Perspectives

Each week, Downs contributes to the radio program Perspective a 10-minute essay on whatever topic interests him, and more than 50 of those essays appear in this uneven anthology. On political-social issues, he offers some bromides obviously intended to ruffle no feathers: for example, p.c. has much to recommend it, but it creates problems, too; education is good, but we don't have enough of it in the U.S.; there has to be a lot of give and take to make a marriage work; etc. He excels, however, as a popularizer of science, explaining such complex matters as space travel, the breakthroughs that nano-technology may bring and the way we communicate by means of pheromones. Here he is sparklingly clear and painlessly didactic. The book deserves to be read if only for those selections. (May)