The question 'What is art?' is frequently debated - often by works of 'art' themselves. The question 'What is science?' appears to be discussed less often, and less publicly - though the answers could be even more revealing about our species...Some people see science as a public good, funded by governments and philanthropists, and performed by altruistic scientists for the benefit of mankind. Such people view science as progress. But others see science as a private good, driven by profit, promoted by businesses and certain institutions looking for economic and political power. Such science may be dangerous. In this original ground-breaking book in the tradition of Richard Dawkins and Jared Diamond, Terence Kealey shows that science is not a thing apart but rather, like trade and contract, embedded in human nature, having evolved on the evolutionary principles of natural and sexual selection. "Sex, Science and Profits" ranges across history to explore the nature of science, economics and philosophy. Starting with the Neolithic discovery of tools, this book explains the role of concubines in Ancient Egypt and the emergence of the Portuguese as Europe's premier seafaring explorers; questions the usefulness of patents, and describes how the race for technological progress plays out between nations, governments and corporations. Richly multi-disciplinary, witty, brilliant and thought-provoking, "Sex, Science and Profits" shows how an understanding of sexual and natural selection can transform our view of progress in economics, business and technology. It is an important and controversial book.
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Review
"A devastating critique of states' failure to fund economically useful knowledge." -- The Financial Post - Peter Foster
"Hugely ambitious, stupendously confident and unrelentingly provocative. It is a tropical storm of a book." -- The Sunday Telegraph - Richard Davenport-Hines
"Kealey has brilliantly extended his hero Adam Smith's argument to the world of science." -- The Sunday Times - Edward Chancellor
"Kealey takes his readers on a remarkable journey." -- The Lancet - David Weatherall
"This is a bracing arguement, and Kealey writes clearly and well." -- The Guardian - William Leith
`A fascinating and important book' -- Metro
`Kealey takes us on an entertaining canter through global history, from the Stone Age, through the Bronze, Dark and Middle ages, to the industrial and agricultural revolutions and beyond.' -- Times Higher Education
`Kealey writes with the passion of a zealot, which makes the book brisk and...entertaining.' -- Management Today
`Witty, brilliant, thought-provoking and provocative, this is an important and controversial book' -- Yorkshire Evening Post
`[a] provocative and wonderfully iconoclastic book ... Kealey takes us on an entertaining, and often hilarious, voyage from the Stone Age to the present day, demonstrating that science flourishes in laissez-faire environment and withers as soon as governments or despots begin to meddle.' -- Spectator Business
"Hugely ambitious, stupendously confident and unrelentingly provocative. It is a tropical storm of a book." -- The Sunday Telegraph - Richard Davenport-Hines
"Kealey has brilliantly extended his hero Adam Smith's argument to the world of science." -- The Sunday Times - Edward Chancellor
"Kealey takes his readers on a remarkable journey." -- The Lancet - David Weatherall
"This is a bracing arguement, and Kealey writes clearly and well." -- The Guardian - William Leith
`A fascinating and important book' -- Metro
`Kealey takes us on an entertaining canter through global history, from the Stone Age, through the Bronze, Dark and Middle ages, to the industrial and agricultural revolutions and beyond.' -- Times Higher Education
`Kealey writes with the passion of a zealot, which makes the book brisk and...entertaining.' -- Management Today
`Witty, brilliant, thought-provoking and provocative, this is an important and controversial book' -- Yorkshire Evening Post
`[a] provocative and wonderfully iconoclastic book ... Kealey takes us on an entertaining, and often hilarious, voyage from the Stone Age to the present day, demonstrating that science flourishes in laissez-faire environment and withers as soon as governments or despots begin to meddle.' -- Spectator Business
Review
`A gloriously idiosyncratic work'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I like reading about sex, have a passing interest in science, and who doesn't like to turn a profit now and then? So I thought this might be a book for me. Turned out to be a long tract against the public funding of scientific research and in praise of private and voluntary funding of R&D. It asserts the primacy of technology over 'pure' science, the victory of Adam Smith over Francis Bacon. No sex then, but I read it through to the end anyway. The romp through the history of science (from prehistory to modern times), and the funding of science in particular, was entertaining enough. Other reviewers, no doubt more erudite than me, have said that Kealey's arguments are flawed, and that many of his facts are not in fact facts. I even spotted one or two mistakes myself, which does suggest that those other reviewers are right. Never mind; this was an interesting book. Am I wiser and better informed for having read it? Who knows? How many stars will I give it? Well, no-one else has given it three, so here goes...
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Riddled with mistakes and flawed arguments but an interesting contribution to the debate
18 April 2009
Format:Paperback
This book builds upon the authors previous work looking at how science is funded. The author is the vice-chancellor of Buckingham University one of the very few private universities in the UK. So as you would expect given this position his argument is that science is better funded privately than by public funds.
His presentation is very biased and there are numerous mistakes in the text and in the facts and examples he uses. His worst mistake is confusing science with technology as applied science is something very different to the theory, but he is right in some cases that theory follows practice rather than the other way around as contended by governments. He is also right that funding academic science often gives poor results compared to industrial funding but that is the nature of academia which is much less focused especially towards short term goals.
So in the end I think he provides an interesting set of opinions and with more careful presentation of the facts and less emphasis on trying to sell the book (sex has nothing to do with it except for some very tangential and artificial points) then he might find more supporters for his argument.
His presentation is very biased and there are numerous mistakes in the text and in the facts and examples he uses. His worst mistake is confusing science with technology as applied science is something very different to the theory, but he is right in some cases that theory follows practice rather than the other way around as contended by governments. He is also right that funding academic science often gives poor results compared to industrial funding but that is the nature of academia which is much less focused especially towards short term goals.
So in the end I think he provides an interesting set of opinions and with more careful presentation of the facts and less emphasis on trying to sell the book (sex has nothing to do with it except for some very tangential and artificial points) then he might find more supporters for his argument.
By Prof David B
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
A tour de force conducted at a gallop through human history. Amazing level of detail keeps the reader engaged at all times. Kealey is a scientist turned economist who debunks many of the "accepted" theories of economics with evident glee.
Recommended
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Perspective
A great antidote to the prevailing orthodox views of science, particularly as it is percieved in europe. Read more
Published on 5 Nov 2009 by Benjamin P. Ford
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating insight into the mind of Terence Kealey
As other reviewers have pointed out, this book has factual misrepresentations aplenty. There's also a key problem of logic at the heart of Kealey's text. Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Mr. M. W. Hilton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hugely entertained and informed
I thoroughly enjoyed this romp through the history of scientific development, its paymasters both public, private and the financially disinterested amateur scientists who have... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2009 by P. Scrivener
1.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing and frustrating book
One starts this book thinking it will be a well researched and well argued historical analysis, but soon it becomes apparent the author is more interested in pushing his views that... Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2009 by whart0
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compulsory reading for politicians and University management
This is an excellent book that argues magnificently the reality of the economics of scientific research. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2008 by Jorge Oliveira
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