The Golem, Second Edition: What You Should Know About Science (Canto Classics)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 2, 3/29/2012
EAN 9781107604650, ISBN10: 1107604656
Paperback, 214 pages, 21.6 x 14 x 1.2 cm
Language: English
Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch liken science to the Golem, a creature from Jewish mythology, powerful yet potentially dangerous, a gentle, helpful creature that may yet run amok at any moment. Through a series of intriguing case studies the authors debunk the traditional view that science is the straightforward result of competent theorisation, observation and experimentation. The very well-received first edition generated much debate, reflected in a substantial new Afterword in this second edition, which seeks to place the book in what have become known as 'the science wars'.
Introduction
the Golem
1. Edible knowledge
the chemical transfer of memory
2. Two experiments that 'proved' the theory of relativity
3. The sun in a test tube
the story of cold fusion
4. The germs of dissent
Louis Pasteur and the origins of life
5. A new window on the universe
the non-detection of gravitational radiation
6. The sex life of the whiptail lizard
7. Set the controls for the heart of the sun
the strange story of the missing solar neutrinos
Conclusion
putting the Golem to work
Afterword
References and further reading
Index.
'… it succeeds extraordinarily well in this task of portraying and assessing the real fabric of scientific research, based on the insights of modern scholarship.' Bernard Dixon, former Editor, New Scientist