Reviews

Daedalus by J.B.S. Haldane

mnicholson's review

4.0

Since this book was written about 90 years ago, it is at times hard to understand, but its sheer distance from the present makes Haldane's prophecies all the more interesting. My takeaway is that we are generally awful at predicting the future, but it's amazing how much science has progressed in ways that people could have never imagined, and it is heartening to think that it will continue to progress in the future. I think this is the takeaway he wanted people to have: science has not reached a limit. There are always more discoveries to be made, and scientific progress will have both positive and negative effects, hopefully with the positive outweighing the negative.

terminatee's review

3.0

Not an easy book to read, perhaps because of the style of the author's language. Interesting to read his scientific projections from 1924 and see how many have or have not come to pass. Also interesting to see that they did not know in 1924 that it was a lack of estrogen that contributed to menopausal symptoms. Generally positive toward science, but with reminders about social responsibility.