The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age - Hardcover

Horgan, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316640522 ISBN 13: 9780316640527

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company, 1997

Synopsis

As a writer for "Scientific American", the author is regularly afforded the opportunity of interviewing comtemporary scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Hawking and Noam Chomsky. In this work, he discusses with them whether all the big scientific questions have been answered and all the knowledge worth knowing become known. Will there eventually be a "theory of everything" that signals the end? In a time where scientific rationality is under fire from many quarters, Horgan provides an overview of current scientific enterprise as he discusses God, Star Trek, superstrings, quarks, consciousness and many other topics.

About this title

Review

In a series of interviews with luminaries of modern science, Scientific American senior editor John Horgan conducts 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.

Review

E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
"Hugely entertaining."
"Washington Post Book World"
"In this wonderful, provocative book.... Horgan's approach is to take us along while he buttonholes several dozen of earth's crankiest, most opinionated, most exasperating scientists to get their views on where science is and where it's going.... They all come to life in Horgan's narrative."
"Associated Press"
"An unauthorized biography of science."
"Business Week"
"A deft wordsmith and keen observer, Horgan offers lucid expositions of everything from superstring theory and Thomas Kuhn's analysis of scientific revolutions to the origin of life and sociobiology."
E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
Hugely entertaining.
"Washington Post Book World"
In this wonderful, provocative book.... Horgan s approach is to take us along while he buttonholes several dozen of earth s crankiest, most opinionated, most exasperating scientists to get their views on where science is and where it s going.... They all come to life in Horgan s narrative.
"Associated Press"
An unauthorized biography of science.
"Business Week"
A deft wordsmith and keen observer, Horgan offers lucid expositions of everything from superstring theory and Thomas Kuhn s analysis of scientific revolutions to the origin of life and sociobiology.
"

E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
Hugely entertaining.
Washington Post Book World
In this wonderful, provocative book.... Horgan's approach is to take us along while he buttonholes several dozen of earth's crankiest, most opinionated, most exasperating scientists to get their views on where science is and where it's going.... They all come to life in Horgan's narrative.
Associated Press
An unauthorized biography of science.
Business Week
A deft wordsmith and keen observer, Horgan offers lucid expositions of everything from superstring theory and Thomas Kuhn's analysis of scientific revolutions to the origin of life and sociobiology.
"

E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
"Hugely entertaining."

Washington Post Book World
"In this wonderful, provocative book.... Horgan's approach is to take us along while he buttonholes several dozen of earth's crankiest, most opinionated, most exasperating scientists to get their views on where science is and where it's going.... They all come to life in Horgan's narrative."

Associated Press
"An unauthorized biography of science."

Business Week
"A deft wordsmith and keen observer, Horgan offers lucid expositions of everything from superstring theory and Thomas Kuhn's analysis of scientific revolutions to the origin of life and sociobiology."

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316640522
• ISBN 13: 9780316640527
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 334