This important and eloquent book reflects the powerful thinking of a world famous scientist, offering a rational hope in a time which tends toward despair. If we continue to make choices for our future only in relation to negative issues such as pollution and overpopulation, says Dr. Dubos, our civilization will become increasingly dreary and meaningless. Instead, we must learn to cultivate the positive values that exist in man's nature and in the external world. All ancient civilizations have believed that every person or group of persons, every place or region, is endowed with attributes and potentialities which confer a "genius" or "spirit" that gives each its uniqueness. The "god within" accounts for the unique creative expressions of every person, place and period.