A new way of looking at knowledge that merits close reading by scientists and general readers alike.
A wide-ranging exploration of cognition, certainty and what we mean when we say we “know” something is true.
Certainty, argues neurologist and novelist Burton (Cellmates, 1999, etc.), is not a conscious choice, nor a thought process, but a sensation that can best be described as a “feeling of knowing.” As a feeling, like anger or fear, certainty does not rely on any underlying state of knowledge. What this means, Burton argues, is that we can be wrong even when we’re convinced we’re right. As an example, Burton describes the “Challenger study,” in which students expressed high levels of confidence, three years after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, that their false memories of the explosion were more accurate than descriptions they had written down one day after the event. Examples of feelings that seem like knowledge, says Burton, include so-called mystical experiences, the feeling that one has actually seen a fast-moving baseball prior to striking it with a bat and the conviction that taking a risk in poker will pay off. The tendency of an individual to have any one of these feelings—to be, for example, an inveterate gambler—is partly determined by genetic predisposition (in this case, the so-called “risk-taking gene”) and partly by prior experience. How, then, can we tell the difference between feeling right and being right? The answer, Burton argues, lies in accepting the limits of our ability to know and in “playing by the rules of scientific method”—believing we are right if empiric evidence and testing give us reason to do so, but accepting that subsequent evidence may one day prove us wrong.
A new way of looking at knowledge that merits close reading by scientists and general readers alike.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-35920-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
The history of the USS Monitor, written with panache, sophisticated understanding, and attention to detail by deKay (Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian, not reviewed). The Monitor may have been a ``doughty little Civil War ironclad,'' as deKay writes, but it was an elegantly minimalist mechanical marvel, a milestone in naval technology, with a design so original (including a revolving turret), it had 40 patentable innovations. At a time when naval strategy relied upon ships of the line—colossal square riggers with 120 guns and a crew of up to 1,200—the Monitor was a freak and a harbinger: armor-clad, steam- powered, with a mere two guns and a crew of 58. It was hardly the first of its kind—the king of Syracuse had an armor-plated vessel in the third century b.c., and Fulton's Clermont was steaming along in 1807—yet it was the right ship, in the right spot, at the right time. DeKay tells the Monitor's story with building suspense: It was the brainchild of the Swedish engineer John Ericsson, which became the best hope of the Union forces to maintain a critical blockade at Hampton Roads, Va. Finally, the author relates the wicked confrontation with the Confederate's ``awesome dark monster,'' Merrimac, another ironclad whose tale deKay sharply limns. It was a standoff at first, then the smaller Monitor exploited its opponent's unwieldiness to gain ascendancy. DeKay's tale is a richly brocaded one, serving up the sweetheart deals and political shenanigans that marked the Monitor's progress; elaborating on the rumors that flew before the epic battle like expectations before a championship heavyweight fight; bringing into play the weather and tides and most any other thing that touched upon events. This book is, simply, a little treasure. (25 b&w illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 13, 1997
ISBN: 0-8027-1330-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
A heap of difficult-to-read information on a relevant topic.
A textbook on “biocatastrophe” as a global public-safety issue.
Biocatastrophe is a term the authors coined for “the simultaneous degradation of the Earth’s principal ecosystems, including those inhabited by humans, as a result of the radical alteration of the Earth’s climate and natural landscapes.” This hefty text aims to explore the causes of biocatastrophe and the significance of its effects on the human and natural world. The authors put this crisis into the context of other ecological crises, like global warming, urbanization, deforestation, mass extinction and loss of ecosystem biodiversity–all of which, they write, are elements of an overarching biocatastrophe. In neatly organized chapters, the authors–who were inspired to write the book after their experiences as volunteer firemen in the 1960s and ’70s–detail the history of human ecology and how biocatastrophe fits into health, politics and economics. The text proves it is up-to-date with contextual information on the global financial crisis and evidence that two seemingly unrelated activities (the environment and the global economy) are indeed linked. Though the authors don’t explicitly describe our future, they strongly hint that Earth’s citizens will have to redefine their values and prepare to live with finite resources. To emphasize the sheer magnitude of biocatastrophe, nothing that can be defined as a military, industrial or commercial activity is spared the author’s dissection. The sentences are packed with information, and an editor would do well to streamline the writing into more digestible servings. The resources in the back of the book are ample–glossary, charts and several appendices provide sources and helpful data.
A heap of difficult-to-read information on a relevant topic.Pub Date: May 11, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9769153-8-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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