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A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
The first collection of essays from renowned scientist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins is an enthusiastic declaration, a testament to the power of rigorous scientific examination to reveal the wonders of the world. In these essays Dawkins revisits the meme, the unit of cultural information that he named and wrote about in his groundbreaking work The Selfish Gene. Here also are moving tributes to friends and colleagues, including a eulogy for novelist Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; correspondence with the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould; and visits with the famed paleoanthropologists Richard and Maeve Leakey at their African wildlife preserve. The collection ends with a vivid note to Dawkins's ten-year-old daughter, reminding her to remain curious, to ask questions, and to live the examined life.
See more photos, specs, and reviewsThe Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule
From bestselling author Michael Shermer, an investigation of the evolution of morality
that is "a paragon of popularized science and philosophy" The Sun (Baltimore)
A century and a half after Darwin first proposed an "evolutionary ethics," science has begun to tackle the roots of morality. Just as evolutionary biologists study why we are hungry (to motivate us to eat) or why sex is enjoyable (to motivate us to procreate), they are now searching for the very nature of humanity.
In The Science of Good and Evil, science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates to moral primates; how and why morality motivates the human animal; and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence.
Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans. As he closes the divide between science and morality, Shermer draws on stories from the Yanamamö, infamously known as the "fierce people" of the tropical rain forest, to the Stanford studies on jailers' behavior in prisons. The Science of Good and Evil is ultimately a profound look at the moral animal, belief, and the scientific pursuit of truth.
Points of Departure: A Collection of Contemporary Essays
Pages: 383, Edition: Second, Paperback, Houghton Mifflin Company
See more photos, specs, and reviewsAcquainted with the Night: Excursions Through the World After Dark
Albert Einstein - Chief Engineer of the Universe: One Hundred Authors for Einstein
In 1905, Albert Einstein published five scientific articles that fundamentally changed the world-view of physics: The Special Theory of Reativity revolutionized our concept of space and time, E=mc² became the best-known equation in physics.
On the occasion of the 100th aniversary of his "annus mirabilis" 1905, the UNESCO declared the year 2005 the "World Year of Physics", in order to draw attention to the impact of physics. The Max Planck Institute for the history of science dedicates an exhibition in the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin to the probably most important scientist of the 20th century.
In this book, 100 authors explain the historical background of Einstein's life and work, shed light on many different aspects of his biography, and on the scientific fields and topics that are connected to Einstein's work. The authors are some of the most renowned Einstein researchers in the world, such as Jürgen Ehlers, Peter Galison, Zeev Rosenkranz, John Stachel and Robert Schulmann.
The essays form a bridge between scientific and cultural history, opening up a perspective on Einstein's biography which goes beyond the traditional picture of the exceptional science genius.
See more photos, specs, and reviewsAre Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?: Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topics
"Something about Gardner's prose-straight-ahead, factual, free of literary pretension-is deliciously addictive.-Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World
Martin Gardner-"one of the most brilliant men and gracious writers I have ever known," wrote Stephen Jay Gould-is the wittiest, most devastating debunker of scientific fraud and chicanery of our time. In this new book Gardner explores startling scientific concepts, such as the possibility of multiple universes and the theory that time can go backwards. Armed with his expert, skeptical eye, he examines the bizarre tangents produced by Freudians and deconstructionists in their critiques of "Little Red Riding Hood," and reveals the fallacies of pseudoscientific cures, from Dr. Bruno Bettelheim's erroneous theory of autism to the cruel farces of Facilitated Communication and Primal Scream Therapy. Ever prolific, and still engaging at the spry age of eighty-eight, Gardner has become an American institution unto himself, a writer to be celebrated.
See more photos, specs, and reviewsAre You Conscious, and Can You Prove It: Short Science Essays
This book came about because there are scientific "controversial matters" that gnawed away at my peace of mind. So when I "retired," I finally had time to write about biomedical topics, about some of the weird phenomena of physics, about the minds of suicide bombers, and about less serious subjects such as the condominium swimming pool. My original intention was to have some of this stuff published in a "recognized journal," but one can die (and authors frequently do exactly that) while waiting for publication. Then, my daughter Alice suggested a Web site. What a brilliant and politically-correct idea! Eventually, I filled the Web site with 22 short essays. So instead of scientists who are relatively impervious to change, I managed to attract some "intelligent laypersons." Many of them urged me to assemble a book out of the essays, but this required expansion: figures, tables, equations, references. The equations are (mercifully) hidden as appendixes at the back of the book. I started to extract an Index, but abandoned it as being unnecessary, in the hope that the title of each Chapter hints at its contents.
See more photos, specs, and reviewsThe Best American Science Writing 2000 (Four Audiocassettes)
Meticulously selected by bestselling author James Gleick, Harper Audio presents a steller collection of essays written by some of the most brilliant writers and thinkers of our time -- each one read by its creator.Many of these cutting-edge essays offer glimpses of our new realms of discovery and thought, exploring territory that is unfimiliar to most of us or finding the unexpected in the midst of the familiar.This diverse, stimulating, and accessible collection is required for anyone who wants to travel to that frontier.
See more photos, specs, and reviewsThe Best American Science Writing 2002 (Best American Science Writing)
If, as Matt Ridley suggests, science is simply the search for new forms of ignorance, then perhaps it follows that with science's advances come new questions. Will human genetic engineering become commonplace? Will human cloning ever be safe? Are there many universes? How much will the climate change during the coming century?
The Best American Science Writing 2002 gathers top writers and scientists covering the latest developments in the fastest-changing, farthest-reaching scientific fields, such as medicine, genetics, computer technology, evolutionary psychology, cutting-edge physics, and the environment. Among this year's selections: In "The Made-to-Order Savior," Lisa Belkin spotlights two desperate families seeking an unprecedented cure by a medically and ethically unprecedented means -- creating a genetically matched child. Margaret Talbot's "A Desire to Duplicate" reveals that the first human clone may very likely come from an entirely unexpected source, and sooner than we think. Michael Specter reports on the shock waves rippling through the field of neuroscience following the revolutionary discovery that adult brain cells might in fact regenerate ("Rethinking the Brain"). Christopher Dickey's "I Love My Glow Bunny" recounts with sly humor a peculiar episode in which genetic engineering and artistic culture collide. Natalie Angier draws an insightful contrast between suicide terrorists and rescue workers who risk their lives, and finds that sympathy and altruism have a definite place in the evolution of human nature, David Berlinski's "What Brings a World into Being?" ponders the idea of biology and physics as essentially digital technologies, exploring the mysteries encoded in the universe's smallest units, be they cells or quanta. Nicholas Wade shows how one of the most controversial books of the year, The Skeptical Environmentalist, by former Greenpeace member and self-described leftist Bjorn Lomborg, debunks some of the most cherished tenets of the environmental movement, suggesting that things are perhaps not as bad as we've been led to believe. And as a counterpoint, Darcy Frey's profile of George Divoky reveals a dedicated researcher whose love of birds and mystery leads to some sobering discoveries about global warming and forcefully reminds us of the unsung heroes of science: those who put in long hours, fill in small details, and take great trouble.In the end, the unanswered questions are what sustain scientific inquiry, open new frontiers of knowledge, and lead to new technologies and medical treatments. The Best American Science Writing 2002 is a series of exciting reports from science's front lines, where what we don't know is every bit as important as what we know. See more photos, specs, and reviews