The Price of Altruism

Reviews

"[E]nthralling…Extremely well researched and written with great love of the subject, The Price of Altruism reveals all sorts of personal details of momentous events in the history of science…This is a book for anyone interested in the question, first posed by Darwin himself, of how we ended up with so much kindness in a natural world customarily depicted as 'red in tooth and claw.' Price struggled with it on an intensely personal level. His story is highly relevant at a time when greed as the basis of society has lost much of its appeal." — Frans de Waal, New York Times Book Review

"Ever since Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution in 1859, scientists have wondered whether it can explain the existence of altruism. Price wanted to describe mathematically how a genetic disposition to altruism could evolve. As Mr. Harman so vividly describes, Price ultimately became one of the vagabonds he set out to save." — The Economist

"The Price of Altruism puts Price's work into a wide scientific and social context, showing real insight into its importance and genuine sympathy for the tale of his life." — Steve Jones, New Scientist

"Uncommonly brilliant and deeply stimulating... almost cinematically satisfying. Harman has a rare gift for bringing ideas and thinkers to life." — Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic

"A masterfully told story... This book is in the same class as Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind." — Library Journal

"I stayed up a good part of the night reading... fascinating!" — Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind

"A brilliant biography of a brilliant man. A powerful page-turner that vividly renders the obsessive absorption with the poles of cooperation and competition in nature." — Daniel Kevles, Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University

"This book is a stunning tour de force. The puzzle of altruism is revealed as it would be in a thriller, with twists and turns and surprises almost until the end." — Noah Feldman, Bemis Professor of Law, Harvard University

"A terrific book, at once scholarly and impossible to put down." — Peter Godfrey-Smith, professor of philosophy at Harvard University

"George Price recognized that acts of kindness and self-sacrifice stood blatantly opposed to most of the principles of modern Darwinism. Oren Harman's wide-ranging intellectual quest brings this shy, anguished, and fascinating man alive with style and passion, and reminds us of the powerful emotions that can fuel great scientific achievement." — Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin

"In this remarkable book, Oren Harman tracks George Price, an awkward, disturbed, and profoundly, almost saintly scientist.... It is an astonishing story at every level, from the destitute wanderings and genial interventions of Price to a revealing account of how modern evolutionary biology took its contemporary form." — Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor of the History of Science and Physics, Harvard University