WHAT SCIENCE IS AND HOW IT WORKS

By MATTHEW PEREZ

CONTENTS PROLOGUE WHAT IS SCIENCE? PART I EXPLORING THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE: HOW NEW DISCOVERIES ARE MADE IN THE SCIENCES CHAPTER A BIRD’S EYE VIEW: THE MANY ROUTES TO SCIENTI?C DISCOVERY NATURE’S JIGSAW: LOOKING FOR PATTERNS AS A KEY TO DISCOVERY NEW VISTAS: EXPANDING OUR WORLD WITH INSTRUMENTATION CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR: DISCREPANCIES AS A TRIGGER TO DISCOVERY INGREDIENTS FOR A REVOLUTION: THEMATIC IMAGINATION, PRECISE MEASUREMENTS, AND THE MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS PART II MENTAL TACTICS: SOME DISTINCTIVELY SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE WORLD A UNIVERSE IN A BOTTLE: MODELS, MODELING, AND SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION THINKING STRAIGHT: EVIDENCE, REASON, AND CRITICAL EVALUATION THE NUMBERS GAME: USES OF QUANTITATIVE REASONING PART III LARGER QUESTIONS: THE CONTEXT OF SCIENCE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS: SCIENCE AND RELIGION MORE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY DIF?CULT AND IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: SCIENCE, VALUES, AND ETHICS QUESTIONS OF AUTHENTICITY: SCIENCE, PSEUDOSCIENCE, AND HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE CONTENTIOUS QUESTIONS: THE SHADOWY BORDERLANDS OF SCIENCE VERY ABSTRACT QUESTIONS: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE QUESTIONS OF LEGITIMACY: THE POSTMODERN CRITIQUE OF SCIENCE PART IV COMMON GROUND: SOME UNIFYING CONCEPTS IN THE SCIENCES FLEAS AND GIANTS: SOME FASCINATING INSIGHTS ABOUT AREA, VOLUME, AND SIZE THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS: ORDER AND DISORDER IN THE UNIVERSE RIDING BLAKE’S TIGER: SYMMETRY IN SCIENCE, ART, AND MATHEMATICS THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW: LINEAR DEPENDENCE IN THE SCIENCES THE LIMITS OF THE POSSIBLE: EXPONENTIAL GROWTH AND DECAY IN THE LOOP: FEEDBACK, HOMEOSTASIS, AND CYBERNETICS