I read this book in high school and it rocked my world. I re-read it periodically.

Ugh, what a precious, beautiful book. Given that this was written in the early '70s, I am blown away by how relevant much of this writing is to today. Though we have advanced in the sciences since Lewis Thomas devoted his time to writing these essays, majority feel like they surpass time. What is most incredible about this book, however, is the style of writing. Many of these essays go into hard science concepts and verbiage, but the wording is poetic, intricate, and personal. Many essays had my eyes watering with appreciation for the way that Thomas captured many overlooked and misunderstood concepts. As someone with a background in biology and a deep love for the sciences AND poetry, this book is truly a masterpiece. It is such a joy to read a book about science that crosses so many bridges and captures the true beauty, value, and mystery of our natural world and the way we've tried to understand it. This is a must-read for anyone who loves or appreciates either science or poetry, but especially for those who love both.

Beautifully written. Much of it seems prophetic considering when it was written.

I was expecting a bit...more. The writing is pompous and affected and full of "whoah dude, what if?!" stoner-like moments. The ideas are nice but could be conveyed better and clearer. I don't feel like I wasted my time reading but I rolled my eyes at least once every two essays.

Great thought-provoking book about humans and the organisms that exist in and around us and how we affect or are affected by them. Interesting and informative essays about a whole bunch of biological topics. Great read.

I didn't even have to read the whole book, just some chapters. I really wanted to throw it at a wall. The only chapters I liked were "Music of This Sphere" and "The Iks."

What a fabulous gem of a book. This is the sort of professor I loved best, and the sort of writer I love. Here is someone who not only knows their own field, but it happy to see the connections and marvels of other fields. This is someone who lives and breathes the ideas of systems theory without actually articulating those words. The joy and marvel of life and the universe come through with an openness to appreciating it and no need to own or control or dominate, but also no naivety on how humans are. So many things to think about here. I shall go back to reread certain small essays.

I know it's a good book when I am constantly interrupting my husband's own reading to say 'Hang on then, I need to read you something....'

Having seen some of the other reviews of how awful this book is I will say this - it is a book of essays, of thoughts inspired by science. It is not a book of scientific facts. I am not a biologist by training and I found none of the terms too technical.

Also, I suspect that those who love Dawkins and others who view the universe as an empty mechanical beast that can be viewed by reductionist thinking and embrace the (now outmoded) hard Cartesian approach, - yes these folks will HATE this book. But for those who are interested in a different view of the universe, who see it as networks of networks of living systems interacting together and who are fascinated by the observations of someone who has spent a lifetime peeking into these areas or stumbling upon them then you will like this book.

I have one other thought - those who embrace the reductionist, mechanistic view of the universe often use nasty snark, scoffing and sneering at alternate views. If you read the history of science, you see that often theories that completely changed the way the universe was understood were often met with similar self-assured contempt. That self-assured contempt is usually a sign the person has forgotten that science is theory and has gotten into a sense of "this is right and everyone else is stupid". It is something to think about.

Compilation of couple-paged essays makes for perfectly stimulating yet calming bedtime reading.

Hard to believe this was written over 40 years ago. It still seems relevant today. I'd love to have a recent biologist critique it and show how things have changed. I also appreciated the writing again. No wonder I kept my copy all these years.

Top notch observations on science, culture, language. I've had this book in my possession since 1980 or so (freshman year as a biology major) but do not remember if I ever read it. Dr.Thomas ranges far and wide in his musings on his subjects. The couple of essays that included language and word derivations were fascinating.