The Shape of Wonder: How Scientists Think, Work, and Live
Language: English
Published by Pantheon, 2025
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Half Price Books Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.Half Price Books Inc.
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Condition: Used - Very good
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- Title
- The Shape of Wonder: How Scientists Think, Work, and Live
- Author
- Lightman, Alan,Rees, Martin
- Publisher
- Pantheon
- Publication year
- 2025
- Condition
- Very Good
- Binding
- hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0593702026
- ISBN 13
- 9780593702024
In this captivating, insightful book, acclaimed physicists Alan Lightman and Martin Rees illuminate the life and work of numerous scientists in order to demystify the scientific process and show that scientists are concerned citizens, just like the rest of us.
“Remarkable. . . . Illuminating with refreshing clarity the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary work of scientists. This book is essential reading." —Jennifer Ackerman, bestselling author of What an Owl Knows
In an age of rapid scientific discovery and technological advancement, it’s understandable that many feel uneasy about the future. While we might have confidence in these new developments when we go to the hospital for a medical procedure, fly in an airplane, or take an elevator to the top floor of a building, the motivations and lives of scientists themselves feel shrouded from public view. There is a growing sense that scientists are not to be trusted—that they may be guided by political or financial interests, or beholden to governments, or state institutions.
This growing mistrust of scientists is an urgent problem. With the onset of climate change, the imminent threats of pandemic or nuclear war, and rapid acceleration in the fields of artificial intelligence and DNA sequencing, innovations in science have the potential to change the world. It’s crucial that we not only gain a better understanding of science as a field, but also reestablish trust with its practitioners.
The Shape of Wonder guides us through the fascinating lives and minds of scientists around the world and throughout time, from a young theoretical physicist who works as a research assistant professor at the University of Washington and rock climbs in their free time; to German physicist Werner Heisenberg in his early life, when he was a student of music and philosophy; to Govind Swarup, an Indian astronomer whose work on radio telescopes was profoundly important. We get an inside peek at what makes scientists tick—their daily lives, passions, and concerns about the societies they live in.
In this brilliant and elucidative work, Lightman and Rees pull back the curtain on the field of science, revealing that scientists are driven by the same sense of curiosity, wonder, and responsibility towards the future that shapes us all.
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About the Author
MARTIN REES is the UK's Astronomer Royal. He is based at Cambridge University where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College. He is a member of the House of Lords, a former President of the Royal Society, and co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University (CSER). His research interests include space exploration, black holes, galaxy formation, the multiverse and prospects for extraterrestrial life. He has written ten books, most recently On the Future: Prospects for Humanity.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Half Price Books Inc.
Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since September 15, 2017
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