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Struck by a nearly fatal attack of septicaemia, Lancelot Hogben wrote a
bestselling book, Mathematics for the Million, “to pass away the time” while in
hospital. That remark could serve to sum up the almost incredible energy of a
scientist apparently almost forgotten now, though his other bestseller, Science
for the Citizen, is not. Hogben was a geneticist, zoologist, statistician and
linguist, among other things. His son Adrian Hogben and his wife have written
what they call an unauthorised biography of this versatile genius, Lancelot
Hogben: Scientific Humanist, making it as lively and convincing as the man’s own
voice. Published by Merlin Press, £14.95, ISBN 0850364701.