Hailed on publication in 1957 as 'probably the only book published this year that will outlive the century', this is a devastating criticism of the idea that there are fixed laws in history and that human beings are able to predict them.

'Probably the only book published this year which will outlive this century.' - Arthur Koestler'It is good to have this brilliant book at last available in English.' - The Times'This is one of the three or four most important books of the methodology of the social sciences to appear since the war.' - New Statesman'Popper's work is of far greater than mere academic value; it has an immediate and manifest bearing on the political decisions that everyone has to make.' - The Listener'Should be read even by those who will not agree with it.' - Tribune'This is the theoretical companion to the better-known Open Society and Its Enemies. It puts paid to all attempts at futurology by pointing out that the future depends on new knowledge which by definition we do not have today.' - Samuel Brittan, The Week, 2nd April 2005