The Shape of Wonder
How Scientists Think, Work, and Live
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- USD 10.99
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- USD 10.99
Descripción editorial
In this captivating, insightful book, acclaimed physicists Alan Lightman and Martin Rees illuminate the life and work of numerous scientists in order to demystify the scientific process and show that scientists are concerned citizens, just like the rest of us.
“Remarkable. . . . Illuminating with refreshing clarity the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary work of scientists. This book is essential reading." —Jennifer Ackerman, bestselling author of What an Owl Knows
In an age of rapid scientific discovery and technological advancement, it’s understandable that many feel uneasy about the future. While we might have confidence in these new developments when we go to the hospital for a medical procedure, fly in an airplane, or take an elevator to the top floor of a building, the motivations and lives of scientists themselves feel shrouded from public view. There is a growing sense that scientists are not to be trusted—that they may be guided by political or financial interests, or beholden to governments, or state institutions.
This growing mistrust of scientists is an urgent problem. With the onset of climate change, the imminent threats of pandemic or nuclear war, and rapid acceleration in the fields of artificial intelligence and DNA sequencing, innovations in science have the potential to change the world. It’s crucial that we not only gain a better understanding of science as a field, but also reestablish trust with its practitioners.
The Shape of Wonder guides us through the fascinating lives and minds of scientists around the world and throughout time, from a young theoretical physicist who works as a research assistant professor at the University of Washington and rock climbs in their free time; to German physicist Werner Heisenberg in his early life, when he was a student of music and philosophy; to Govind Swarup, an Indian astronomer whose work on radio telescopes was profoundly important. We get an inside peek at what makes scientists tick—their daily lives, passions, and concerns about the societies they live in.
In this brilliant and elucidative work, Lightman and Rees pull back the curtain on the field of science, revealing that scientists are driven by the same sense of curiosity, wonder, and responsibility towards the future that shapes us all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Physicist and novelist Lightman (The Transcendent Brain) and astrophysicist Rees (If Science Is to Save Us) aim in this trenchant if overly broad treatise to dispel a growing mistrust of scientists in American society. They frame the scientific process as an apolitical pursuit of truth via experiment and critical thinking, with inherent characteristics—like the fact that theories are subject to change as new information becomes available—that fuel unfair accusations that scientists are "wishy-washy." The authors call for scientists to take responsibility for their work, both by avoiding unethical experiments and using their knowledge to inform government "planning and policy" and raise concerns about social, technological, or environmental threats. Elsewhere, Lightman and Rees caution scientists, scientific review boards, and science journalists to ensure findings aren't sensationalized via "overly dramatic headlines" that increase public mistrust, though how exactly scientists themselves might do that is less clear. The authors make a valuable effort to dismantle stereotypes of scientists as mouthpieces of elite institutions, though they sometimes cover too much ground in their eagerness to do so, ranging from the limits of future biotechological innovations to the workings of scientific review boards. Still, this offers plenty for readers to chew on.
