The Fragile Species [Paperback]

Lewis Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0684843021 | ISBN-13: 978-0684843025 | Edition: 2

The author of The Lives of a Cell and The Medusa and the Snail now raises challenging questions about some of the major issues of our time--AIDS, drug abuse, and aging. With extraordinary perception, he discusses topics such as evolutionary biology, the development of language, the therapeutic aspects of medicine, and his love for his profession.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- A collection of 14 previously unpublished essays. In Part I, Thomas summarizes the history of Western medicine and explains his love for his profession in spite of his belief that medical advancement owes more to chance than science. But while the serendipitous nature of medical progress is a recurring theme, the essays in Part II express the author's belief that more research is needed to address today's major health concerns: the aging process, AIDS, and drug abuse. Although Thomas confronts the great challenges for science and society at large, he is never pessimistic. His words will encourage thoughtful YAs.
- Catherine Clancy, General Library, Boston Public Library
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

From the author of The Medusa and the Snail ( LJ 4/15/79) and The Lives of a Cell (Bantam, 1974) comes another collection of essays, ruminations, and observations on topics ranging from becoming a doctor to the process of aging to the threat of nuclear annihilation. Although some of the pieces seem dated at first glance (those on nuclear war in particular), they are not really; they are timeless and graceful in a way that transcends the day-to-day headline changes that so many contemporary essayists chase. The two essays on AIDS in particular are blueprints of reasoned thought and fine examples of an eloquent writer and sensitive observer at work. Thomas continues to expand, inform, educate, and amaze. Once again, he demonstrates that he is one of America's best writers of prose. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/91.
- Mark L. Shelton, Athens, Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 2 edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684843021
• ISBN-13: 978-0684843025
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #938,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent material but some is a retread, April 29, 2001

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fragile Species (Paperback)

In my opinion, Lewis Thomas is the best there is at describing the wonder and beauty of biology. His first book, "The Lives of a Cell" , set the standard against which all other popular writers in biology should be measured. The elegant simplicity of his descriptions of how organisms interact remain as interesting and valid today as when "Lives .. " was first published in 1974. I recently re-read it and found it just as interesting now as I did the first time.
That description also holds for this book, with Thomas once again waxing eloquent, particularly about the absurdity of "limited" nuclear war. His story about the development of Hawaiian Creole is also particularly thought-provoking. The islands were opened up for sugar plantations after 1880 and there was an enormous influx of laborers from many different language backgrounds. They came from China, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico and the United States and none of these groups could understand any of the others. However, a pidgin language rapidly developed among the children of all groups. This hybrid language was almost completely unintelligible to the adults. Thomas uses this to argue his point that language originated among the children of early humans. The point is highly plausible, as only the minds of children seem to possess the necessary malleability to learn languages quickly.
While I found the book interesting, it is not the page-turning classic that "Lives . . " is. The problem is that so much of this material already appeared in that book. This is unfortunate, for when Thomas is original he is so engaging a writer. Given the ongoing advances in biology, there certainly is no lack of material to write about.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly readable!, April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fragile Species (Paperback)

Thomas's collection of essays on life, the universe and pretty darn much everything is suprisingly readable. He puts his theories into poetic prose and makes valid scientific points available in laymen's terms. More than a scientific paper, though, this is a deep peice of philosophy and offers much insight to the human soul. Definately worth reading!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Remarkable Man's Insights on Science and Public Health, February 17, 2009

By 

Ralph White (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fragile Species (Paperback)

This book was copyrighted in 1992, a year prior to the author's death, and most of the essays in the book were written in the mid eighties. Now, some twenty-five years later it is instructive to view Lewis Thomas' observations as science history. Known for his ability to convey to a general readership the remarkable inner workings of the world of nature and its underlying scientific principles, Thomas entertains us with animated prose and brings science within our grasp. He assures us that we do not need to attend medical school or work in a research lab to be amazed by the newest discoveries in cellular biology, provided the processes are clearly explained.

Many of the discoveries in basic science which Thomas describes were made on his watch, during the fifty years which he was a practicing physician. He points out that, "It wasn't until the early 20th century that anything approaching rational therapy emerged for human disease." Prior to that, physicians were ridiculed, as for instance personal injury lawyers are in this age, and for much the same reason.

But some of Thomas' observations have not worn well with the passage of time. His alarmism about the AIDS pandemic sounds anachronistic, since the virus didn't jump to the non drug using, heterosexual population, at least in America and Western Europe, as he feared. Nor did the general public share his pathos over the imminent deaths of large numbers of drug users and gay men. Thomas also agonizes over the unequal distribution of wealth in the world and the consequent unequal distribution of health, without once suggesting that birth control might provide a cornerstone of public policy. He decries the nation-state as "inherently instable," and a deleterious force in human history, but fails to note that one particular nation-state, America, earns nearly three quarters of the Nobel prizes in science, which should show that some nation-states are not as harmful as others. Nor, with twenty-twenty hindsight, should we be surprised that Thomas did not foresee that the greatest threat to human civilization would come from a non-state player, namely Islamic jihad.

Of course most of Thomas' observations have proven correct. He correctly predicted the likely success of recombinant DNA in increasing the resistance of crops to disease, except for in Europe, which to this day rejects the underlying science as just so much American cultural imperialism. And there are the quintessentially Thomasian observations such as how the ultrasound chirps of bats send crickets into chaotic and evasive flight patterns, though the crickets themselves do not appreciate the principles of bat echolocation. It works for them and the gene survives, mostly.

But Thomas' most stunning perception, of an increasing distrust and even hostility to science, has blossomed into fruition in the present era. He anticipated presciently, "an anxiety to replace science with magic." He says, "anti-science is reaching the status of a philosophy in the public mind." He was absolutely right. Go ahead and Google the phrase, "what doctors don't want you to know," and see how many hits you get. Look at the resistance to bioengineering. And at the proliferation of alternative medicine, junk science, and the resurgence of homeopathy and dietary supplements, and you can only imagine Thomas' dismay about his future, our present. It makes you appreciate his writing all the more. Books such as Thomas', and there are very few, directed at the general reader and requiring very little by way of prerequisite scientific learning, enlighten the enquiring mind and strike incrementally at the cult of anti-science.