With his new book, Harman (The Man Who Invented the Chromosome) examines Price, a scientist and author whose promising life ended in self- destruction. Harman didn’t set out to write a straightforward biography, but rather a history of Price’s lifelong quest to understand evolution and the origins of altruism; along those lines the author includes the life and work of “Orwellian” psychologist B.F. Skinner, J.B.S. Haldane, and “the most distinguished Darwinian since Darwin,” Bill Hamilton, who would become a close colleague of Price’s. But it’s Price’s tale that grounds Harman’s book. Part One focuses on the man’s early life in Minneapolis, his marriage and divorce to Julia Madigan, with whom he had two daughters, and his later life in New York City, where he held countless jobs as he tried to get published. In November 1967 Price moved to London, determined to “crack the problem of altruism,” and Part Two picks up there, with his conversion to Christianity, after which he gave away his possessions and dedicated himself to helping London’s homeless, until he eventually joined their ranks. In 1975, just after Christmas, he took his own life. Harman has given voice to the professional contributions and personal struggles of a man whose body lies today in an unmarked grave in North London. (June)
"Fascinating.... Important... full of complex and deeply interesting ideas."
The Spectator - Sam Leith
"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."
"[A] rich and vigorous survey of the controversy over altruism and its evolutionary role, stretching from the 19th century to now."
"A terrific book, at once scholarly and impossible to put down."
"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."
"I stayed up a good part of the night reading... fascinating! ... Harman proves that the lives of some modern scientists are as ecstatic, tormented and filled with strange visions as those of medieval saints."
"Ever since Charles Darwin had published his theory of evolution in 1859, scientists had 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."
"Remarkable... fascinating."
"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."
"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."
"Uncommonly brilliant and deeply stimulating... almost cinematically satisfying. Harman has a rare gift for bringing ideas and thinkers to life."
"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."
New Scientist - Steve Jones
"Brilliant... A great story."
Literary Review - Brian Appleyard
Rarely can a work of popular science be read at so many levels—even the title contains a double entendre. The problem of why altruism exists among self-interested individuals competing against each other according to natural selection is among the most complex of Darwinian theory. Harman (The Man Who Invented the Chromosome: A Life of Cyril Darlington) reveals George Price as a scientific outsider who nonetheless discovered the mathematical formula that described both individual and group covariance. Although he worked on some of the major scientific undertakings of his day, his youthful ego and bravado kept him on the fringes. Later in life, after a profound religious conversion, he dedicated his life to altruism in a different way—by tending to the homeless and downtrodden. His tragic suicide was, perhaps, the price of his pursuit. VERDICT A masterfully told story that edifies while it engages, this book is in the same class as Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind and could be as popular. Readers who enjoy this may also be interested in The Compassionate Instinct, edited by Dacher Keltner and others.—Gregg Sapp, Evergreen State Coll., Olympia, WA
The strange story of an oddball scientist who developed a mathematical approach to understanding altruism. By the end of his life, George Price (1922-75), a University of Chicago doctorate in chemistry and "forgotten American genius," was homeless in London, writes Harman (Science, Technology, and Society/Bar Ilan Univ., Israel; The Man Who Invented the Chromosome: A Life of Cyril Darling, 2004). Price had worked as a chemist, economist, writer, mathematician, psychologist and physiologist, pursuing new ideas and theories for such organizations as the Manhattan Project, IBM and Bell Labs. As an independent scientist, he penetrated the origins of altruism deeper than ever before. In this stylish, demanding biography, the author draws on papers and interviews to re-create the personal and scientific life of this quirky, unorthodox loner. Harman places Price in the tradition of scientists like Darwin, T.H. Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, B.F. Skinner and W.D. Hamilton, who have studied the origins of human kindness. In particular, Price sought to learn whether, in the face of self-interested behavior, true selfless altruism exists. His "Price equation," which specifies "the exact conditions under which the good of the group would upstage the good of the individual," remains a crucial tool for understanding aspects of evolution. (Harman's explication of the equation-in both text and appendices-may elude lay readers.) By 1970, a recent convert from atheism to Christianity, Price was pursuing the life of a true altruist, giving all his possessions to the poor and trying to rescue the homeless. But he failed to change the lives of the homeless, and Price, long depressive, sank further into despair and eventually committed suicide. Harman makes a strong case for the maverick scientist's brilliance, noting that Hamilton called Price an intellectual Sherlock Holmes. He also demonstrates how Price's insights overwhelmed many, from his teachers and classmates at New York's Stuyvesant High School to a Nature editor who once rejected a submission with the comment, "It is too hard to understand."An intriguing history for serious students of the history of science. Author tour to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. Agent: Sarah Chalfant/The Wylie Agency
