The Price Of Altruism

George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness

By: Oren Harman

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Paperback | 15 May 2011 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
464 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
13.0 x 19.8 x 3.4

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The completely compelling biography of a remarkable man, and his search for the origins of kindness.

When George Price died in January 1975, his funeral in London was attended by five homeless men. Alongside them were Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith, two distinguished British evolutionary biologists. All seven men had come to mourn an eccentric American genius who helped to unpick the riddle of how altruism, or unselfish concern for the welfare of others, could exist in a world driven by survival of the fittest and who committed suicide aged just 52.

In The Price of Altruism Price's personal and professional journey is intricately woven into a sweeping arc of modern politics and science that takes us from Darwin's Beagle to the court of the Russian Tsar, from Marxist manifestos to Nazi heresies, and from First World War trenches to Vietnam demonstrations. Featuring some of the most brilliant minds of the modern age, it is the riveting tale of mankind's search for the origins of kindness.

Industry Reviews

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 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
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 -- Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
A terrific book, at once scholarly and impossible to put down -- Peter Godfrey-Smith, professor of philosophy at Harvard University
Beautifully written, Harman's book does justice both to its sensitive subject matter and to the life of a very special, complex and ultimately tragic man. * Waterstone's Books Quarterly *

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