Reinventing the Future: Conversations with the World's Leading Scientists

More a ``recollection of what has been discovered'' than a vision of what may be, this collection of question-and-answer interviews with 11 scientists who have explored new territory in their fields offers a view of science as process. Bass ( The Eudaemonic Pie ) speaks with sociobiologist Sarah Hrdy, Nigerian psychiatrist Thomas Adeoye Lambo, chaos theorist Norman Packard, geneticist Mary-Claire King and others whose fields include anthropology, archeology and AIDS epidemiology. The format of brief question and lengthy response captures the individual voices of the interviewees and yields engaging, informative reading. Several of the pieces originally appeared in Omni magazine during the last five years. While some of the material here falls well behind the cutting edge of current science, readers will find this collection provocative and intriguing. (Dec.)