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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A valuable acquisition for academic libraries, given the current emphasis on STEM education and undergraduate research. R. E. Buntrock, CHOICE It is important to emphasize the creative process in the sciences. This is not just another methodological book on the empirical cycle, but an unpretentious and smooth-reading plea for attention on an uncultivated but mineable area. Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie, Dec 2012 An excellent read, [it is] a fine companion text for potential scientists a the beginning of their studies ... You may gradually become more and more ignorant as you read, and you will enjoy the journey. Ignorance in this telling is truly bliss. Moran Cerf, Science Magazine a quietly mind-blowing new book. Readers Digest Stuart Firestein, a teacher and neuroscientist, has written a splendid and admirably short book about the pleasure of finding things out using the scientific method. He smartly outlines how science works in reality rather than in stereotype. Ignorance is a thoughtful introduction to the nature of knowing, and the joy of curiosity. Adam Rutherford, The Observer A splendid book ... Packed with real examples and deep practical knowledge, Ignorance is a thoughtful introduction to the nature of knowing, and the joy of curiosity. Adam Rutherford, The Observer The fundamental attribute of successful scientists, Firestein argues in this pithy book, is a form of ignorance characterised by knowing what you don't know, and being able to ask the right questions. Culture Lab The book is effectively conversational and can be read quickly, as intended. The American Journal of Epidemiology
About the Author
Stuart Firestein is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, where his highly popular course on ignorance invites working scientists to come talk to students each week about what they don't know. Dedicated to promoting science to a public audience, he serves as an advisor for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's program for the Public Understanding of Science and was awarded the 2011 Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award for excellence in scholarship and teaching. Also, he was recently named an AAAS Fellow.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brilliant. Every other sentence really is an aphorism. And a good one.
Rarely has such a small book weighted so much in my mind. Made me think of zen, for no particular reason but the sparse beauty of each page.
After years of PhD and research, a real tonic. Now back to find some more ignorance...
Rarely has such a small book weighted so much in my mind. Made me think of zen, for no particular reason but the sparse beauty of each page.
After years of PhD and research, a real tonic. Now back to find some more ignorance...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Sphex
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
W. B. Yeats admonished that "education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." Stuart Firestein agrees, and in this marvellous book he argues that science is less about accumulating facts and rules and more like looking for "black cats in dark rooms." The scientific process is not a tidy logical procession from one grand truth to the next. It's "mostly stumbling about in the dark", "bumping into unidentifiable things, looking for barely perceptible phantoms". In short, it's about dealing with ignorance.
This isn't the view held by most non-scientists, who for the most part subscribe to the popular image of the scientist as brainy or a boffin, not as a fount of ignorance. It's true that a professional scientist, like any professional, knows an awful lot. Knowing everything is of course impossible, and, anyway, knowing lots of facts "does not automatically make you a scientist, just a geek." Firestein argues that science is different in that the facts "serve mainly to access the ignorance" and to frame new questions. Scientists concentrate on what they don't know, and "science traffics in ignorance, cultivates it, and is driven by it."
Firestein is not talking about ignorance in the pejorative sense. He's interested in "knowledgeable ignorance, perceptive ignorance, insightful ignorance" - the kind that "leads us to frame better questions, the first step to getting better answers." His big claim is that it's "the most important resource" scientists have, and using it correctly is "the most important thing a scientist does."
Scientists love questions. Naturally, we should guard against a simple-minded idea that asking a few questions (especially the so-called "big" ones), any more than knowing a few facts, is all there is to being a scientist.... Read more ›
This isn't the view held by most non-scientists, who for the most part subscribe to the popular image of the scientist as brainy or a boffin, not as a fount of ignorance. It's true that a professional scientist, like any professional, knows an awful lot. Knowing everything is of course impossible, and, anyway, knowing lots of facts "does not automatically make you a scientist, just a geek." Firestein argues that science is different in that the facts "serve mainly to access the ignorance" and to frame new questions. Scientists concentrate on what they don't know, and "science traffics in ignorance, cultivates it, and is driven by it."
Firestein is not talking about ignorance in the pejorative sense. He's interested in "knowledgeable ignorance, perceptive ignorance, insightful ignorance" - the kind that "leads us to frame better questions, the first step to getting better answers." His big claim is that it's "the most important resource" scientists have, and using it correctly is "the most important thing a scientist does."
Scientists love questions. Naturally, we should guard against a simple-minded idea that asking a few questions (especially the so-called "big" ones), any more than knowing a few facts, is all there is to being a scientist.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By F Henwood
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
This is an interesting book but its main thesis is not novel and one feels that it is somewhat overstated for the purpose of effect.
`It's not facts and rules, it's black cats in darkened rooms' that drives science forward, the author states. The first clause, stated like that, is clearly false. The second clause is valid but not novel.
First of all, to deny that science is not about facts and rules is false. The laws of thermodynamics for instance describe a rule about the world and the sort of facts that we can expect to find out about the world if the rule is true. You need to fill your car's petrol tank from time to time to keep it on the road and you need to eat in order to live. The reason why you must eat is the same why you must fill your car's tank. Your car and your body are closed systems that need energy. If your car kept rolling after your tank ran dry or you live without eating, then your car and your body are both generating energy from within, without having got it from petrol or food. Your car and your body have become perpetual motion machines. But because the laws of thermodynamics are true, in the sense they are about facts and rules, then both possibilities are ruled out. It is very easy to put this proposition to the test. Try not eating for a few weeks and see how you feel or try starting your car without any petrol in its tank.
It is true that science is defined partially by ignorance, in the positive sense of the word in that it helps frames what we don't know, and what questions still need to be answered. This is the sense in which the author appears to be using the word. Perhaps the general public or non-scientists are not aware of this but this supposition is to patronize.... Read more ›
`It's not facts and rules, it's black cats in darkened rooms' that drives science forward, the author states. The first clause, stated like that, is clearly false. The second clause is valid but not novel.
First of all, to deny that science is not about facts and rules is false. The laws of thermodynamics for instance describe a rule about the world and the sort of facts that we can expect to find out about the world if the rule is true. You need to fill your car's petrol tank from time to time to keep it on the road and you need to eat in order to live. The reason why you must eat is the same why you must fill your car's tank. Your car and your body are closed systems that need energy. If your car kept rolling after your tank ran dry or you live without eating, then your car and your body are both generating energy from within, without having got it from petrol or food. Your car and your body have become perpetual motion machines. But because the laws of thermodynamics are true, in the sense they are about facts and rules, then both possibilities are ruled out. It is very easy to put this proposition to the test. Try not eating for a few weeks and see how you feel or try starting your car without any petrol in its tank.
It is true that science is defined partially by ignorance, in the positive sense of the word in that it helps frames what we don't know, and what questions still need to be answered. This is the sense in which the author appears to be using the word. Perhaps the general public or non-scientists are not aware of this but this supposition is to patronize.... Read more ›
Format:Hardcover
Very nice and concise book that broadens the mind and shows how science in practice should work! Really enjoy this book, speaking as a practising medical doctor, from the UK
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