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How It Drives Science
Oxford University Press
May 2012
On Sale: April 23, 2012
208 pages
ISBN: 0199828075
EAN: 9780199828074
Kindle: B007M7HXMC
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Knowledge is a big subject, says Stuart Firestein, but
ignorance is a bigger one. And it is ignorance--not
knowledge--that is the true engine of science. Most of us have a false impression of science as a surefire,
deliberate, step-by-step method for finding things out and
getting things done. In fact, says Firestein, more often
than not, science is like looking for a black cat in a dark
room, and there may not be a cat in the room. The process is
more hit-or-miss than you might imagine, with much stumbling
and groping after phantoms. But it is exactly this "not
knowing," this puzzling over thorny questions or
inexplicable data, that gets researchers into the lab early
and keeps them there late, the thing that propels them, the
very driving force of science. Firestein shows how
scientists use ignorance to program their work, to identify
what should be done, what the next steps are, and where they
should concentrate their energies. And he includes a catalog
of how scientists use ignorance, consciously or
unconsciously--a remarkable range of approaches that
includes looking for connections to other research,
revisiting apparently settled questions, using small
questions to get at big ones, and tackling a problem simply
out of curiosity. The book concludes with four case
histories--in cognitive psychology, theoretical physics,
astronomy, and neuroscience--that provide a feel for the
nuts and bolts of ignorance, the day-to-day battle that goes
on in scientific laboratories and in scientific minds with
questions that range from the quotidian to the profound. Turning the conventional idea about science on its head,
Ignorance opens a new window on the true nature of research.
It is a must-read for anyone curious about science.
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