Free Radicals
The Secret Anarchy of Science
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
For more than a century, science has cultivated a sober public image for itself. But as bestselling author Michael Brooks explains, the truth is very different: many of our most successful scientists have more in common with libertines than librarians.
This thrilling exploration of some of the greatest breakthroughs in science reveals the extreme lengths some scientists go to in order to make their theories public. Fraud, suppressing evidence and unethical or reckless PR games are sometimes necessary to bring the best and most brilliant discoveries to the world's attention. Inspiration can come from the most unorthodox of places, and Brooks introduces us to Nobel laureates who get their ideas through drugs, dreams and hallucinations. Science is a highly competitive and ruthless discipline, and only its most determined and passionate practitioners make headlines - and history. To succeed, knowledge must be pursued by any means: in science, anything goes.
'Brooks is an exemplary science writer' William Leith, Daily Telegraph
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brooks, a science columnist for Britain's New Statesman, says that at the end of WWII science was "branded" as logical, trustworthy, rational, predictable, and gentlemanly, among other traits. So successful was the attempt to dispel public qualms over science's potential dangers that even scientists bought into it. But Brooks (13 Things That Don't Make Sense) pulls back the curtain to show that scientists are fallible humans just like the rest of us. Isaac Newton was aggressively competitive, and routinely kept important discoveries to himself so he could taunt his colleagues with his "secret knowledge." Einstein fudged his math to support his "beautiful" ideas. Scientists attempted to torpedo the unorthodox ideas of geneticist Barbara McClintock (who eventually won a Nobel Prize for her work) and astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Some scientists have defied rigid ethical standards, tested theories on themselves, and taken their most powerful inspiration from dreams, visions, and illicit drugs. Brooks raises intriguing questions about the value of peer review panels and ethics boards, while illuminating much of the gritty real work performed in ivory towers around the world.
