Memories

Description

The world has had to wait a long time for this autobiography, for not only is Sir Julian Huxley over eighty years old but he achieved fame half a century ago. Born into one of the most gifted families of the age, he has yet made the name more famous by traditions to increase scientific knowledge and understanding. He has greatly contributed to the popularisation of science through his activities in writing, education, game parks in Africa and nature conservation in England, at the London Zoo, and his work at Unesco. After introducing the reader to the previous two generations of his family, who include his father Leonard Huxley, editor of the Cornhill magazine, his grandfather T.H. Huxley, and Tome Arnold, a sone of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, he describes his first experiences of observing nature. At the age of four on a woak with his nursemaid, he was fascinated to discover a huge toad hopping ot of a hedge.^ "That comic toad," he says, "helped determine my career as a scientific naturalist." From Eton he gained a Biology scholarship to Balliol and, after winning a First Class Honours degree, started on his serious career as a biologist. Much of it is already well known, but in this book Sir Julian adds the personal touch to everything. We learn that he was by no means as confident as his early and brilliant success would have led us to believe; he had emotional difficulties which his marriage only partly abated, for he continued to suffer from periodic depressions for many years. There is the touch of humour in describing his achievements, and his work alongside such figures as J.B.S. Haldane and H.G. Wells.^ Although driven by a passionate concern for scientific investigation, he nevertheless reveals his enduring enthusiasm for Africa's wild animals and England's natural scenic beauties, in the filming of gannets in a Welsch island sanctuary, in writing a quiet poem in his tent during Spitsbergen's summer-long day. His scientific achievements can be studied in his work recorded in over forty books and numerous other publications; but Julian Huxley is not the most forthcoming of men, and this is the first time he has revealed his innermost thoughts on science and life and religion and humanism.

Subjects