Matter of people

When, in February 1973, the U.N. Fund for Population Activities asked me to write a personal book about world population prob lems, I was delighted and flattered. I was also utterly mystified, since I knew nothing about population. Why me? I wondered. Since this is something the reader may also be wondering, I had better elucidate the point. The UNFPA said that they wanted the book to be read by the literate layman, who knew as little about population as I did. The reader would share my experiences as I traveled from country to country, see what I saw, hear what I heard, learn what I learned. And as for why me in particular, I was born in Asia and worked there for some years, and I was educated in Europe and worked there for many years: I had a foot in each continent. It was a huge assignment, involving inten sive travel and writing over a period of six months, but I was happy to accept it. My wife, Leela, who is also my secretary and my extra pair of eyes and ears, packed our cases and we set off.

Now it is over, I wonder how we did it. There was plane after plane, country after country, endless drives through strange ter rain, interviews, a series of hotel rooms in which I sat and wrote. But it is over, and I have learned a lot, though I don't know if the reader will. When I started this trip I thought the whole problem lay in what is called "the population explosion." Now I think it is purely a matter of people.