What are we made up of? What is the consequence of our organic make-up to the mind, to reason and to our whole culture? This question has preoccupied Rupert Riedl throughout his entire career. In search of answers he contemplates biology, anthropology, philosophy, sociology and all cultural sciences. When his daughters were young he used to relate the results of his research to them, turning them into little stories to entertain them in the evenings, on journeys or during rainy holidays. Now that his daughters are grown-up he has decided to publish them as a book so that others may have something to tell their sons and daughters. The result is a new form of anthropology."This," says the author,"is a book aiming for a better world which means that we not only have to understand the world better, but also ourselves."

About the author:

University professor Dr Rupert Riedl was born in Vienna in 1925. He read biology followed by oceanography studies in California, Florida and Puerto Rico. 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 public audience through his television documentary series,"Poseidon's Garden". Previous books by Riedl published by Seifert Verlag: Clarissa and the Blue Camel – Time Travel on the Edge of Europe (2003), A Scientist's World View (2004), as well as the autobiography,"Neugierde und Staunen" (Curiosity and Amazement) 2004.