odern philosophy has been much concerned with what we know and little with what we feel (though Descartes, whose theory of knowledge got things started in the 17th century, also wrote a book about what he called ''the passions of the...
A noted biologist tends to the view that science merely predicts things. By JOHN R. G. TURNER THE TRIPLE HELIX Gene, Organism, and Environment. By Richard Lewontin. Illustrated. 136 pp. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. $22.95. est yourself: The well-known molecular biologist Walter...
A fresh look at the man whose studies started the sex revolution. Related Links Howard A. Rusk Reviews Alfred S. Kinsey's 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Male' (January 4, 1948) Clyde Kluckhohn Reviews Alfred S. Kinsey's 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Female' (September 13, 1953) Dr. Kinsey is Dead...
A history of the idea that lies at the heart of the computer revolution. By GEORGE JOHNSON THE ADVENT OF THE ALGORITHM The Idea That Rules the World. By David Berlinski. 345 pp. New York: Harcourt. $28. arly on in ''The Advent of the Algorithm: The Idea That Rules the World,'' David Berlinski...
Found frozen in an Alpine glacier, a 5,000-year-old man quickly became a hot property. Related Link First Chapter: 'Iceman' By DAVID PAPINEAU ICEMAN Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier. By Brenda...
A psychologist looks at sexual attraction and what it means for humankind. Related Link First Chapter: 'The Mating Mind' By IAN TATTERSALL THE MATING MIND How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature. By Geoffrey Miller. 503 pp. New York: Doubleday. $27.50. o doubt about it: the human...
A survey of the matriarchal myth and its origins. Related Link First Chapter: 'The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory' By NATALIE ANGIER THE MYTH OF MATRIARCHAL PREHISTORY Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future. By Cynthia Eller. 276...
n 1979, while training for the Boston marathon, I ruptured a lumbar disc. I underwent two failed operations and was left disabled and in severe pain. It took many months of arduous physical therapy to be weaned from pain medication and to regain the ability to move about. To this day, if I lift...
A moral philosopher makes the case that the 20th century was even worse than we thought. Related Link First Chapter: 'Humanity' By STEVEN PINKER HUMANITY A Moral History of the Twentieth Century. By Jonathan Glover. 464 pp. New Haven: Yale University Press. $27.95. arbarism was by no means unique...
Patrick Tierney writes about anthropology's attempts to discover the secrets of the Yanomami tribes of the Amazon. Related Link First Chapter: 'Darkness in El Dorado' By JOHN HORGAN DARKNESS IN EL DORADO How Scientists and Journalists...