Man, The Unknown

The author of this very original book was a scientist who worked in the famous Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research. His studies of scientific knowledge convinced him that our civilisation is based on doubtful assumptions, and is pursuing mistaken ends, and in these pages he sets out to analyse the errors in modern thought and behaviour. He begins by assembling a brilliant synthesis of what the various sciences have discovered about the nature of man, and from this summing up he outlines the natural laws which mankind must follow if it is to be redeemed from the degeneracy of industrial civilisation. He concludes that 'humanity's attention must turn from the machines and the world of inanimate matter to the body and the soul of man,' and he claims that science provides the clues to a new conception of human progress. In this final chapter Dr Carrel confronts the challenging question: Can the 'science of man' lead to his renovation? and in affirming that it can he proposes modifications of our present way of life which will startle conventional thinkers. Even those readers who may not accept the revolutionary notions of this vigorous book will value the lucid synopsis it provides of the findings of science about the nature of man.