Why do so many otherwise rational people refuse to walk under ladders? And where does religion come from? In this extract from his provocative new book, Lewis Wolpert raises intriguing questions about faith, superstition -- and the truth I became interested in belief for several reasons. in the first instance I wanted to know why my non-science friends had such difficulty understanding science and why there was a quite strong anti-science movement. It was a real puzzle for me, as I believe science to be the best way to understand how the world works. This led me to thinking about belief in what I regard as the unbelievable, from angels to aliens to levitation and telepathy. How could people believe in things for which there seemed to be no reliable evidence? It really irritated me. And then there was religion, which affected me personally. I was quite a religious child, saying my prayers each night and asking God for help on various occasions. It did not seem to help and I gave it all up around 16 and have been an atheist ever since. Then my youngest son, who had been through a difficult late adolescence, was evangelised and joined the London Church of Christ. This is a fundamentalist Christian church, which takes the Bible literally. The following incident reflects our relationship. Sitting in my office, Matthew said he was envious of me, as I was so fortunate. Unused to receiving such a positive remark from any of my children,