Rupert Riedl claims that despite the inherent danger, we must evaluate, time and again, the synthesis of all our knowledge. It is precisely this synthesis that the world-renowned scientist dares here in an easy-going and sometimes ironic manner.

Riedl began his career as a marine biologist, later turning to evolution and the theory of knowledge and society, and finally to a view of the world which holds biology as central because, as he sees it, biology in recent decades has become an all-encompassing science, from the conditions of matter right up to the adaptation to mass-society.

A Scientist's World View" is in a way the sum of his knowledge condensed into the idea: "God throws the dice but he has to follow rules."

Riedl attempts to find a central theme from which all our rapidly increasing scientific knowledge can be put into perspective.

About the author:

University professor Rupert Riedl was born in 1925 in Vienna, Austria.

He read biology at university and in 1968 he took up the post of Professor of Zoology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, where he was bestowed with that institution's highest title of Kenan Professor of Zoology.

He returned to Vienna in 1971 and became head of the Institute of Zoology at the University of Vienna in 1973.

After retiring from his academic post he founded the Konrad-Lorenz-Institute for Evolutionary and Cognitive Research and in 2002 established the "Club of Vienna".

Prior publications include: "Die Ordnung des Lebendigen" (The Order of Life) 1975; "Biologie der Erkenntnis" (The Biology of Knowledge) 1980; "Ursachen des Wachstums" (Reasons for Growth) 1996.

Rupert Riedl has gained a wide audience through his television documentary series, "Poseidon's Garden".

Publication of "Clarissa und das blaue Kamel" (Clarissa and the Blue Camel) by Seifert Verlag in 2003.