Science is no quiet life. Imagination, creativity, ambition, and
conflict are as vital and abundant in science as in artistic endeavors.
In this collection of essays, the Nobel Prize-winning protein chemist
Max Perutz writes about the pursuit of scientific knowledge, which he
sees as an enterprise providing not just new facts but cause for
reflection and revelation, as in a poem or painting. Max Perutz's essays
explore a remarkable range of scientific topics with the lucidity and
precision Perutz brought to his own pioneering work in protein
crystallography. He has been hailed as an author who "makes difficult
subjects intelligible and writes with the warmth, humanity, and broad
culture which has always characterized the great men of science." Of his
previous collection of essays, a reviewer said "They turn the world of
science and medicine into a marvelous land of adventure which I was
thrilled to explore in the company of this wise and human [writer]."
Readers of this volume can journey to the same land, with the same
delight. Max Perutz (1914-2002) was a brilliant scientist, a visionary
of molecular biology, and a writer of elegant essays infused with
humanity and wisdom. This expanded paperback edition of his very
successful book I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier contains nine
additional essays, and a warmly evocative portrait of Max by his friend
and professional colleague Sir John Meurig Thomas. The original
hardcover edition of this book was co-published with Oxford University
Press. A paperback edition is also available from Oxford University
Press. The expanded paperback edition is only available from Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory Press.
