Book Review: The Medusa and the Snail

More notes of a biology watcher
by Lewis Thomas
Review by Brian Wright


Medusa and the SnailThe highly scientifically and medically distinguished Dr. Lewis Thomas—attended Princeton University and Harvard Medical School; became Dean of Yale Medical School and New York University School of Medicine, and President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute; his formative years as an independent medical researcher were at Tulane University School of Medicine—writes in the crystal clear, sparsely elegant style of a great master of literature. For one reason or another, in the late 1970s, The Medusa and the Snail came to be a book that the ‘intelligentsia’ simply had to read. Or anyone striving to be well rounded and embracing a life of the mind. I remember the joy of reading this book rather than the content; I thought some day I’d like to be able to write so intelligently about various subjects of philosophic and political interest. Continue reading