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Newly out is a book called “The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science” by Natalie Angier, a science writer for the New York Times.
In a review of the book, Steven Pinker, the noted professor of psychology at Harvard, says we live in a time when people — educated people — proudly proclaim their ignorance of scientific facts. Especially Americans. Our university math and science departments, as well as research labs, are being filled with foreign students. It is somehow thought that “science” is something to teach little children. After the age of thirteen, we direct our attention elsewhere.
Natalie Angier aims to correct this illiteracy. Her goal is to present the fundamentals of science: numbers and probability, matter and energy, the origins and structure of living things, the natural history of the cosmos. She has judged that these are the basics that every educated person should master, as well as a prerequisite to a genuine understanding of science-based newspaper reporting. She presents these matters as if they are worth knowing for their own sake; for their beauty.
In the first chapter, “Thinking Scientifically”, Angier makes the case for scientific literacy and portrays the mind-set of scientists. She lets us hear from a number of these interesting people. (”Most of the time,” says one, “when you get an amazing, counterintuitive result, it means you screwed up the experiment!”)
She conveys the idea that science is simply the attempt to understand the world (with the special concern that you won’t be saying things that aren’t true when you describe it).
Further chapters cover probability, large and small numbers, physics, chemistry, evolutionary and molecular biology, geology and astronomy. She stays clear, says Pinker, of cutting edge discoveries and controversies, and he says she avoids “peace and ecology” sermonizing (which he seems to find refreshing.) He notes that her material is properly up-to-date.
Her method of holding the reader’s interest involves verbal play, puns and analogies. Some of this may somewhat confuse and clutter the explanations. But she is never dull or obscure, and her explanations are anything but superficial. Her sensual descriptions leave the reader with images both vivid and useful. Without distorting or dumbing down, she conveys the real substance of all fields.
Says Pinker, “‘The Canon’ is an excellent introduction (or refresher) to the beautiful basics of science, and I hope it is widely read. It could make the country smarter.”
sole source: NYT Book Review by Steven Pinker on 5/27/07. “The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science” by Natalie Angier, is published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Steven Pinker is soon (9/07) to publish his 7th book, “The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature”.
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