Purchase
Objects in Mind
MIT Press
June 2008
On Sale: May 30, 2008
232 pages ISBN: 0262201720 EAN: 9780262201728 Hardcover
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
"This is a book about science, technology, and love,"
writes Sherry Turkle. In it, we learn how a love for
science can start with a love for an object—a microscope, a
modem, a mud pie, a pair of dice, a fishing rod. Objects
fire imagination and set young people on a path to a career
in science. In this collection, distinguished scientists,
engineers, and designers as well as twenty-five years of
MIT students describe how objects encountered in childhood
became part of the fabric of their scientific selves. In
two major essays that frame the collection, Turkle tells a
story of inspiration and connection through objects that is
often neglected in standard science education and in our
preoccupation with the virtual. The senior scientists' essays trace the arc of a life: the
gears of a toy car introduce the chain of cause and effect
to artificial intelligence pioneer Seymour Papert;
microscopes disclose the mystery of how things work to MIT
President and neuroanatomist Susan Hockfield; architect
Moshe Safdie describes how his boyhood fascination with
steps, terraces, and the wax hexagons of beehives lead him
to a life immersed in the complexities of design. The
student essays tell stories that echo these narratives:
plastic eggs in an Easter basket reveal the power of
centripetal force; experiments with baking illuminate the
geology of planets; LEGO bricks model worlds, carefully
engineered and colonized. All of these voices—students and mentors—testify to the
power of objects to awaken and inform young scientific
minds. This is a truth that is simple, intuitive, and
easily overlooked.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|