The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare (Modern Library Science) [Paperback]

Henri Poincare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001 | Series: Modern Library Science

More than any other writer of the twentieth century, Henri Poincaré brought the elegant, but often complicated, ideas about science and mathematics to the general reader. A genius who throughout his life solved complex mathematical calculations in his head, and a writer gifted with an inimitable style, Poincaré rose to the challenge of interpreting the philosophy of science to scientists and nonscientists alike. His lucid and welcoming prose made him the Carl Sagan of his time. This volume collects his three most important books: Science and Hypothesis (1903); The Value of Science (1905); and Science and Method (1908).

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

More than any other writer of the twentieth century, Henri Poincaré brought the elegant, but often complicated, ideas about science and mathematics to the general reader. A genius who throughout his life solved complex mathematical calculations in his head, and a writer gifted with an inimitable style, Poincaré rose to the challenge of interpreting the philosophy of science to scientists and nonscientists alike. His lucid and welcoming prose made him the Carl Sagan of his time. This volume collects his three most important books: Science and Hypothesis (1903); The Value of Science (1905); and Science and Method (1908).

About the Author

Henri Poincaré was born in Nancy, France, in 1854. He joined the University of Paris in 1881 and lectured and wrote extensively on mathematics, experimental physics, and astronomy. His books have been translated into dozens of languages. In 1908, he was elected to membership in the Academie Française, the highest honor that can be accorded a French writer. He died in 1912.

Stephen Jay Gould is the Alexander Agassiz professor of zoology and professor of geology at Harvard and the Vincent Astor visiting professor of biology at New York University. Recent books include Full House, Dinosaur in a Haystack, and Questioning the Millennium. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York City.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375758488
• ISBN-13: 978-0375758485
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.4 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book By A Great Man, October 26, 2001

By 

Laurens Gunnarsen (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare (Modern Library Science) (Paperback)

Some historical figures are known to all cultured persons. Leo
Tolstoy, Johannes Brahms, Vincent Van Gogh -- these are names of
which most of us would be embarrassed to be ignorant. On the
other hand, few of us would think to add the name of Jules Henri
Poincare to this list; and yet, if we did, it would tower over
all the rest. For Poincare was a mathematician of the very
highest rank, an astonishingly fertile creative genius whose
prescient insight and technical mastery utterly transformed the
art to which he devoted his life. Among his predecessors in the
three-thousand-year history of mathematics, only Archimedes,
Newton, Euler, and Gauss can be said to have equalled or
exceeded him. By any standard, Poincare was one of the truly
great.

If for no other reason than this, THE VALUE OF SCIENCE is well
worth reading. It is, after all, quite rare to find a book that
collects the thoughts of one of the very few genuinely profound
intellects in human history. But what makes THE VALUE OF
SCIENCE truly wonderful is that it is not merely worth reading:
it is, in fact, a joy to read. For in addition to his uncanny
mathematical gifts, Poincare had the knack of expressing
himself beautifully in writing. Even in translation, his prose
has an admirable lucidity and grace, and his aphoristic style
often makes him highly quotable. When he speaks of mathematical
creation, as he does in a celebrated essay of that name, he
offers general readers a fascinating glimpse into the depths
of his own extraordinary mind at the peak of its imaginative
frenzy; his (scrupulously non-technical) account of one of his
greatest mathematical discoveries supplies an unforgettable
intellectual thrill, a sort of electric shock for the soul. For
anyone interested in the psychology of creation, this is simply
irresistible stuff.

A final brief caveat: although Poincare was clearly the greatest
mathematician of his time, he was not the greatest physicist. A
curious wrong-headedness kept him from beating Albert Einstein
to the creation of special relativity, and general relativity
eventually proved Poincare wrong in some of his opinions on the
relation between physics and geometry. So when Poincare speaks
of physics, bear in mind that some of his positions no longer
seem really tenable.

But this is no reason not to read every word of THE VALUE OF
SCIENCE. It's a marvelous book, and its author was a marvelous
man. Get to know them both. You'll be glad you did.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn and have fun reading "THE VALUE OF SCIENCE", December 29, 2004

By 

C. A. Lopes (Marialva, Brasil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare (Modern Library Science) (Paperback)

In a first reading of "THE VALUE OF SCIENCE", it may look like that Poincaré works' main contribution was to expose the science in XIX. But looking further the surface, you can realize his great influence in the work of important scientists from the last century (i.e. Einstein, Heisenberg and Bohr, for instance). In "THE VALUE OF SCIENCE" and "SCIENCE AND HYPOTHESIS" there are lots of insights about Relativity, Uncertainty Principle, Correspondence Principle, Mathematics Incompleteness, etc. If in one hand we have that Poincaré approached lots of genius questions and his answers are no longer seen as right, on the other hand, as himself have said, some mathematicians let themselves be guided by intuition, making some quick achievements, even insecure ones, as if they are daring knights in the front line.

Poincaré is not just the greatest science philosopher of all times ever and an outstanding genius as a mathematician and a mathematical physicist, he was also elected to the Académie Francaise in 1909, what is a proof that reading "THE VALUE OF SCIENCE" is a delighted and funny duty.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly readable science and math book, November 16, 2008

By 

David Dare (Newport, RI USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare (Modern Library Science) (Paperback)

How many books on science and math have you read and said: "I just couldn't put it down. It made me dwell on many of the things that I take for granted and it challenged or even changed some of my views"? I cannot think of many, but this comes immediately to mind as do some of Mr. Gould's books. Although not an elementary or introductory text (from a 21st century perspective) of the scientific method, it is a very eloquent discourse in the pitfalls of its application (or mis-application).