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The Unnatural Nature of Science
 
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The Unnatural Nature of Science (Paperback)

by L. Wolpert (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (6 Mar 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571169724
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571169726
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 383,671 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

This book shows that many of our understandings about scientific thought can be corrected once we realise just how "unnatural" science actually is. Quoting scientists from Aristotle to Einstein, the author argues that scientific ideas are, with rare exceptions, counter-intuitive and that common sense often makes no sense at all. A passionate advocate of the beauty and importance of science, the author examines a range of issues, including why science and technology are quite different, why psychoanalysis is not properly scientific and why philosophers and sociologists have made so little contribution to understanding science's true nature. He demonstrates the folly of holding scientists responsible for many of society's problems, and the equal folly of looking to science for a miracle cure.

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Advocating Reason, 9 Nov 2008
By P. Tummon "LeapingSalmon" (Cape Town South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Lewis Wolpert has written an important book which should be read by all critical of Western Culture, and in particular by those swept away by the fashionable denigration of science. It confirms my own observations that rational thought is a fragile attribute of humans, easily overwhelmed by our passions, which generate spurious rationalisations for our blind irrationality! It is a pleasure to read and coupled with his Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, make significant contributions to challenge the tide of psuedo science that forever threatens the gains of honest humble scientific work. And work it truely is. We so easily deceive ourselves and others, that we need the rigours of science to contain our capacities for deception.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A rational argument for not following intuition, 5 April 2009
By Jaybird (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Unnatural Nature of Science (Paperback)
Wolpert's book is an examination of the wonder of the world, and how we can appreciate it more when we understand it.

I love the idea that we should reject the intuitive, from the simple idea that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, which we all take for granted, when in fact the real truth is that we are spinning in space around our own axis, whilst orbiting the sun.

Wolpert has important things to say about science education, particularly at primary level, where it is often sloppily taught.

He also has a great turn in amazing facts - in describing how small a water molecule is he explains that if you could label every molecule of water in a tumbler, so that you could detect a single one, poured that water into the sea and allowed time for it to mix with all the oceans in the world, and then dipped a tumbler back in, the chances are that you would have at least one of those original molecules in the glass, because there are more molecules of water in a single tumbler, than there are tumblers of water in all the oceans of the world.

Prepare to be amazed if you are a general reader. Consider it essential if you are a teacher or educator.

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