The Art of Science

Clearly analyzing the narratives, myths, and controversies at play in modern science, The Art of Science is an engaging exercise in the social study of human creativity. The authors argue with elegance, wit, and considerable cultural savvy. Their message: that, if we want to know ourselves, we all need to understand science, and scientists, better. -- Mark Kingwell, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto

"Clearly analyzing the narratives, myths, and controversies at play in modern science, The Art of Science is an engaging exercise in the social study of human creativity." - Mark Kingwell, University of TorontoThe result of an unusual collaboration between a physicist with a strong interest in the histories of art and science, and a philosopher with a broad knowledge of science as a human activity, The Art of Science gives readers an appreciation of the activities of science: the hands-on work of experimentation, the struggle to convince people of the validity of novel findings, and the excitement of "eureka" moments. In so doing, the book shows how scientific knowledge is made, and occasionally unmade.

The Art of Science steers a course between two important and contradictory images that have a myth-like status: that of the scientist as computer, and that of the scientist as genius. If we abandon these images to focus on what scientists really do, we see that the sciences are also arts.

To show the artistry of science, text and images are woven together, so that the book makes its arguments not just through stories of science, but through vibrant and arresting illustrations that help to bring the activity of science to life. The Art of Science shows science not as austere and other-worldly, but as textured and wonderfully human.