Konrad Lorenz
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Few figures in twentieth-century science have provoked as much wonder, controversy, and admiration as Konrad Lorenz — the Austrian naturalist whose patient observation of geese, jackdaws, and dogs fundamentally transformed humanity's understanding of animal behaviour. Alec Nisbett's biography chronicles the life and intellectual journey of this Nobel Prize-winning ethologist, tracing his path from a childhood fascination with animals in the Danube meadows to his emergence as the founding father of modern ethology, the science of instinct. Nisbett presents Lorenz's landmark discoveries — from the phenomenon of imprinting to his controversial theories on aggression and the innate roots of human behaviour — with clarity and narrative authority, making complex scientific ideas accessible without sacrificing their depth. Beyond the science, this biography illuminates the man himself: warm, eccentric, and relentlessly curious, yet a figure whose legacy remains fiercely debated. Nisbett carefully contextualises Lorenz's work within the broader intellectual and political currents of the twentieth century, acknowledging both the revolutionary power of his insights and the moral complexities of his wartime record. Written with a journalist's eye for character and a scientist's respect for evidence, this portrait leaves the reader questioning where the boundary between animal instinct and human nature truly lies — and whether Lorenz's answer was as unsettling as it was brilliant.
Author: Alec Nisbett
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Few figures in twentieth-century science have provoked as much wonder, controversy, and admiration as Konrad Lorenz — the Austrian naturalist whose patient observation of geese, jackdaws, and dogs fundamentally transformed humanity's understanding of animal behaviour. Alec Nisbett's biography chronicles the life and intellectual journey of this Nobel Prize-winning ethologist, tracing his path from a childhood fascination with animals in the Danube meadows to his emergence as the founding father of modern ethology, the science of instinct. Nisbett presents Lorenz's landmark discoveries — from the phenomenon of imprinting to his controversial theories on aggression and the innate roots of human behaviour — with clarity and narrative authority, making complex scientific ideas accessible without sacrificing their depth. Beyond the science, this biography illuminates the man himself: warm, eccentric, and relentlessly curious, yet a figure whose legacy remains fiercely debated. Nisbett carefully contextualises Lorenz's work within the broader intellectual and political currents of the twentieth century, acknowledging both the revolutionary power of his insights and the moral complexities of his wartime record. Written with a journalist's eye for character and a scientist's respect for evidence, this portrait leaves the reader questioning where the boundary between animal instinct and human nature truly lies — and whether Lorenz's answer was as unsettling as it was brilliant.