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Mind, Life and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time (Sciencewriters) |
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Published: 2007-08-15 |
List price: $21.95
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 Glimpses of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time
Eduardo Punset, the Spaniard who conducts almost all of the interviews in this wide-ranging book with some of the world's most highly respected scientists, is the host of the Spanish-language TV show Redes (Networks). As such he is experienced at drawing out scientists in such a way that their work comes alive to a general audience.
Lynn Margulis is the famous biologist who pioneered endosymbiotic ideas leading to the "Origin of Eukaryotic Cells," a book she published in 1970. Here she acts as co-editor and mostly intervenes in the text in footnotes to point to errors or misconceptions. There is something almost quirky about the way these interviews, or "discussions," as Penset calls them, appear on the pages. There are typos and obvious errors in translation. Part of the problem is that the interviews in most cases were patched together from transcripts and edited to remove some of the imprecision, repetition, and the um-ing and ah-ing that natural speech is prone to. The result nonetheless is a fascinated survey of what is happening in a host of scientific fields as expressed by some of science's greatest stars.
Included are interviews with Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, Oliver Sacks, James E. Lovelock, Stephen Jay Gould, Paul Davies and thirty others. There is a foreword by David T. Suzuki and Margulis contributes an introduction with acknowledgments. A charming feature are the black and white line drawings of the scientists under the chapter headings. There are biographical notes about the scientists near the end of the book, and a list of readings recommended by the scientists (two each).
Punset's interviewing style in which he interrupts and augments what the interviewee has said, while occasionally taking a kind of diversion to digress on some point, makes for lively reading. He and the interviewees sometimes even openly disagree, while the venerable Lynn Margulis sometimes comes sailing in as though from on high to make a salient point or to out-and-out contradict what someone has said! I'm sure some of the scientists were misquoted or had some of what they said truncated so that their meaning may not be exactly what they had intended. Strange to say I somewhat enjoyed the imprecision and the cluttered desk aspect to the discussions.
Here's an example of what I mean. Philosopher Daniel Dennett is quoted as saying, "It has been discovered that chimpanzees have a way of catching termites with a stick, which involves using a sponge to take out water from the trunk to drink." Obviously two statements by Dennett about tool use by chimpanzees have been inadvertently meshed together! (p. 81)
Here's another: Punset is talking about the genetic basis for language, music, schizophrenia, and religion. He finishes with: "Religiosity played a very important role in the early evolution of culture." Anthropologist Ralph Holloway's immediate response is "Mankind was perturbed and that is why it was selected." Just what the pronoun "it" refers to is unclear as is what elicited his "mankind was perturbed" remark. (p. 178)
Regardless of such shortcomings this reader was delighted with the discussions, and time and again surprised and informed by something someone said. Here's an example of the kind of off the cuff profundity that this book offers. Neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas is talking about systems in the brain. He says:
"There are two large systems: the more primitive one, the one of passions, pain, what a passion is, envy, sloth, lust, eating, and feeling. This is not negotiable. You like someone or not, something gives you pleasure or not, like a reptile. The possibility of negotiating with reality only occurs with the second system, the one of the neocortex, though it is completely dominated by the passions."
Reading this book offers a glimpse of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time.
An introduction to the thoughts of some of the most interesting scientific minds in the world!!
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Consider these eight statements:
(1) "There is a psychological immune system that protects us from the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'...but we are unaware of it."
(2) "In a utopian world, psychopaths would stand out as predators, because that is what they do, take advantage of others. We could live in a perfect utopia and there would always be psychopaths."
(3) "The role of dreams is to throw us into extraordinary social situations."
(4) "We know now that practically all human health problems will be resolved one day."
(5) "We will suffer for all we have done and only then will we understand how wonderful our planet was."
(6) "Some animals live in the trees, others on the sea, others underground, others fly, others dig, but essentially, they are all doing the same thing: they are working to survive and therefore to pass their genes on to the future. The genes encode the instructions that enable animals to exist."
(7) "If extra dimensions really explain phenomena in our world, then there are experimental implications of this fact for the future. Our ideas will lead us to see evidence for extra dimensions."
(8) "If you asked me whether in a hundred years time we will travel into the future, I will tell you that it is very possible."
The above are statements made by eight scientists found in this fascinating book that has the transcribed interviews of scientists from around the world. According to the book's cover, this book is edited by Dr. Lynn Margulis (who received the 1999 U.S. National Medal of Science) and Eduardo Punset who currently works in Spanish TV where he hosts a television program that communicates science to a worldwide Spanish-speaking audience. (A third editor, not mentioned on the book's cover, is Dorion Sagan, "a prolific science writer.") This book's Forward was authored by internationally-known Canadian scientist, Dr. David Suzuki.
The total number of interviews is 36 but the total number of scientists interviewed is 37 since one interview is with two scientists. (Actually, if you consider the definition of the words "science" and "scientist," the number of scientists interviewed is actually 36.) Except in one case by Margulis, Punset does all the interviewing.
The majority of scientists interviewed are also professors. Three scientists are female and three are Nobel Prize winners.
All interviews are clear and lucid as well as relatively short. They give readers insights into the minds of some of the leading scientists from around the world, revealing their creative thought-processes and how they are passionate about their own work. Also, the reader needs no science background to understand these interviews.
The book itself is divided into parts and these parts are divided into subsections. Below I will give the title of each part and the titles of their subsections. As well, I will indicate the number of interviews for each part in parentheses.
(I) People primates. Subsections: Culture before humans; Attractiveness; Anxiety. (13 interviews)
(II) Animal body-mind. Subsections: Cyclicity and sociality; Prehistory and Immortality of the body-mind. (9 interviews)
(III) Life on an animate planet. Subsections: Bygone biosphere; Toward perfection; Dead or alive? (8 interviews)
(IV) Toward the invisible. Subsection: From the vast to the miniscule. (6 interviews)
Finally, each chapter or transcribed interview begins with a line-drawn portrait of the particular scientist being interviewed. As well, there are five figures (in the form of line-drawings) found throughout the book.
In conclusion, if you want to know the thoughts and ideas of some scientists from around the world, then this book is a must-read!!
(first published 2007; forward; introduction and acknowledgments; 4 parts or 36 chapters (transcribed interviews); main narrative 315 pages; about the book's scientists; about the book's editors; recommended further readings; list of figures and tables; index)
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A lively question-and-answer interview style
MIND, LIFE AND UNIVERSE: CONVERSATIONS WITH GREAT SCIENTISTS OF OUR TIME provides a review of the latest research on life and its origins - and the thoughts of scientists and researchers on the process and findings. Punset's questions capture the research lives, work and perspectives of these scientists, blending a lively question-and-answer interview style with background history and scientific insights. Perfect for not just college-level collections in science and supplementary classroom reading and discussion on scientific debates and dialogue, but for general-interest libraries seeking further connections between lay readers and scientific research paths.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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