The Golem: What You Should Know About ScienceHarry Collins and Trevor Pinch liken science to the Golem, a creature from Jewish mythology, powerful yet potentially dangerous, a gentle, helpful creature that may yet run amok at any moment. Through a series of intriguing case studies the authors debunk the traditional view that science is the straightforward result of competent theorisation, observation and experimentation. The very well-received first edition generated much debate, reflected in a substantial new Afterword in this second edition, which seeks to place the book in what have become known as 'the science wars'. |
Contents
the golem I | 1 |
Two experiments that proved the theory of relativity | 27 |
the story of cold fusion | 57 |
Louis Pasteur and the origins of life | 79 |
the nondetection | 91 |
The sex life of the whiptail lizard | 109 |
the strange | 121 |
putting the golem to work I 39 | 139 |
| 183 | |
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