane always focused on internal criticism and discussion within the party and did all he could to solve disputes internally before allowing things to leak into public discourse. It’s interesting that it was his first wife (Charlotte Haldane) that in many ways brought him into communist politics. She was a member before him, and he remained a fellow traveller until their split when he then joined the party as she departed from it.
It's difficult to understand how large a figure Haldane was, as maybe the most well-known popularizer of science in his time. Einstein owned a copy of Haldane's famous book Daedalus, which Einstein marked up, emphasizing Haldane's ethical commentary. Aldous Huxley not only borrowed concepts Haldane discussed (such as ectogenesis which found its way into Brave New World) but even based one of his characters on Haldane (the professor in Antic Hay). Haldane was friends with Aldous' older brother Julian Huxley from his Eton days, though Haldane became a staunch critic of the type of eugenics that Julian Huxley would become associated with.
Some of my favourite parts of the book involved Haldane’s time in the Spanish Civil War. He was acquainted with Norman Bethune, someone who I am incredibly enamoured with. In fact, Bethune is the person my department’s (STS’s) building is named after (Bethune College at York University) and there is a bust of him outside our building. He was a Canadian doctor, and a communist held in very high regard by the people of China (and Mao himself) for his lifelong dedication serving the people of China in the practice of modern medicine. Subramanian includes this moving account of Bethune that Haldane had written in recollection of the two weeks he spent in Bethune’s unit:
“A Spanish comrade was brought in with his left arm shattered. He was as pale as a corpse. He could not move or speak. We looked for a vein in his arm, but his veins were empty. Bethune cut through the skin inside his right elbow, found a vein, and placed a hollow needle in it. He did not move. For some twenty minutes I held a reservoir of blood, connected to the needle by a rubber tube, at the right height to give a steady flow. As the new blood entered his vessels his colour gradually returned, and with it consciousness. When we sewed up the hole in his arm he winced. He was still too weak to speak but as we left him he bent his right arm and gave us the Red Front salute.”
I loved reading about Haldane's admiration of other scientists and figures of the past. This is a great excerpt about Haldane's love of the Catholic microbiologist Louis Pasteur:
“For Haldane, the model scientist was always Louis Pasteur, who in the nineteenth century developed vaccines, discovered how to halt the contamination of milk, and tripped up the headlong spread of disease. His influence, Haldane thought, was supreme—greater even than Darwin’s. Darwin changed the intellectual beliefs of his time, and his appeal was almost entirely to reason. Pasteur transformed the state of humanity and the structure of society. He published few experimental results, but every experiment he ran was final, decisive; no one conducted those same tests after him and came away with different results. It was rare, Haldane wrote in an unpublished book on Darwinism, that a scientist stimulated both reason and emotion. But Pasteur did. ”
And of course the account of Haldane in India with his second wife Helen was extremely fascinating and endlessly interesting. Besides the amusing spat Haldane had with C.S. Lewis, I especially loved this passage that Subramanian wrote regarding Hinduism, which Haldane took an interest in. The account starts with a discussion of the opportunities as well as constraints Haldane faced as a scientist and teacher in India:
“The kind of work Haldane thought possible in India derived from its proximity to a luxuriance of plants and animals. The labs at ISI couldn’t afford electron microscopes or cyclotrons. But Darwin hadn’t needed any expensive instruments to observe the finches on the Galápagos Islands or the earthworms in his lawn. His primary research relied on his patient respect for other organisms and on his sense of kinship with them—qualities that, to Haldane, were analogous to Hindu philosophy’s nonviolence against nature. Christian theologians insisted that humans and animals were distinct, he wrote; in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths, “animals have rights and duties.” Sometimes Helen liked to say that Darwin had converted Europe to Hinduism—an exaggeration, Haldane held, but not terribly distant from the truth.
Under his guidance, his colleagues and students watched, counted, and measured. Helen bred guppies and silk moths; the fish did poorly, but the moths provided a paper on the two kinds of cocoons they produced and the varying quantity of silk from each kind.”
And this excerpt was also especially fun to read, especially as some background on why Haldane would have taken an interest to Hinduism:
“Why, Jack wondered, were the British so profoundly uninterested in the country they held? Most colonists made no effort to learn an Indian language or to understand the religions of the land… The British despised Indians and were unaffected by their condition—a state of being that Jack thought both ludicrous and uncivilized. The Englishmen around him conversed at any length only to Indians who spoke English—who had served as officers in the army or who had university degrees… In any case, he could only feel truly close to another human being when they could both presume to be equal to the other. In the relationship between colonizer and subject, that kind of equality was impossible. He knew the gulf was maintained deliberately, and he knew the British regarded India, above all, as an economic resource. But to his mind, in the absence of a genuine British passion for India, any possible intellectual rationalization for the imperial project evaporated. The Raj then became an exercise in exploitation, a machine to perpetuate iniquity.”
I also loved the excerpt of a letter that Haldane wrote to Nehru that Subramanian included in the book:
“I could, I believe, assist in the development of human physiology and of the more academic side of genetics. . . . However, I fully realise that the time has ceased when an Englishman can claim any right to advise Indians. If such a view is taken, I can make no complaint. If it is not, perhaps I may be of some service to India.”
Nehru responded and welcomed Haldane’s offer.
One last story I wanted to include alludes to the great and varied intellect of Haldane who was so well-read in everything, and had committed so much great literature to memory that I smile just at the thought of it. One of my favourite stories Subramanian tells is of a tram workers’ strike in the summer of 1913 when police and strike breakers would brutalize the workers, and Haldane one of the evenings strikers were out on the streets, went to a nearby street and started bellowing out the Athanasian Creed in Latin which drew quite a large crowd of curious onlookers, so large, in fact, that the strikebreaking trams could not get through. Haldane recalls police trying to dispel the crowd and pushing some pious old ladies into the gutter.
As a remark, the Athanasian Creed is one of the most fascinating creeds in my view, an important document on Trinitarian theology that Sarah Coakley makes quite interesting. Anyway, the idea of a communist geneticist loudly reciting the Athanasian Creed in Latin from memory to help tram strikers is so wonderfully hilarious to me. Maybe the best use of the creed and Trinitarian theology that I know of. How long theologians have been arguing over this creed, the filioque controversy, and interpreting Trinitarian doctrine. As Marx once said: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” Theory and praxis.
August 16, 2021
My favorite writer writes about a larger-than-life geneticist whose work has laid the foundations for much of my own career. What more could I ask for?
Samanth Subramanian, after writing about the culture of fish in India, and tracing a history of the Sri Lankan warm, turns his eye to the life of evolutionary biologist JBS Haldane. My advisor's favorite genetics story is about Haldane. When Haldane was once asked if he would ever jump into a river to save someone's life at the risk of losing his own, he replied: I'd jump in if I could save 2 siblings or 8 cousins. He had calculated the amount of DNA we share with our relatives before anyone else!
The scientist behind this amusing anecdote lived an incredible life--born into a family that was at the pinnacle of British science, he laid the foundations of population genetics (bringing together Darwin and Mendel), was a voluble member of the British Communist Party, and spent the latter half of his life in India, wanting to contribute to the new country's research program (on his move to India, he also declared he would no longer wear socks: "Sixty years in socks is enough"). This much-needed biography walks us through his life, his science, and the origins of his attitude that science is what's all around us, inseparable from life. It also offers us a cautionary tale--even the best of us are prey to accept, too easily, the things that we want to believe. When confronted with events that went against his unshakeable belief in Communism, even a scientist as staunch as Haldane wavered.
This is a richly-detailed portrait of a rich life, a tale interwoven with the events and mores of the day. It's not an easy one to tell, because there is just so much to say. Haldane was very much was a man of the world, engaging actively in the politics of the day (moreover, he was a man who seemed to live more hours in a day than most people, so full was his life). I was mostly captivated, only struggling, sometimes, to keep up with the jumps back and forth in time. And the science is wonderfully described, all the discoveries of the day explained and placed precisely in their context. Perhaps it's fitting that Subramanian turns out an excellent communicator of science; Haldane (who also had a life as a communicator of science, writing for the public in the 'Daily Worker') would approve.
Samanth Subramanian, after writing about the culture of fish in India, and tracing a history of the Sri Lankan warm, turns his eye to the life of evolutionary biologist JBS Haldane. My advisor's favorite genetics story is about Haldane. When Haldane was once asked if he would ever jump into a river to save someone's life at the risk of losing his own, he replied: I'd jump in if I could save 2 siblings or 8 cousins. He had calculated the amount of DNA we share with our relatives before anyone else!
The scientist behind this amusing anecdote lived an incredible life--born into a family that was at the pinnacle of British science, he laid the foundations of population genetics (bringing together Darwin and Mendel), was a voluble member of the British Communist Party, and spent the latter half of his life in India, wanting to contribute to the new country's research program (on his move to India, he also declared he would no longer wear socks: "Sixty years in socks is enough"). This much-needed biography walks us through his life, his science, and the origins of his attitude that science is what's all around us, inseparable from life. It also offers us a cautionary tale--even the best of us are prey to accept, too easily, the things that we want to believe. When confronted with events that went against his unshakeable belief in Communism, even a scientist as staunch as Haldane wavered.
This is a richly-detailed portrait of a rich life, a tale interwoven with the events and mores of the day. It's not an easy one to tell, because there is just so much to say. Haldane was very much was a man of the world, engaging actively in the politics of the day (moreover, he was a man who seemed to live more hours in a day than most people, so full was his life). I was mostly captivated, only struggling, sometimes, to keep up with the jumps back and forth in time. And the science is wonderfully described, all the discoveries of the day explained and placed precisely in their context. Perhaps it's fitting that Subramanian turns out an excellent communicator of science; Haldane (who also had a life as a communicator of science, writing for the public in the 'Daily Worker') would approve.
February 9, 2021
[my reviews are generally notes for myself - key facts, references, new revelations, etc, and also things I found doubtful, inconsistent, or wrong]
The book is an easy 5 star for me. A quick look at other 4-5 star reviews tells me that I would simply be repeating what has already been (well in most cases) said.
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Overall notes
Haldane's life spans WWI to post WWII. Unless one understands the awkward, violent, painful, and incomplete transition from pre WWI European power bases to a new world map and the idealism of Wilson's 14 points, one cannot understand fully the origins of WWII, communist, Nazi, and socialist parties in the US, Weimar, Britian, and the conflicts in the Middle East and Viet Nam, etc., etc.
Haldane, a prodigy, polymath, and self-reflective, managed to survive the trials and evils of British public (actually private) bordering schools. Bullying, hazing, physical punishment, sexual molesting were too often the norm in those days and well after.
His genius, independence plus a good teacher here and there, and an important researcher father, enabled him to quickly achieve respect and public fame with his experiments, papers, and public talks despite never formally completing any college degree. Immense contributions to genetics from experiments, thought, and observations. Late in life, molecular biology took over the study of evolution and inheritance, and he faded away with his now antiquated methodology.
The most important issue running thru his life is how he continued to ignore or excuse Stalin's suppression and execution of biologists who did not support the party line (Lamarkian) with regards to how traits were passed on to new generations. The author and Haldane's sister and colleagues were aghast and perplexed how someone with such a respect for the scientific method, data driven experiments, and objectivity would let his political biases sway his public statements about genetics. Haldane was very progressive all his life, which back in those times, often meant supporting a communist political party. As long as Stalin was fighting fascism in Spain or supporting the allies against the Nazis, it was fairly acceptable to be a communist in his circles.
Britain intelligence kept a file on him which was a rich trove of info for the author. Feeling out of place in post war Britain he spends his final decade helping India establish world-class biology research.
The book is an easy 5 star for me. A quick look at other 4-5 star reviews tells me that I would simply be repeating what has already been (well in most cases) said.
==========
Overall notes
Haldane's life spans WWI to post WWII. Unless one understands the awkward, violent, painful, and incomplete transition from pre WWI European power bases to a new world map and the idealism of Wilson's 14 points, one cannot understand fully the origins of WWII, communist, Nazi, and socialist parties in the US, Weimar, Britian, and the conflicts in the Middle East and Viet Nam, etc., etc.
Haldane, a prodigy, polymath, and self-reflective, managed to survive the trials and evils of British public (actually private) bordering schools. Bullying, hazing, physical punishment, sexual molesting were too often the norm in those days and well after.
His genius, independence plus a good teacher here and there, and an important researcher father, enabled him to quickly achieve respect and public fame with his experiments, papers, and public talks despite never formally completing any college degree. Immense contributions to genetics from experiments, thought, and observations. Late in life, molecular biology took over the study of evolution and inheritance, and he faded away with his now antiquated methodology.
The most important issue running thru his life is how he continued to ignore or excuse Stalin's suppression and execution of biologists who did not support the party line (Lamarkian) with regards to how traits were passed on to new generations. The author and Haldane's sister and colleagues were aghast and perplexed how someone with such a respect for the scientific method, data driven experiments, and objectivity would let his political biases sway his public statements about genetics. Haldane was very progressive all his life, which back in those times, often meant supporting a communist political party. As long as Stalin was fighting fascism in Spain or supporting the allies against the Nazis, it was fairly acceptable to be a communist in his circles.
Britain intelligence kept a file on him which was a rich trove of info for the author. Feeling out of place in post war Britain he spends his final decade helping India establish world-class biology research.
January 18, 2021
I have read a number of science books about genetics and evolution written for a broad audience, and the name of JBS Haldane frequently comes up as an important figure who was responsible for a lot of the advances in evolution and genetics after Darwin and Mendel and before the discovery of the double helix. But I knew little of Haldane as a person, so I was interested to learn more. It was not surprising that he was a socially maladroit curmudgeon, a ceaseless campaigner for high quality scientific thinking who did not suffer fools gladly. He was harsh in his language and judgments when he found people to be stupid or wrong, which he did often. It was more surprising to learn that he was a prolific writer of popular science books and articles, now largely forgotten and that he was an ardent communist, who cared deeply about the common man and who was strangely drawn to Marxism, thinking that Marxism was somehow closer than capitalism to the spirit to the scientific mindset. The great failure of his Marxism came in his clinging far too long to the party line on the quack biology of Trofim Lysenko. It was incomprehensible how Haldane, a man who was usually so uncompromising in his devotion to good science, could of have clung so long to the party line on Lysenko in the face of clear and convincing evidence that Lysenko was a bad scientist and a bad guy. To Haldane's credit, he eventually came around, and it cost him his good standing in the party. It was also interesting to learn how Haldane fled England for India at the end of his career, initially finding it a fascinating place that would give him greater opportunity both for science and helping people but then becoming frustrated with the bureaucracy and the manners of the people which often did not mix well with his harsh and judgmental personality.
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August 11, 2021The great British scientist in all his weird guises. The son of a scientist he was raised to be uncompromising in search for truth. If that meant putting yourself in harm's way to establish fact so be it. Haldane frequently made himself guinea pig in his experiments; drinking chemicals and breathing gases to see what the effect would be. His range of knowledge was astounding. He was more of a synthesizer than he was a lab bench scientist and he helped popularize science for the ordinary citizen. His work on hemophilia and colour blindness was critical. He worked out a rate of gene mutation that stood the test of time. During the war he designed a superior bomb shelter and did experimentation on how people would acclimate to life under water at the advent of submarine warfare. The only downside to his character was politics. Like so many other western intellectuals he fell hard for communism as an observer in Spain during the Civil War and refused for years afterward to see the truth about the Soviet Union. At the end of his life he wangled an appointment from Nehru's government and remade himself into an Indian. He died there in 1964. A man from another century.
April 13, 2022
What a fantastic read this was! Samanth has woven together a gripping story using correspondences, science articles, books and every other relevant source he could lay his hands on. Perfection. It is not just Haldane's story alone, but a story of how the world influenced him and how he influenced the world. It is also science communication at its best: I learnt a lot about the fundamentals and evolution of genetics and other technological advancements accelerated by the wars. One of the striking features of Samanth's writing is his usage of metaphors. He did it even in his previous book "This Divided Island", and has proven once again that he's the master of metaphors. Here are two examples:
"[..] science advances not with the linearity of a locomotive but with a muddled gait of a drunk: with zags and zigs, with stumbles and hesitations and backslides, even if the overall direction of progress is forward." -p61
"A flawed paper was, for Haldane, so uncommon that it stuck out in his career of publications like an untuned trumpet in an orchestra." - p206
"[..] science advances not with the linearity of a locomotive but with a muddled gait of a drunk: with zags and zigs, with stumbles and hesitations and backslides, even if the overall direction of progress is forward." -p61
"A flawed paper was, for Haldane, so uncommon that it stuck out in his career of publications like an untuned trumpet in an orchestra." - p206
November 16, 2023
Here's a remarkable biography of an extraordinary human being. J. B. S. Haldane is not your usual scientist, immersed in his own scientific world and leading an otherwise ordinary life. He erased the line between his existence as a scientist and his responsibility as a political being. He risked his life and well-being in every possible sense of the term. He performed risky experiments on himself because he felt that was the moral thing to do. He followed his political conscience and risked everything. He did not hesitate to speak his mind at every stage of his life. In one word, he lived his life on his own terms.
Reading about him, I was constantly reminded of my father. Though far less consequential, he, too, lived a reckless life but died knowing he lived the life on his own terms. Not too many people can say that.
I think everyone should know about this man, not because he was perfect, he certainly was not, but to know why one cannot lead a morally astute life without merging their profession and their politics.
Reading about him, I was constantly reminded of my father. Though far less consequential, he, too, lived a reckless life but died knowing he lived the life on his own terms. Not too many people can say that.
I think everyone should know about this man, not because he was perfect, he certainly was not, but to know why one cannot lead a morally astute life without merging their profession and their politics.
January 2, 2025
I listened to a digital audio edition of this book. The cover of the book drew me to it. I had never heard of J.B.S Haldane before listening to this book. If I remember right the book said he was as well know in his day as someone like Einstein. And yet I had never heard of him.
Listening to books about science makes me wish when I was younger that I had worked harder in math and science when I was in school. I suppose there is still time for me to get good at both subjects.
I am not sure what I want to say about A Dominant character. I can't think of what I want to write about it. Probably the most interesting part of the book was the early parts talking about Haldane and his father.
Oh, I do remember the book talking about Eton. Haldane did not have an easy time there.
For sure Haldane was a brilliant scientist and someone who should be more well known today. He was anything but, boring.
I thought the book was Ok. Nothing stands out to me as something I particularly liked or disliked.
Listening to books about science makes me wish when I was younger that I had worked harder in math and science when I was in school. I suppose there is still time for me to get good at both subjects.
I am not sure what I want to say about A Dominant character. I can't think of what I want to write about it. Probably the most interesting part of the book was the early parts talking about Haldane and his father.
Oh, I do remember the book talking about Eton. Haldane did not have an easy time there.
For sure Haldane was a brilliant scientist and someone who should be more well known today. He was anything but, boring.
I thought the book was Ok. Nothing stands out to me as something I particularly liked or disliked.
January 15, 2022
What doesn't this compelling biography of the gruff British geneticist have to offer? We have scandalous romance (two "adulterous" relationships frowned on by his stiff university peers), the difficult spot where the politics and the personal collide (Haldane's Communism colors his public opinion on a Russian Stalinist's dubious research), and of course, hard science (especially riveting: the post-mortem of a doomed submarine mission and the harrowing oxygen deprivation experiments that follow). And Samanth Subramanian's prose is gorgeous, beginning with him describing Haldane's handwriting as like "ants somersaulting through snow." One stray quote I would like to have seen explored -- an Indian writer publishing through a homeland publishing house, and yet he lets Haldane's observation that labor is "cheaper" in India slide -- what, the rights of the worker only count if you're white and Euro? That's a minor quibble, though. First rate account of a twentieth century Renaissance Man.
January 12, 2021
A magnificent biography of a Renaissance man. At first I thought the wonderful first chapter would spoil the rest of the tale, but the author skilfully lays out his facts and then concludes the book by considering the relevance of some of the themes to today and to the future. You don't need more than a hand-waving knowledge of science to follow the book.
Not only did Haldane understand that science, ethics and politics were ''shackled together'', but so did the author.
I know exactly when the last time was that I enjoyed a book about science this much -- it was Leonard de Vries's book of the atom which I read many times around 1968 - 70.
Not only did Haldane understand that science, ethics and politics were ''shackled together'', but so did the author.
I know exactly when the last time was that I enjoyed a book about science this much -- it was Leonard de Vries's book of the atom which I read many times around 1968 - 70.
December 28, 2023
Overall this is a good exploration of JBS Haldane's life. The author remains fair in his analysis, and seems to accurately explain the contradictions and difficulties of Haldane's life. It was fascinating to see how such a principled scientist of the time would be tempted to go against his belief in science for a political belief that essentially came from his upbringing. That being said, the book was a little slow, and maybe could have been shorter. Some moments stand out, like one surprising moment where Haldane meets his second wife. Subramanian seemed to let his creative side show here, and I could have used more storytelling like that to move the book along at a better pace.
December 20, 2020
I liked this book a lot. It’s a biography of one of the most brilliant scientists of the 20th century, j b s haldane who was a biologist and geneticist and made major contributions to our understanding of linkage of two traits on the same chromosome. He was also a communist and defender in the early 20th century of the Soviet Union. I found the book to be slow at first but I enjoyed it more and more. The ultimate discussions about whether scientists should get politically engaged is timely given climate change and the potential to manipulate the genome.
December 26, 2021
Haldane was a pioneer in many fields. Much of the work he did has been taken forward by leaps and bounds by others, but "he started it". The man's ideas, politics, ethics, and notions of what science can do for society remain totally relevant today. This makes his story relevant to everyone.
The author's research is thorough. Storytelling skills are superb. And flow is extremely engaging. Having read his Finding Fish, I am really boggled at the breadth of his capabilities - that was a light travelogue, this is heavy lifting. Can't wait to read his book on the Sri Lankan conflict now.
The author's research is thorough. Storytelling skills are superb. And flow is extremely engaging. Having read his Finding Fish, I am really boggled at the breadth of his capabilities - that was a light travelogue, this is heavy lifting. Can't wait to read his book on the Sri Lankan conflict now.
March 16, 2023
An exhaustive history of J.B.S. Haldane and the surprising case of a scientist who was so forward with his politics as a communist. The conclusion talked through how the pressure on scientists today to be apolitical is perhaps not as useful as declaring political opinions so that the bias can be understood in terms of the scientist's work (in Haldane's case, it definitely had a role in his work, something a current scientist would likely hide). Learned a lot about how genetics was shaped by his influence.
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