History of Science

  (out of 5 stars)

Thomas Kuhn's foundational work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions lays out the concept of paradigm shifts as fundamental to the history of science. While the book is dense at times, and certainly scholarly-technical in many places, Structure still contains an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in the ways in which significant changes occur in scientific theories.

Kuhn's argument concentrates on shifts in fundamental concepts in the fields of astronomy and physics, as well as a few other areas. He describes how the prevaling paradigm provides a set of facts and instruments which enable further progress in the field while still leaving holes in need of work. Demonstrating that paradigm shifts occur only after a crisis in the field, Kuhn argues that such crises predict a fundament shift in the underlying tenats of the paradigm. While these paradigm shifts can certainly be tremendously important and change many of the basic assumptions, Kuhn makes clear that these changes are not immediate and take place, typically, over decades of work and debate, and at times, are hindered by popular adherents to the old paradigm.

Structure is probably not a book for most popular science readers, but for anyone who is enthusiastic about the history of science, there are few books which offer the sort of discussion available here. Kuhn's look at the nature of paradigm shifts, despite being decades old, still offers a profound and engaging argument for the processes behind the shifting descriptions of the natural world. Four stars, but recommended only to those who really enjoy history of science and epistemological arguments.

  (out of 5 stars)

The discovery of the Java Man skeleton was one of the groundbreaking moments in paleontology and anthropology, providing a key piece of predicted but, until that point, largely absent evidence for near-human ancestors. Here, in a book written by Roger Lewin but credited as well to Carl Swisher and Garniss Curtis, the history of the discovery and related events is described. An interesting subject, the book nonetheless fails to thrive and instead is largely muddled and dull.

The first part of the book is by far the most interesting as the authors describe the finding of Java Man and the efforts required over the years to study the specimen. If the rest of the book had maintained the pace, level of detail, and science content, it would have been a recommended resource for popular anthropology and science readers.

However, the book takes a turn for the worse as the authors fall into a long section detailing the office politics which saw their research threatened from forces allied against them within their organization. While somewhat interesting, this digression from the story of Java Man breaks the narrative in a way which damages the reader's enjoyment and wonder.

The last section feels tacked on, as if the authors recognized that the book was not nearly long enough to warrant publication. So, a section on anthropology and human populations in general is presented which harbors very little information about Java Man or of the events which surrounded the fossils. A basic discussion of the subject, this section failed to produce any meaningful addition to the book itself or to the field of popular anthropology.

Java Man left me feeling unfulfilled, as if the story itself never warranted a book length treatment. The last two sections, which make up the majority of the work, are largely unnecessary for the reader and offer little on-topic information that wasn't already detailed in the opening chapters. Not specifically recommended for anyone, though it may be of interest to those who seek popular anthropological histories. Two and one-half stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Tim Ferris has a gift for writing history of science books, and many consider Coming of Age in the Milky Way his best. I have to agree. The history of astronomy and physics presented here is fantastic and engaging. Ferris has a great pace and narrative, and offers the reader a well-developed and engrossing look at what other authors have turned into a dry dissertation.

The book takes the reader through a timeline of discovery as humans came to understand various bis about their place in the universe. Early ideas, such as those of Aristole and Ptolemy are explored. The discussion of how scientists such as Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Gallileo, and Newton (among others) came to notice and explore phenomena left unexplained by existing theories. As humans expanded their understanding of the depths and reach of space, the progress from the Ancient Greeks to the notion of an expanding universe takes on a fascinating and is woven by Ferris into an epic tapestry of scientific discovery.

The second part of the book looks at the notions of Time as they progressed from various ancient theories to the modern understanding that the universe as we know it is many billions of years old.

Part Three offers a look at theories of creation, from the quantum nature of things to the concepts which developed into the Big Bang and inflationary theory. The weakest parts of the book are found in Chapters 19 and 20, where the science behind a couple of points in Ferris's narrative has become dated and shown inaccurate (the book was published in 1989). Specifically, the concept of an expanding universe which is slowing down its acceleration has been trumped by modern research (recent discoveries point to an acceleration which is increasing). Also, Ferris describes the nature of the pre-Big Bang singularity first posited by Stephen Hawking and others, a concept which Hawking has vehemently backed away from since Coming of Age was published, and Hawking now no longer supports this theory.

Still, Coming of Age is an enjoyable read for anyone who likes astronomy or history of science books. Ferris is an accomplished author whose work is easily approached by novices and delightful for those with experience. Four stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

The story of Nicolaus Copernicus is one of the most interesting tales in all of science history. In Copernicus' Secret, Jack Repcheck takes a look at the man who wrote the book which set the stage for a fundamental revolution in science.

Repcheck's writing is at times tedious. There were moments when his narrative bogged down heavily in details of relationships, dry descriptions of locales, and subjective reporting of possible events (such as things that may have been said or experienced which are largely supposition by the author). There were stretches where I wasn't really enjoying the book.

But then, there were large sections of the book that were outstanding. The details of Copernicus's life, and those who influenced and were influenced by him, are vivid and presented along with a unique account of the religious and social upheaval going on in Reformation-era Poland. The relationship between Copernicus and Rheticus is told very well, despite the inclusion of occasional suppositions.

Overall, despite the weaknesses, this is a fine account of the life of a significant figure in history. The book is fairly brief, with text of less than 200 pages, and while it sometimes bogs in off-topic details, the overall presentation is informative and largely enjoyable. Three and one-half stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Philospher and popular science writer Ed Regis takes a modern look at the biological and philosophical nature of defining life in What is Life. While the subject matter is utterly fascinating, and at times this book is quite engaging, there were lots of problems with Regis's presentation.

Right off the bat, Regis sets up his story by detailing the work of researchers seeking to create artificial cells. The work itself is amazing and full of intriguing aspects. However, Regis somehow manages to drag the reader through this section with far-too clinical a look at the business and economic side of the work. While this sort of detail is appropriate in a larger, more comprehensive work, this was a large section of a book with less than 170 pages of actual text.

From there, a long stretch of science history is described, including Schrodinger, Watson, Crick, and others. Far too often for my taste, Regis quotes the brilliant but often highly-criticized Stephen Jay Gould. Gould's views on biology are frequently the subject of harsh criticism from his peers, and while that certainly does not make him incorrect, Regis fails to offer opposing views in situations where Gould's impressions are not necessarily so widely accepted. Regis does this in several other cases as well, in one instance offering a single sentence mentioning Richard Dawkins work, immediately following this by proclaiming that Dawkins's selfish gene theory "hardly settled the issue." Well of course it didn't settle the issue, but that's hardly the point.

Throughout the book, Regis asks us to think about what life is and how we might describe it. He hints early on that his conclusion centers on metabolism. Certainly a reasonable hypothesis, but only rarely does Regis offer actual support for this thesis. At one point, after describing the creation of a synthetic virus, he states: "That itself would have been an example of creating life ... except for the fact that a virus was not a living thing, but rather only a string of dead chemicals inside a protein coating." While that may be one way to describe a virus, this is a skewed interpretation based on Regis's theory that metabolism is absolutely required in a definition of life, a thesis that is not completely agreed upon by biologists or philosophers. Viruses in the wild do appear to have no life-like characteristics, but in vitro they are clearly performing many aspects of replication, mutation, and natural selection. It is hard to say a set of 'dead chemicals' can suddenly transform into something life-like without really explaining to the reader why this is so. Regis drops the ball and offers no explanation.

To be fair, parts of the book are enlightening and enjoyable, including later parts describing the modern work being done in the field of artificial life. But the narrative of history is mediocre, and the author's own philosophy often gets in the way of the story. Three stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

I picked up this book hoping to learn a quick history of the life and thoughts of Charles Darwin, and I got a lot more than that. Author David Quammen picks up the story of Darwin's life after returning from his long voyage on the Beagle, referring the reader to more substantial works for more on those experiences. Following Darwin's return, Quammen offers a brilliant and engaging biography worthy of a read by any popular science reader.

Picking up the story after the Beagle, Quammen follow's Darwin's thoughts and work, largely through Darwin's own notebooks and his correspondences with friends and collegues. The book thoroughly humanizes the often-demonized scientist, and offers a highly refreshing 'intimate portrait' of a complex man. Darwin's biology work, which often focused on pigeons and barnacles, was brought to life through Quammen's excellent and concise narrative. The reader gets to enjoy the science while still engaging in an exceptional biography.

The final days prior to Darwin's publication of Origin are especially interesting, as the reader gets to see the inner struggles of a man about to unknowingly blow the lid off of man's understanding of himself.

Quammen is an excellent writer, and makes it clear that he understands his subjects (both Darwin and evolution) while presenting a story as engaging for its humanity as it is for its science. Highly recommended to a wide audience, four and one-half stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Historian of science Thomas Kuhn served up this foundational and mathematical history of the Copernican Revolution, that amazing period of time which saw man's idea of a geocentric universe replaced with a more accurate heliocentric one. Copernicus himself delivered the foundational work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri six ("Six Books on the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres"), which forever influenced the course of science's understanding of planetary motion.

Kuhn's history covers the pre-Renaissance groundwork laid down from ancient times, especially in works by Aristole and Ptolemy, and moves the story through the problems associated with these accepted models. Copernicus himself is largely ignored until much later in the book as Kuhn makes sure the reader understands just why Copernicus felt the need to break from tradition and put forth an alternative model.

Once De revolutionibus is published and spreads, Kuhn follows the story on through the later work of Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo, as well as explaining just why this Revolution was such a pronounced one in hindsight.

Kuhn's writing is very exact, and he can be a bit meticulous with some of the geometry. I loved this, but I recognize that some popular history of science readers might find this a bit too technical. Anyway, Kuhn is an excellent historian and presents a well-written and concise account of one of the most important periods in the history of science. Four stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Part detective story, part historical investigation, and part bibliophilic adventure, Owen Gingerich's The Book Nobody Read narrates the author's decades-long quest to track down and document all the existing first and second edition copies of Nicolaus Copernicus's groundbreaking work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri six ("Six Books on the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres"). De revolutionibus set in motion the drive to replace a geocentric universe with a heliocentric one. Gingerich take his title from myth put forward by Arthur Koestler that Copernicus's book was not widely read. Gingerich's investigation shows Koestler to be dead wrong.

Spending three decades building his census of De revolutionibus, Gingerich became personally invested in researching the history of the revolutionary work. Finding hundreds of copies of the first two editions to be very heavily annotated, the author discovered that not only was the book widely owned, it was clearly widely read. Later famous owners of the book included Kepler and Brahe, and in copy after copy, Gingerich discovered extensive notes by edition owners.

The Book Nobody Read is one of those odd niche adventures that likely appeals to a small audience. However, as a bibliophile and lover of both astronomy and history, this was a fantastic story of the worldwide search for copies of one of most important books ever written. Gingerich documents his travels and troubles across the world as he tracked down each copy. A passionate historian, the author also draws for the reader a unique view of the influence of De revolutionibus and the assorted characters who owned and were affected by it.

Again, I think this book likely appeals to a small niche audience, namely those interested in the history of science and/or the history of books. For those readers, however, this book is a fantastic treat and well worth a weekend read. Gingerich is a strong writer and clearly passionate about his lifelong pursuit of Copernicus's masterpiece. Peppered with many photographs of noteworthy annotations and editions, the author presents a wonderful exploration of the history of De revolutionibus. Four and one-half stars.