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Although the chapter on rickettsiae ends widi the statement that "artificial cultivation ofrickettsial agents will eventually be possible," and although one must hope that this statement will apply to malarial parasites and even to the agents of psittacosis, the fact remains that much more must be learned before such cultivation can be realized. In the meantime, Dr. Moulder's book will serve as a solid base of information on this fascinating subject. William Trager The Rockefeller Institute The Excitement ofScience. ByJohn Rader Platt. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962. Pp. viii + 174. $3.50. The scope ofthis book is much wider than its title indicates. It could equally be entitled : "The Excitement of Being Alive," alive intellectually, alert, capable of enjoying all the spiritual pleasures ofcreative life, meeting the great challenges ofour age. This is not a coherent treatise. It is more a compilation ofthe author's various essays, which begin to make a complete whole. Accordingly, the author goes "staccato" from one subject to another, which gives the whole book a strong vitality. The shelves of bookstores are flooded with murder stories written by old ladies with Victorian virtues, while burning love stories are written by retired businessmen. The exciting thing about this present book is that it is written by somebody who is really excited about intellectual experience. He is one ofour leading physicists, who, at a mature age, was spiritually young enough to work through an embryology course, in Woods Hole, among students. He is equally interested and excited (as the reviewer happens to know) by other creative fields, be it drama, sculpture, or music, which gives a remarkable universality and force to this book, which flows straight from the author's heart, with all its dense intellectual content. This book should be read by both students and teachers, but should be read also by politicians and lawmakers, who lose their bearings in the turmoil ofour world, rapidly changed by the explosive development ofscience. Most books written on science are written with one eye on the Soviet, our need of engineersandscientists. Piattdealswithknowledgefor its ownsake and views thestruggle for new knowledgeas onesinglebighumanendeavor, regardless ofpettynationalegotism. There is no need for the reader to agree with the writer at every point. The reader is given fullfreedom to disagree, making both agreement and disagreement an intellectual excitement. No aspect of creative intellectual life is neglected, and it is impossible to reflect, in such a short review, theextraordinary weakh of thought presented in this book, most of which grows out ofthe author's own research and teaching experience. Albert Szent-Györgyi Laboratory ofthe Institutefor Muscle Research Woods Hole, Massachusetts 535 ...

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