“S.E. Luria’s autobiography adds another gem to the Sloan Foundation series... The molecular biologist and Nobel laureate writes with a crispness and concision that mirrors his outlook and his work. He is proud of ‘reductionist’ science; he is committed to a life of reason, to socialist ideals and political action. Early on, he confides also, he committed himself to acquiring a musical education and, later, to learning and appreciating ‘modern’ poets. All this is told in chapters that comp...