Customer Reviews

101 Things You Don't Know About Science and No One Else Does Either

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's fascinating to read this book just a few years after it was written and to see how things have changed in just that short period of time. It's essentially a snapshot of the state of science at the time, covering 101 open questions in three pages each. One wonders how much of it will need to be rewritten 25 or 50 or 100 years down the line.

The biggest short-term changes are in genetics: Trefil devotes one of his short chapters the Human Genome Project, then well underway and some years from completion. Now, of course, the "first draft" has been completed and geneticists are contemplating the next step. One obsolete fact has come out already: Trefil states that the human genome has about 80,000 genes when the HGP (and the private counterpart Celera) has discovered, surprisingly, that there are only 30,000.

Also, Trefil discusses the possibility of past or present life on Mars without mentioning the controversial Mars meteorite ALH84001, in which, some scientists claim, there are traces of life.

And the last chapter discusses the Y2K problem, then still looming on the horizon, now safely past (thanks to the hard work of many computer programmers, including me).

Other chapters, I think, will be much the same for many years: we still have a long way to go to understand consciousness, to figure out how life began, and to come up with a fundamental theory that covers all of basic physics, both relativity and quantum mechanics. Not surprisingly, all three of these Trefil puts in his "top ten" problems.

All in all, it's a fascinating read and a great bathroom book with its short chapters - for the nerds, at least.

This author tries to layout in terms normal people will understand 101 things that are important in science but that no one really understands. The author does this by using terminology any reasonably educated person would be familiar with. He also limits his explanations to 3 pages. This cuts down on too much overload. The book suffers from the author's own predictions of becoming dated because of new technologies and new discoveries but it is still relevant.

These are the topics covered:

The top ten problems in science:
1. Why is there something instead of nothing?
2. Is there a future for gene therapy?
3. Will we ever understand consciousness?
4. Why do we age?
5. How much of human behavior depends on genes?
6. How did life begin?
7. Can we monitor the living brain?
8. Are viruses going to get us all?
9. When will we have designer drugs?
10. Is there a theory of everything and can we afford to find it?

Other subject headlines are:

The physical sciences
Astronomy and cosmology
Earth and planetary sciences
Biology
Medicine
Evolution
Technology

Well, I liked the book. My partner bought it into me when I was in hospital for a couple of days and I found it to be absorbing and it kept my mind off the things that were going on around me. Trefil really made a great job of putting into plain simple language some very difficult concepts and ideas. A snapshot of science today, and it will be interesting to see in 10 years how much the list he has chosen has changed.

Having read Trefil's Are We Unique? A Scientist Explores the Unparalleled Intelligence of the Human Mind (1997) and his Human Nature: A Blueprint for Managing the Earth--by People, for People (2004) I was pleased to come across this volume published in 1996. Trefil is an engaging writer with a gift for making scientific ideas accessible to the general reader.

The "101 Things," which amount to 101 mini essays on scientific subjects, are organized into eight chapters ranging from the physical sciences through biology to technology. Trefil is by education a physicist and by inclination a science generalist.

He is also opinionated, which I think puts him one level above those writers who are loath to express an opinion for fear of being wrong or of offending some group or persons. Sometimes Trefil's opinions are surprising, most notably his view that the case for global warming as caused by human activities has not yet been made. Or when he opts for an earth that is managed for the benefit and convenience of humans beings with only secondary regard for preserving natural environments.

The first chapter is entitled "The Top Ten Problems in Science," the first of which is "Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing." This is really not a problem in science; this striking question more properly belongs in the realm of philosophy. At any rate, Trefil doesn't attempt to answer the question. Instead he writes about the origin of the universe, the Big Bang, about quantum uncertainty in which it is seen that the vacuum of space is not so vacuous as was once thought.

In most of the essays--which incidentally average around a tidy thousand words each--Trefil gives his view on how the problem will play out. In some cases however his conclusion is a bit fuzzy, as it is in the essay "Will We Ever Understand Consciousness?" (pp. 15-17)

First he doesn't define consciousness, which is often a major failing whenever the subject arises. He does say the "debate" is over what "it means for a human being...to think, to feel emotions, to have a subjective experience of the world." If this is the question of consciousness, then the question is one that will never be answered since it is hopelessly subjective. It is like trying to explain to someone who has been blind from birth what the color "red" looks like.

Usually consciousness is defined as awareness or self-awareness or as an identification with the self. It isn't just one question. The question of self-awareness is separate from the question of awareness of the external world and separate from the question of self-identity. Lumping them together as Trefil and many others do just confuses the issue. His answer ("My own guess is that consciousness will turn out to be an emergent property of complex systems") is one that I would agree with; but I wonder if Trefil really appreciates the implication of his answer when he hopes (against Francis Crick's view) that "human beings will be found to be something more than a 'vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.'" (p. 17) I wish he had speculated on what that "more" that might be. One senses that the mysterian in Trefil's soul is yearning to be out and about, but that Trefil's sense of (scientific) propriety is keeping him under lock and key. Maybe if and when Trefil writes his memoirs we'll know how he really feels.

By the way, speaking of fuzzy logic, there is an essay on the subject entitled "Where Next with Fuzzy Logic?" on page 324.

I also want to take issue with Trefil's statement that "only a relatively small range of values of phenomena like the gravitational force or electrical charge will allow the possibility of life." (p. 54) This idea (often found coupled with the so-called "anthropic principle") is really something like the "anthropic arrogant delusion." Life as we know it, of course, probably requires the familiar range of values; however, life in general, in the widest sense of the word, may exist in conditions we can't even imagine.

Despite some quibbles, Trefil's book is a most interesting and informative read, and although it is ten years old, much of what he writes is still relevant and at or near the cutting edge of the science in question.

Someone gave this book to me as a gift. I like the way it is organized into sections according to sub-categories in science, such as biology, physics, medicine, etc... Some sections are quite technical and take effort to envision, but other sections offer a great view much more complicated subjects like quantum mechanics. This book makes a great gift.

I've always been interested in science but I cringe at reading boring scientific papers.

James Trefil does a real service for the rest of us by digesting significant scientific advances into a small 330 page book.

What I especially like is how the author doesn't drone on and on; He breaks down the topics and even breaks down the topics to questions such as "How many other stars have planets?" Even the questions are answered in an informal manner that makes for engaging reading.

Excellent book for anyone interested in science.

This book is for people that like technology but don't have time to read every boring scientific paper.

The author has done this for us and come up with a cliff-notes on where lots of really big/interesting issues stand.

It's a really amazing book and I am here on the site looking to see if there is a new update yet. I hope the author keeps the book alive and current as it rocks. This is already the best book I have bought this year. I got it at the Air and Space museum in Washington D.C.

The book is a well written collection of 101 chapters, more of a reference book than a good read. Will go out of date relatively quickly. The things chosen make sense and each is well explained.

but they cant stop telling me about it. older book, so some information is now pretty common, however, great read and perfectly split "chapters" 4 page essays.

This is a great book for curious people. It asks a lot of questions and lays out what is known, what is yet unknown, and what maybe can't be known. I enjoyed reading it.

One of the most unusual aspects of the book is its position on global warming/climate change. The book was written 15 years ago, before the science was "settled," as they say. Trefil mentions things like urban heat islands and measuring problems, things that don't get much attention anymore. He lays out other forecasting problems, too.

It's great to read a book about the things that science simply DOES NOT KNOW. The book gives some answers, but in the end, that forthright statement - we don't know - is a refreshingly honest admission.