The End Of Science: Facing The Limits Of Knowledge In The Twilight Of The Scientific Age Reprint Edition

by John Horgan (Author)

72 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0553061741

ISBN-10: 0553061747

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In a series of interviews with luminaries of modern science, Scientific American senior editor John Horgan conducted a guided tour of the scientific world and where it might be headed in The End of Science. The book, which generated great controversy and became a bestseller, now appears in paperback with a new afterword by the author. Through a series of essays in which he visits with such figures as Roger Penrose, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, and others, Horgan captures the distinct personalities of his subjects while investigating whether science may indeed be reaching its end. While this book is in no way dumbed down, it is accessible and can take the general reader to the outer edges of scientific exploration.

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"John Horgan buttonholes the most interesting scientists on the planet--he listens, he argues, he thinks. He has an exceedingly accurate instinct for the side of science that isn't published in journals or taught in schools, and it's a privilege to be able to follow along as he peers behind the curtain."
--James Gleick, author of Chaos

"[In this] intellectually bracing, sweepingly reported, often brilliant and sometimes bullying book, John Horgan makes the powerful case that the best and most exciting scientific discoveries are behind us."
--New York Times Book Review, front page review

"...an unauthorized biography of science."
--The Associated Press

"Hugely entertaining, certain to create controversy."
--E.O. Wilson

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Product details

Paperback: 322 pages
Publisher: Broadway Books; Reprint edition (May 5, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553061747
ISBN-13: 978-0553061741
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 72 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,245,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14584 in History & Philosophy of Science
- #72172 in Science & Mathematics
- #94239 in Philosophy (Books)

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Alpha Romeo

A sequence of interviews

August 15, 2019

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The book is a sequence of interview summaries with various influential scientists and philosophers, grouped by research area. You won't find much in the way of graphs, citations of technical papers, or discussion of how science is done, but if you want physical descriptions of the interviewees, estimations of their emotional state, and (sometimes) guesses as to what they meant by their words, this is the book for you.

2 people found this helpful

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limelight

Don't Let the Title Fool You

December 20, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

While most reviewers focus on the argument of whether science may be coming to an end, which is suggested by the title of this book, the actual content of the book is not so much about this. Instead, Mr. Horgan spends his time searching through various different scientific endeavors on a quest for some kind of spiritual fulfillment and the search for "The Answer", which he defines as "a truth so potent that it quenches our curiosity once and for all time".

Once past the book's introduction, interestingly entitled "Searching for The Answer", the author begins to present his argument that science may continue in the sense of further advancements in technology, but that it holds no more prospect for providing us with any grand, revolutionary ideals. While not spelled out explicitly, Mr. Horgan implies that this means some kind of knowledge that will deepen our understanding of the universe in the sense of bringing us closer to knowing the meaning of life or existence.

The most bizarre, and perhaps revealing, part of the book is the epilogue. Here, Mr. Horgan describes his experience of "lying spread-eagled on a suburban lawn" while experiencing some kind of psychotic episode where he hurtled through "a dark limbo toward what I was sure was the ultimate secret of life" and perceiving himself to be the only consciousness in the universe who imagined all things into existence.

The abrupt way that he launches into this story, with no explanation whatsoever of how he came to be lying in the middle of someone's yard, is strange and the whole thing seems eerily suggestive of an LSD induced trip. For what it's worth, Horgan previously comments about asking Frank Tipler if he had ever used LSD during their conversation about "the Omega Point" and whether machines may one day transform the universe into a single, giant information-processing device.

After relating this strange incident, Horgan then explains that it led him to believe that he had discovered the secret of existence, namely that God's own fear of death causes him to create other beings (people, etc.) as some kind of distraction from his mortality and singularity of being, which he dubs the "terror-of-God" idea. Just to reiterate: Horgan's idea is that God is terrified by the thought that he alone is the single consciousness of the universe and that, if he were to die, all consciousness and hence all things would cease to exist and that God therefore orchestrates other things as a distraction from his fear. Furthermore, all of this stems from some kind of psychedelic event in which Mr. Horgan experienced these feelings during a hallucination while lying in the middle of someone's yard.

This edition of the book includes an addendum that the author wrote in 1997 to reflect on the book's reception and to tie up loose ends. He concludes by writing, "Let me be completely frank here. My real purpose in writing The End of Science was to found a new religion, `The Church of the Holy Horror'". While I generally regard this to be some attempt at deadpan humor, it is not immediately evident that Mr. Horgan is in fact joking.

Overall, I would say the book is worth reading due to the interesting conversations with various scientists that comprise the bulk of it. However, one should be aware of the ultimate point that Mr. Horgan is getting at, which can be lost in the details of his argument.

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Book_Reader

It is even more interesting to read now

December 15, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I cannot agree with some judgements. Author is not a scientist so, at times his critic of science goes down to senator's level but in most cases it is well reasoned. The book is actually classic. I suspect it is even more interesting to read now - several decades after this book was written.

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Amazon Customer

Excellent book. Finally some closure.

June 3, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a great book. I do believe Mr. Horgan hit the nail right on the head with this one. If you are as fed up as I am with hearing people talk about "in the future" we will do this, have this, know this, and be able to do this (insert any ridiculous idea, like scan ourselves into a computer and live in virtual reality worlds forever) all because of advances in science, then this is the book for you.

Science has limits. There is no "The Answer" to any of it. Science cannot help us see smaller things or look further into space than what we have now. And even if we could, it would change nothing.

Thank you Mr. Horgan for writing a wonderful book and saying what needed to be said.

3 people found this helpful

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William Suchecki

Five Stars

March 8, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Received item in excellent condition.

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A general reader

Reading the final chapter puts the book in context

January 19, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Given some of the rave reviews and the so-called "interviews" in this book, I thought this might be an interesting read.

I think enough has been said about the style of the book - if you care about the color of shirts of any particular scientist, this might be an interesting read. But content-wise, it is empty. For example, the chapter on evolutionary biology is meaningless - it's entitled "the end of evolutionary biology" but there is no evidence to suggest that this is so. The same with "the end of sociobiology".

In the final chapter, the author describes a mystical experience he has had which seemed to have shaped his thinking profoundly, and in that chapter, the word "God" appears probably around 100 times. Fair enough, but it would have given me an idea where the author is coming from if I had known this before. A couple of examples from the last chapter:

"Our plight is God's plight."

"The world is a riddle that God has created in order to shield himself from his terrible solitude and fear of death".

"One glances at an astrology column now and then, or wonders if maybe there really is something to all those reports about people having sex with alien."

I'm not interested in ad hominem attacks in general. But it seems to me that the author is not neutrally reporting on the subject, as I wish he had, but is rather trying to justify his own world view. Unfortunately, this was a complete waste of time for me.

30 people found this helpful

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Stefan Topolski

true state of our ignorance

November 27, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

it relates our current state of knowledge in the sciences - accurate and timely - limited only by some name dropping and a bit of rambling in the stories... a little more editing never hurt any of us aspiring writers.

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chung hsieh

Five Stars

August 27, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

excellent!

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The End Of Science: Facing The Limits Of Knowledge In The Twilight Of The Scientific Age Reprint Edition