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Product Details
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (April 23, 2012)
Stuart Firestein is a professor of Neurobiology and a researcher. At one point he realized that he loved doing research and coming up with new things to research and questions to ask. But when he taught his upper level undergrads about Neurobiology he tended to focus not on the questions and what was unknown and where the science was going, but on the facts.
He realized that this gave students the impression that what was important was gaining a foothold in the facts so that they could grasp the concepts of the field. But what he needed to be teaching them was not the facts (although they did need basic information and concepts that were important), he needed to be teaching them wonder and sparking the creative ideas of his students and helping them understand that no matter how much we will learn, that the very fact of learning opens up new areas of ignorance so that there will never be a point when science has solved all the questions of particular field.
The book is split into two large sections, the first is a description of what Ignorance is all about. Eventually, Firestein started teaching a class on ignorance. He would bring in prominent scientists in their field and talk about what was unknown, what areas were driving their research, what things that scientist would love to know, but can’t because of limitations of equipment or observation. Essentially, the scientists talked about all the areas of their field that they were ignorant of and how that was driving their science.
Firestein is not promoting a type of irrational ignorance (stupidity) but a view of the world that is curious, a rational ignorance that knows that the more you know about something the more there is to know.Read more ›
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One of the most important skills a scientist can have and nurture? Ability to ask good questions and to evaluate which questions to pursue - there are so many! When you do this, you are admitting ignorance and you are actively expanding your own knowledge through conversations, experiments, models, and so on. Most of these explorations will lead you to dead-ends, but that's the way it works - you learn something new with each hypothesis, even if its just the fact that it doesn't work. Rinse, lather, and repeat!
The problem is, somehow ignorance acquired a "bad rep" and that's precisely the misconception that Stuart Firestein addresses in this book: if you want to succeed, you need to embrace ignorance - that's how science works! In fact, it's not just science: that's how new products are developed, companies are built, and all new discoveries are made. In short, ignorance drives progress!
Fantastic book and I wish that every university and school taught this to every student... Instead of focusing all of our efforts on rote memorization and standardized tests.
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I used this book as a text in senior seminar I taught in Sociology. It's not a sociological book. It's much more focused on the natural sciences, but it does offer great insights into how science is done.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
For years, I've said in my own classes that "knowledge is a 'waste product' of science"--once the paper is written it goes on the shelf and becomes part of the past. We're on to the next question. This book captures that idea eloquently and engagingly to explain what moves science and motivates scientists. It is beautifully written and develops the points to highlight their implications for society at large.
I loved that the book was short and pithy--Dr. Firestein took the time to write the short letter, and to collapse the arguments and stories down to their essence. He illustrates the fascination of science, its challenge, its compulsion, and its joy in a way no other book I have ever seen comes close.
I've been a scientist for 30 years, and this book says things I've known and understood for most of that career, but says it in a way that is fresh and novel. Even for me, its a rejuvenating reminder of why I went into science. A useful reminder when most of the day can get caught up in meetings and business instead of 'real' science.
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Fresh approach to how the average non-scientist might view scientific inquiry, it's value and it's requirements. Readable, interesting, informative. Recommended regardless of scientific background.
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Very smart book. It plays a paradox, as it suggests a kind of “smart ignorance” – science progress depends upon this modesty, because scientific knowledge never is completed; it is far more productive in questioning, than in answering. In text books we have complete, fixed, dead knowledge, without controversies and dark sides, where scientists are disembodied angels and content indisputable. Firestein makes a brave provocation to positivism in science, showing that students learn science better, if they start questioning science. The coherence of critic lies in selfcritic…
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Business professionals master the known whereas scientists relish the unknown. Their aim is not to further boundaries of available knowledge, but rather to question and even ignore known boundaries (and its contained content) and then explore both within and beyond. To do so, their ultimate quest is for the ultimate question that reveals not only a new perspective, but also new questions. 5 Stars
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