Ignorance: How It Drives Science
"[A] sparkling and innovative look at ignorance . . . We should remember that when a sphere becomes bigger, the surface area grows. Thus, as the sphere of scientific knowledge increases, so does the surface area of the unknown. Firestein's book reminds us that it is at this interface that we can claim true and objective progress."--MIchael Shermer forNature"Firestein challenges our culture's pat view of science as a simple process of placing one brick of knowledge on top of another in a simple progression toward greater knowledge."--Publishers Weekly"[I]t's the latter - the unanswered questions - that makes science, and life, interesting. That's the eloquently argued case at the heart ofIgnorance: How It Drives Science, in which Stuart Firestein sets out to debunk the popular idea that knowledge follows ignorance, demonstrating instead that it's the other way around and, in the process, laying out a powerful manifesto for getting the public engaged with science - a public to whom, as Neil deGrasse Tyson recently reminded Senate, the government is accountable in making the very decisions that shape the course of science."--BrainPickings.org"Ignorance, it turns out, is really quite profound, and this is a good introduction to the subject."  --Library Journal"Stuart Firestein'sIgnoranceoffers a pithier and more nuanced look at the fallibility of science."  --SlateChosen byNew Scientist's Culture Labas one of the Ten Books to look out for in 2012"This is a fascinating little book . . . it'sIgnorance: How It Drives Scienceby Stuart Firestein, and it will blow your mind as we used to say back in the '60s..."--Ira Flatow, NPR's Science Friday"An excellent read,Ignorancewould be a fine companion text for potential scientists at the beginning of their studies. The book reminds us that although we are repeatedly given the impression our world contains an endless amount of knowledge, most of that is inaccessible to us, and it is the absence of knowledge that should concern us. Firestein's short account may even make you embrace your ignorance, wearing it like a badge ofhonor." --Science"[A] short, highly entertaining book aimed at nonscientists and students who want to be scientists. The book comes at an important time. Today's most vociferous scientific controversies turn on different interpretations of facts - about climate change, about contraception, about evolution. When politics are injected, the shouting grows louder, the thinking muddier. Uncertainty is a dirty word. Dr. Firestein, by contrast, celebrates a tolerance for uncertainty, the pleasures of scientific mystery and the cultivation of doubt. If more people embraced the seductive appeal of uncertainty, he says, it might take some acrimony out of our public debates."  --Sandra Blakeslee,New York Times"[I]ntelligent and entertaining."  --Wall Street Journal"Firestein's ideas about how science works will strike most scientists as obvious. But his examples are interesting enough to keep those already committed to his thesis turning the pages, and for the non-scientist he offers a valuable counterbalance to know-it-all scientists and the portrayal of science by the media."  --Books & Culture