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正在检索... Science | Book | 500 B783T, 1995 | 1 | Stacks | 正在检索... 未知 | 正在检索... 不可借阅 |
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评论 (5)
出版社周刊评论
This set of conversational essays, distilled from interviews with 23 leading scientists, presents an engaging, unparalleled road map to the frontiers of research and speculation in evolutionary biology, genetics, artificial intelligence, psychology and physics. Biologist Stephen Jay Gould argues provocatively that evolution harbors no inevitable drive toward increasing complexity or progress. Astrophysicist Martin Rees ponders the possibility of multiple universes as well as ways to locate ``dark matter,'' the 90% of the universe that exerts gravitational force yet is invisible and unaccounted for. Psychologist Steven Pinker defines language as an instinctual, specialized skill that develops in the child spontaneously. Philosopher Daniel Dennett views consciousness as a ``virtual machine,'' an abstract thinking center, while, at the opposite pole, biologist Francisco Varela melds Buddhist philosophy and neuroscience in his theory of the mind as an ``emergent self'' shaped by interactions with its environment. Contributors include biologists Richard Dawkins and Lynn Margulis, physicists Roger Penrose and Murray Gell-Mann, cosmologists Paul Davies and Alan Guth. New York literary agent Brockman is editor of About Bateson and Doing Science. Newbridge's Library of Science, Astronomy Book Club and Natural Science Book Club and Reader's Subscription special selections. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
A smörgasbord for armchair intellectuals. Recalling C.P. Snow, Brockman declares the old ``two culture'' split to be dead. Time was when arts and humanities academics could live in blissful ignorance of the second law of thermodynamics while scoffing at scientists and engineers as no-nothing nerds. No more. According to Brockman (coeditor of How Things Are, p. 282, etc.), literary intellectuals are taking a back seat; their voice is muted by what Snow himself hoped would be spokesmen for a third culture. That culture has arrived, Brockman says, in the stylish writings of Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, and others, whose books make the best-seller lists, apparently having created readers eager for their latest views on matter, humankind, the universe, and such avant-garde fields as artificial intelligence and complexity. To prove his point, Brockman has taped and edited his favorite authors, along with short takes in which other ``third culture'' heroes (only one woman included) comment on a particular doyen. (These are refreshingly frank, including ``I really don't understand X,'' or ``Murray has developed one of the best inventories of put-downs that exists''--Marvin Minsky on Murray Gell-Mann. For evolution Brockman taped George Williams, Gould, Richard Dawkins, Niles Eldredge, and Lynn Margulis, among others. For A.I./brain-mind studies he has included Minsky, Daniel C. Dennett, Nicholas Humphrey; for cosmology, Martin Rees, Alan Guth, Paul Davies, and Lee Smolin. He concludes with some of the high- stepping speculations of complexity thinkers nurtured by Gell-Mann. This is a taste of stimulating minds speaking frankly about what they're doing and how they arrived at where they're at. Because rival theories and friendly and not-so-friendly enemies abound in the pages, it is also an honest picture of science in the making.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Assembling two dozen scientists who have proven their mettle as expositors for the general reader, literary agent Brockman asked them about the wider implications of their specialities. Their best-selling successes, such as Stephen Jay Gould's on evolution or Paul Davies' on physics, have challenged the work of humanists for primacy as the model of cultured writing; the model must include at least a smattering of scientific knowledge. Although Brockman and some of his contributors perhaps overdraw the fact that humanists take pride in being scientifically ignorant, this book is bound to interest those humanists on the cutting edges of evolution, artificial intelligence, cosmology, and plectics, a word Nobelist Murray Gell-Mann coined for the combined study of simplicity and complexity. As each essay is followed by fellow contributors' comments, this tome assumes a friendly, conversational aspect, just as suitable for the coffeehouse as for the lab bench. With general science writing in something of a golden age, Brockman's group assists laggards who have missed reading the able and controversial authors of the past decade. --Gilbert Taylor
Choice 评论
Brockman contends that it is scientists, not literary intellectuals, who have the most to say on the important questions facing humankind today. The Third Culture refers to the modern-day group of scientist-intellectuals, in contrast to C.P. Snow's Two Cultures of 35 years ago. Twenty-three taped interviews with eminent scientists of this era are compiled into this volume, covering the frontiers of science in the areas of evolutionary biology and genetics, computer science, neurophysiology, physics and cosmology, and the new field of complexity in nature. Implied is the idea that laboratory and field data give the scientific community a solid basis for speculating on the important questions of the meaning and purpose of life and the universe. Indeed, the issues raised in this book are crucial and fundamental. The format of the book is unusual: each interview--often dwelling on bits of personal history--is followed by commentaries by colleagues of the interviewee. The oral word, however, rarely has the economy, purposefulness, and elegance of a literate, written article. And so the logic of the argument, in many of these transcripts, tends to lose sharpness due to verbosity and repetitious comments. On the other hand, one appreciates the unvarnished commentary that, in a limited way, resembles the give-and-take of a scientific conference. Some of the commentary is flattering, and some is truly biting. The overall effect is to expose the soft underbelly of theories and arguments passionately promoted by their authors, and thus provide food for thought and further research. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. E. Hadjimichael; Fairfield University
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
In the style of a scientific conference, this book gathers contributions by leading intellectuals in developing fields and solicits reactions to their contributions from their colleagues. The title refers to an academic dichotomy, first identified almost 40 years ago, between the culture of humanists and that of scientists, and it further suggests that an integrating third culture is emerging through the popular scientific writings of scholars like those represented in this collection. Five parts, each organized around a current theme in science such as "The Evolutionary Idea" and "Questions of Origins," feature first-person essays by such well-known writers as Stephen Jay Gould and Murray Gell-Mann. Following each essay, there is a brief section in which other contributors respond to the ideas just presented. While the concept of a third culture is compelling and could well provide the ideological foundation of an important new movement in science, this collection is not much more than a sampler. The essays are informative but contain little new material; the follow-up commentary is sometimes gratuitous and self-congratulatory. Still, fans of science writing will like this book because of the "star" appeal of its contributors. [Brockman, a well-known literary agent who represents many scientists, also edited How Things Are: A Science Tool-Kit for the Mind, reviewed below.Ed.]Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib., Fla. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.