What Shall It Profit?

Poul Anderson's What Shall It Profit? begins with a world already uneasy about science: machines have made many people obsolete, and rumors swirl that atomic research has quietly shortened human lives. When newsman Radek follows those rumors to a hidden Institute of Human Biology, he uncovers a secret far stranger than fraud or propaganda. Beneath the ground lies a shielded enclave built to escape cosmic radiation, where aging has been slowed by an artificial environment and generations of research. As Radek presses Dr. Lang for answers, the story turns into a tense debate over secrecy, public panic, and the meaning of immortality. He finds evidence of animals living unnaturally long lives and learns that humans have also been raised in this protected world—only to discover that endless life may come at the cost of freedom, sanity, and full humanity. Thoughtful and unsettling, this science-fiction mystery asks what progress is worth when survival itself becomes the price. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.