The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing
- Authors:
- Richard Dawkins (editor), Alan Turing, Albert Einstein, Alister Hardy, Arthur Eddington, Barbara Gamow, Brian Greene, C. P. Snow, Carl Sagan, Claude E. Shannon, Colin Blakemore, D'Arcy Thompson, Daniel Dennett, David Deutsch, David Lack, Donald C. Johanson, Douglas Hofstadter, Edward O. Wilson, Ernst Mayr, Erwin Schrödinger, Francis Crick, Fred Hoyle, Freeman Dyson, G. G. Simpson, G. H. Hardy, Garrett Hardin, George C. Williams, George Gamow, Helena Cronin, Ian Stewart, J. B. S. Haldane, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Jacob Bronowski, James Jeans, James Watson, Jared Diamond, John Archibald Wheeler, John Maynard Smith, John Tyler Bonner, Jonathan Kingdon, Julian Huxley, Lancelot Hogben, Lee Smolin, Lewis Thomas, Lewis Wolpert, Loren Eiseley, Maitland A. Edey, Mark Ridley, Martin Gardner, Martin Rees, Matt Ridley, Max F. Perutz, Nicholas Humphrey, Niko Tinbergen, Oliver Sacks, Paul Davies, Per Bak, Peter Atkins, Peter Medawar, Primo Levi, R. A. Fisher, Rachel Carson, Richard Feynman, Richard Fortey, Richard Gregory, Richard Leakey, Robert Trivers, Roger Lewin, Roger Penrose, Russell Stannard, S. Chandrasekhar, Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Steve Jones, Steven Pinker, Steven Weinberg, Sydney Brenner, Theodosius Dobzhansky, W. D. Hamilton and Warren Weaver
- Language:
- English
- Original language:
- English
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Synopsis:
This is an anthology book of post-1900 science writings (essays, anecdotes, poetry) written by working scientists, as opposed to written by non-scientists, and it is supremely excellent. Richard Dawkins has collected them, sorted them, and written introductions to each of them, which put them in context.
- Review:
I liked this book so much that I transcribed a few of these and put them on my Essays page ("On Being the Right Size", "One Self", an extract from Man in the Universe, "Seven Wonders", and an extract from The Periodic Table); you could read those if you want a short taste of what the book is about. I strongly recommend this book.
- Has read?
- Yes
- Table of Contents:
- [Toggle visibility]
- Featured Writers and Extracts
- Introduction
PART I
What Scientists Study- James Jeans from The Mysterious Universe
- Martin Rees from Just Six Numbers
- Peter Atkins from Creation Revisited
- Helena Cronin from The Ant and the Peacock
- R. A. Fisher from The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
- Theodosius Dobzhansky from Mankind Evolving
- G. C. Williams from Adaptation and Natural Selection
- Francis Crick from Life Itself
- Matt Ridley from Genome
- Sydney Brenner Theoretical Biology in the Third Millennium
- Steve Jones from The Language of the Genes
- J. B. S. Haldane from On Being the Right Size
- Mark Ridley from The Explanation of Organic Diversity
- John Maynard Smith The Importance of the Nervous System in the Evolution of Animal Flight
- Fred Hoyle from Man in the Universe
- D'Arcy Thompson from On Growth and Form
- G. G. Simpson from The Meaning of Evolution
- Richard Fortey from Trilobite!
- Colin Blakemore from The Mind Machine
- Richard Gregory from Mirrors In Mind
- Nicholas Humphrey One Self: A Meditation on the Unity of Consciousness
- Steven Pinker from The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works
- Jared Diamond from The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee
- David Lack from The Life of the Robin
- Niko Tinbergen from Curious Naturalists
- Robert Trivers from Social Evolution
- Alister Hardy from The Open Sea
- Rachel Carson from The Sea Around Us
- Loren Eiseley from How Flowers Changed the World
- Edward O. Wilson from The Diversity of Life
PART II
Who Scientists Are- Arthur Eddington from The Expanding Universe
- C. P. Snow from the Foreword to G. H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology
- Freeman Dyson from Disturbing the Universe
- J. Robert Oppenheimer from War and the Nations
- Max F. Perutz A Passion for Crystals
- Barbara and George Gamow Said Ryle to Hoyle
- J. B. S. Haldane Cancer's a Funny Thing
- Jacob Bronowski from The Identity of Man
- Peter Medawar from Science and Literature, Darwin's Illness, The Phenomenon of Man, the postscript to Lucky Jim, and D'Arcy Thompson and Growth and Form
- Jonathan Kingdon from Self-Made Man
- Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin from Origins Reconsidered
- Donald C. Johanson and Maitland A. Edey from Lucy
- Stephen Jay Gould Worm for a Century, and all Seasons
- John Tyler Bonner from Life Cycles
- Oliver Sacks from Uncle Tungsten
- Lewis Thomas Seven Wonders
- James Watson from Avoid Boring People
- Francis Crick from What Mad Pursuit
- Lewis Wolpert from The Unnatural Nature of Science
- Julian Huxley from Essays of a Biologist
- Albert Einstein Religion and Science
- Carl Sagan from The Demon-Haunted World
PART III
What Scientists Think- Richard Feynman from The Character of Physical Law
- Erwin Schrödinger from What is Life?
- Daniel Dennett from Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Consciousness Explained
- Ernst Mayr from The Growth of Biological Thought
- Garrett Hardin from The Tragedy of the Commons
- W. D. Hamilton from Geometry For the Selfish Herd and Narrow Roads of Geneland
- Per Bak from How Nature Works
- Martin Gardner The Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's New Solitaire Game 'Life'
- Lancelot Hogben from Mathematics for the Million
- Ian Stewart from The Miraculous Jar
- Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver from The Mathematical Theory of Communication
- Alan Turing from Computing Machinery and Intelligence
- Albert Einstein from What is the Theory of Relativity?
- George Gamow from Mr. Tompkins
- Paul Davies from The Goldilocks Enigma
- Russell Stannard from The Time and Space of Uncle Albert
- Brian Greene from The Elegant Universe
- Stephen Hawking from A Brief History of Time
PART IV
What Scientists Delight In- S. Chandrasekhar from Truth and Beauty
- G. H. Hardy from A Mathematician's Apology
- Steven Weinberg from Dreams of a Final Theory
- Lee Smolin from The Life of the Cosmos
- Roger Penrose from The Emperor's New Mind
- Douglas Hofstadter from Gödel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid
- John Archibald Wheeler with Kenneth Ford from Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam
- David Deutsch from The Fabric of Reality
- Primo Levi from The Periodic Table
- Richard Fortey from Life: An Unauthorized Biography
- George Gaylord Simpson from The Meaning of Evolution
- Loren Eiseley from Little Men and Flying Saucers
- Carl Sagan from Pale Blue Dot
- Acknowledgements
- Index