16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much needed overview; often sparkling, and often succeeds !, March 30, 2001
This review is from: The Ascent of Science (Paperback)
This is a beautifully written, entertaining, and educational tour of the history of ideas of modern science. It seems to have been a serious attempt to provide a single relatively encyclopedic overview of the concepts central to our modern exploration of nature, in a cohesive intellectual framework, and thus tell "the story of science."
In an ending chapter called "What the Devil Does It All Mean ?" the author remarks, "Most of the main concepts of modern science are familiar to the man in the street as the language of the Aztecs." In an age when it is becoming more important than ever to be making informed decisions about our most powerful tools and how they are to be used, scientific ignorance is surprisingly the rule, and attitudes toward science are in general rarely either balanced or informed.
Silver addreses this book to the education of "HMS," his abbreviation throughout for "l'homme moyen sensuel," or "the sensual average man," the usual person-in-the-street, but with their hormones and passions intact. As Silver describes his intended audience, they are curious, but remember little or nothing of the math and science they learned in school. They are suspicious of jargon, are worried about the future of the planet, are more streetwise than the average scientist, and may enjoy a glass of single-malt whiskey at the end of the day.
This is a truly excellent book introducing modern science, in a very gut-level way, in its dual role as both a compendium of cultural knowledge and a powerful philosophy of nature. Silver is a superb writer and covers a lot of relevant intellectual history in a very readable and entertaining way. As the Kirkus Review aptly put it, the author speaks with a confident air about most topics, but rarely seems arrogant. The result is a tone that most often leaves you feeling informed adn hungry for more rather than confused or intimidated.
Some of the chapters, such as those on philosophy of science, fairly sparkle with simplicity and brilliance in making very complex ideas and their authors accessible for the general reader. Others, like the story of the eccentric musings of geneticist J.B.S. Haldane one day in his office, lend a certain air of reality to the theorists and their ideas to balance the usual reverence afforded them. The author is also generous with examples of the relevant views of cultural figures like the poets Alfred Tennyson and Matthew Arnold, and how they responded to the ideas in the theory of evolution and its implications for religion. The author concludes his section, "The Descent of Man" by saying, "We have evolved from the living world, and one of the gifts that Darwin gave us was to place us in that world, not as conquerors with spoils but as inheritors with responsibilities."
This is a book that can help virtually any non-specialist appreciate what the deal is with science and why it is held with such reverence in most of the modern world. The major scientific ideas aren't merely described, they are put into perspective as to where they came from and why they caught on when they did, as well as where they retain important weaknesses and the all-important potential for change when we make unexpected new observations.
This book takes on a wondrous and much needed mandate, to place scientific knowledge into perspective in the modern world and educate us in its ways. Unfortunately, this does seems to be a bit too ambitious a task, because as good as this book is it does seem to have a few errors when the author wanders farthest afield from his areas of personal expertise (though those areas he is skilled with appear remarkably many and broad). There also seem to be a number of minor inaccuracies, or at least debateable points, and a few confused (or at least confusing) sections. In general, however, the the author does a good job pointing out where a subject is simply too complex to do justice to in a non-mathematical non-specialist book, or where he just doesn't grasp the topic well enough to cover it as well as he does in most sections.
As potent an advocate for science and enemy of anti-science as the author seems to be throughout this book, he does provide a helpful balance and seems to keep in mind the uncharacteristically modest quote from Laplace that begins the Preface: "That which we know is a little thing; that which we do not know is immense."
Sadly, the author died in 1997, just before this book went into publication. He left a very admirable legacy with this book.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you've come this far don't stop!, April 21, 2004
This review is from: The Ascent of Science (Paperback)
This is by far one of the best books I have ever read when it comes to popular science. I started with books like "A Brief History of Time", "Hyperspace", "The Elegant Universe", "What Evolution is", "The Red Queen" and so forth. I stumbled onto this book accidently on Amazon and when I got it in the mail and opened it up I said, "Oh my gosh - it's a text book". Well first of all looks are deceiving. I sat down and read it and let me tell you it truly was an adventure. If you read philosophy as well you will embrace it even more so. It puts things in perspective and will make reading any other popular science book or work of philosophy a greater experience. This book is a hidden treasure. I know this is a personal rewiew, but trust what the other reviewers say ... they are right.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative, Intelligent, Interesting, February 3, 2000
I liked the book. In some chapters the science and its great personalities really come alive. Silver's high level of intelligence comes through quickly and forcefully, and he shows himself to be a rational, thoughtful person--also someone who is astute and realistic. He has compassion and a sense of humor; his irony is sharp but appropriate--he does not come across as a condescending high-brow academic.
All this said, the book is not without its challenges. Some chapters could have been presented in a much more interesting fashion. This is true, for example of the chapters on chaos theory and relativity. There is something else. This book contains, especially in its first half, a muffled protest and anger against religion. Not everyone may have noticed that: Silver was trying to be measured and objective, but his numerous examples of abuses and mistakes perpetrated by religious officials and the context in which these examples are used say a lot for those who can listen. In the second half of the book, these hits on the head of religion practically disappear, but Silver the person comes through a little bit too strongly for a book that is supposed to be about the rise of science. Although I believe he was a very good and intelligent man, he gives us too much of himself for this particular type of book. There are some minor points as well: for example, I am certain he misinterpreted Bertand Russell's criticism of Pragmatism. Overall, if you are interested in many different areas of science and curious about how they have emerged, buy this book.
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