The Haldane Proofs

I've just finished reading through and correcting my J. S. Haldane proofs, Suffer & Survive almost put to bed. I remain highly pleased with the book, in some childlike way of brimming enthusiasm. The part I'm possibly most chuffed with is the Pikes Peak chapter, the tale of the 1911 Oxford-Yale expedition up the Colorado mountain for five weeks of intense altitude work on the summit. This one was clearly of fundamental importance to J. S. Haldane and his colleagues, but was the hardest one to dramatize in that I felt the need to capture his own enthusiasm for the period. Visiting the mountain myself was vital, local newspaper sources valuable in adding necessary detail to go alongside the private letters and official report. The photo here comes from the Wolfson College Archives, a partial scan of the photo that used to hang on Haldane's laboratory wall. Presumably it was taken by the official Pikes Peak railway photographer of the time, J, G. Hiestand.

One interesting factor about the book. It's to be published in August at 14.99 pounds, one pound cheaper than my first novel back in 1992, and even so available for 9.89 on Amazon. Little else can have dropped in price that way over the last 15 years.