Kategoria BISAC: Science >> Essays

Originally published separately, Weber's Science as a Vocation and Politics as a Vocation stand as the classic formulations of his positions on two related subjects that go to the heart of his thought: the nature and status of science and its claims to authority; and the nature and status of political claims and the ultimate justification for such claims. Together in this volume, these newly translated lectures offer an ideal point of entry into Weber's central project: understanding how, as Weber put it, "in the West alone there have appeared cultural manifestations that seem to] go in...

Mysteries such as "Why does the universe exist as it does?" and "When did it come about?" are newly thought to be demystified by modern science. Mixing scientific knowledge with common sense, Linsley answers these questions in an easy-to-understand dialogue.

"The Atheist's Bible" compiles the case...

Brian Hayes is one of the most accomplished essayists active today--a claim supported not only by his prolific and continuing high-quality output but also by such honors as the National Magazine Award for his commemorative Y2K essay titled "Clock of Ages," published in the November/December 1999 issue of The Sciences magazine. (The also-rans that year included Tom Wolfe, Verlyn Klinkenborg, and Oliver Sacks.) Hayes's work in this genre has also appeared in such anthologies as The Best American Magazine Writing, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The Norton...

Edited by best-selling author and renowned scientist Richard Dawkins, this sterling collection brings together exhilarating pieces by a who's who of scientists and science writers, including Stephen Pinker, Stephen Jay Gould, Martin Gardner, Albert Einstein,...

Here's something that doesn't happen every millennium: Roughly 35 million years ago, a stray meteorite dropped out of the sky over Virginia and left an impact that helped shape one of the continent's most distinctive coastlines. This scene of cataclysmic violence now lies beneath the calm waters of Chesapeake Bay. The occurrence of this prehistoric event only recently came to light, and the consequences of that impact will stretch far past our lifetimes. As Diane Casto Tennant makes clear in her new book, it wasn't the last interesting thing to happen in these parts.

Selected from...

Freeman Dyson's latest book does not attempt to bring together all of the celebrated physicist's thoughts on science and technology into a unified theory. The emphasis is, instead, on the myriad ways in which the universe presents itself to us--and how, as observers and participants in its processes, we respond to it. -Life, like a dome of many-colored glass, - wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley, -stains the white radiance of eternity.- The author seeks here to explore the variety that gives life its beauty.

Taken from Dyson's recent public lectures--delivered to audiences with no...

During the latter half of the twentieth century, the world witnessed the rise of the modern environmental movement. Chronicling this significant occurrence in Ohio, and specifically in Kent, a university town in the American Midwest, Botanical Essays from Kent is a collection of writings and photographs that capture the spirit and excitement of botanical fieldwork during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.

With personal narratives based on fifty years of experience, author Tom S. Cooperrider...