Book description
We are born with the instinct to create and invent. Indeed, our
ability to do so is what separates us from the rest of the animal
world. But have our creative ideas always produced desirable results?
Have they always served us well?
Bad Ideas? traces the fascinating history of our attempts at
self-improvement but also questions their value. The dubious
consequences of the development of weaponry, for example, is
self-evident. But what of apparently more innocuous advances such as
farming, writing and medicine? Science has produced huge good but has
also had unforeseen consequences. Can science and scientists find
solutions to the perils that now menace us?
We join Robert Winston on a thrilling journey from our earliest days
to the present. We meet some key individuals along the way and share
quirky anecdotes about their lives and brainwaves. Inspiring, unusual
and at times controversial, Bad Ideas? assesses the past and looks
forward to the opportunities of the future. In so doing it celebrates
man's extraordinary capacity for achievement and offers a hopeful way
forward to protect humanity against what sometimes seem like bad ideas.
Robert Winston is one of Britain's best-known scientists. As Emeritus
Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College, London, and an
active researcher in reproductive physiology, he has made advances in
fertility medicine. His television series including
The Human Body
,
Child of Our Time
,
Human Instinct
,
The Story of God
and
A Child Against All Odds
have made him a household name. He became a life peer in 1995.
