AIDS is not caused by HIV. Coal and oil are not fossil fuels.
Radiation exposure is good for you. Distributing more guns reduces
crime. These ideas make headlines, but most educated people scoff at
them. Yet some of science's most important concepts-from gravity to
evolution-have surfaced from the pool of crazy ideas. In fact, a good
part of science is distinguishing between useful crazy ideas and those
that are just plain nutty. In this book, a well-known physicist with
an affinity for odd ideas applies his open mind to nine controversial
propositions on topical subjects. Some, it turns out, are considerably
lower on the cuckoo scale than others. Robert Ehrlich evaluates, for
the general reader or student, nine seemingly far-out propositions
culled from physics, biology, and social science. In the process, he
demonstrates in easy-to-understand terms how to weigh an argument,
judge someone's use of statistics, identify underlying assumptions,
and ferret out secret agendas. His conclusions are sometimes
surprising. For instance, he finds that while HIV does cause AIDS and
the universe almost certainly started with a big bang, our solar
system could have two suns, faster-than-light particles might exist,
and time travel can't be ruled out as mere science fiction. Anyone
interested in unorthodox ideas will get a kick out of this book. And,
as a fun way of learning how to think like a scientist, it has
enormous educational value. Of course, only time will tell whether any
of these nine ideas will be the next continental drift--the now
orthodox account of the Earth's geology that was for years just a
crazy idea.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780691187839
Publisert
2018
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter