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The Golem: What You Should Know About Science (Canto Classics) 2nd Edition

by Harry M. Collins (Author), Trevor Pinch (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-1107604650
ISBN-10: 1107604656
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  • The Golem: What You Should Know About Science (Canto Classics)
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Product Details

  • Series: Canto Classics
  • Paperback: 204 pages
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (March 30, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1107604656
  • ISBN-13: 978-1107604650
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #784,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsCase studies in science -- lucid, approachable, fascinating
By A Customer on February 23, 1999
Format: Paperback
Depending on your intentions, this book, and its companion volume The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology, could be indespensible. They comprise a number of case studies in contemporary (i.e. 20th century) scientific discoveries and controversies that can be read in any order. The studies are couched between an introduction and conclusion that express the authors' aims -- to show science in action as messy and controversial but nontheless a powerful means for generating knowledge. These slender volumes are ideally suited for a course in the history or philosophy of science.
By exploring how scientists actually conduct themselves and describing the scientific and extra-scientific stakes, the authors (two sociologists of science) dispel many scientific myths in a lucid, approachable style. Even with casual study, they can bolster scientific understanding. The books are of potentially special value to undergraduate and graduate students studying and doing science themselves. I'm tempted to say that if you're a young scientist, these books cannot fail to make you a better one. Even if you're not a scientist, and never intend to be one, these are fascinating stories.
Of course, many scientists have known for a long time what Collins and Pinch have tried to convey. J.B.Conant was such a scientist. His case studies, published in 1957, provide historical examples in the same mold as Collins and Pinch, who explicitly admit to having drawn inspiration from The Harvard Case Studies in Experimental Science edited by J.B.Conant
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4.0 out of 5 starsA must to understand the real nature of research
By Emilio De Luigi on December 15, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Somehow it may seem to have no clearly defined purpose, but in reality it achieves what is its main goal: make Science appear in all its laborious, sometimes hesitant, sometimes even confused pace. Which doesn't take away anything from Science, on the contrary is perfect in allowing us to understand how difficult research normally is.

I didn't give 5 stars because I would have like it to be a bit more rich of examples of the frequently tortuous itinerary of scientific research.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent and dangerous book
By Chuck Huff on May 24, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I teach a variety of classes using this text, and often assign individual case studies in tutorials. The point of this modest and infuriating text is to describe the social and evidential processes of science by looking at what they call "disputed science." This is in some ways parallel to looking at what T. Kuhn calls "revolutionary science" (since it is opposed to "normal" science). It is, of course, NOT looking at how everyday science happens (Try Bruno Latour's work for that, or Kuhn's). Opposing reviews are simply what one can expect for a book that enters this domain of disputed science

After they calm down from being angry or confused, my students learn from Collins & Pinch that they need to be thoughtful scientists, and that they cannot simply assume that good method will always save them. They are aware of the "experimenter's regress" -- the process of ever-lengthening methods sections and increased accusation in disputed science. They become aware of the ways that technology, methods, and social assumption shape the science they want to do.

The book will not teach them how to avoid or manage these things, that is the job of more mundane writing. But they are at least taught that science is critically important in our lives.

PS: Those tired of critical inquiry and its excesses can find solace in Latour's (2004) essay: Latour, Bruno. (2004) "Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern." Critical Inquiry, Vol. 30, No. 2., Winter 2004, pp. 225-248.

PPS: They have two more very useful books with Golem in the title: one on technology and one on medicine.
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3.0 out of 5 starsAnother shot from the sociologists in the science wars
By Eli Todd on January 2, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
While the stated goal of this book is to "tell the common person everything that they need to know about science", it would seem that this is a lie. This book is an attempt to portray science as not only arational but somewhat irrational. The authors cherry pick their case studies with no other reason than that they claim, with no justification given, that controversial science shows us all we need to know about science and the scientific method. At the same time the authors seem to berate scientists for cherry picking the results of their experiments to support the favored hypothesis. Throughout the book the authors use the methods that the decry in scientists to provide justification for their claims.

To get a better understanding of some of the concepts that the authors are trying to get across I would strongly recommend reading Thomas Kuhn's Structures of Scientific Revolutions. While only giving Structures of Scientific Revolutions a very brief nod, the authors attempt to show many of the concepts that Thomas Kuhn introduced, but they do it without the context of Kuhn, which leads to a grave misunderstanding of these concepts. It casts science in a light of relativism and irrationality, which is not the case. It is my belief that this is intentional on the part of the authors.

All that being said, if you have read Kuhn (and I recommend the book to anyone interested in the history of science) then there is something to be gained from the case studies in this book. Just keep in mind that there is a very real bias on the part of the authors, they use logical fallacies, and sometimes their examples for the exemplification of their points, when scrutinized, tend to prove the opposite of what they claim.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great!!!

Published 19 months ago by Robert Kaufman
4.0 out of 5 starsExposing Some of Science's Dirty Secrets

I read this book because of my professional interest in relativity (at least, the 'Special' theory). I was shocked to discover how Eddington fudged his famous observations. Read more

Published on May 21, 2014 by H. J. Spencer PhD, renegade-Physicist
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat for my classes and down time reading!

Great for my classes and down time reading! This book was just what I needed and had the correct information posted!

Published on January 29, 2014 by T. L. Canary
3.0 out of 5 starsNew set of eyes

I read this for a course in my Master's program. This book successfully challenged my assumptions about science and has given me a new set of more analytical eyes. Read more

Published on May 7, 2012 by lbeyer1217
2.0 out of 5 starsAndy Serkis' Golem is more convincing

Collins and Pinch think of themselves as cultural anthropologists, watching from the sidelines as scientists debate among themselves trying to understand the world, much as... Read more

Published on January 4, 2012 by David
5.0 out of 5 starsInteresting Book, Fast Shipping, Excellent Condition!!!

I was a little skeptical about ordering books online since the first one I order was sold as "new" but had highlighting all through the book. Read more

Published on April 5, 2011 by T. Bowman
1.0 out of 5 starsA Golem built on sand

Another book in the sociology of science and science and technology studies genre that tries to throw into question scientific methods or rational reconstructions of various... Read more

Published on May 21, 2001 by Keith
3.0 out of 5 starsThe "Scientific Principle"

"The Golem: What You Should Know About Science" by Collins and Pinch can be recommended to any present and future scientist. Read more

Published on January 14, 2001 by Hasenpapa
1.0 out of 5 starsinteresting but ultimatly pointless

This book is very interesting and would be very valuable if it had stayed with criticism of the History of Science and how it's presented in text books. Read more

Published on May 31, 2000

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