Denialism
Author: Specter, Michael
ISBN: 9780143118312
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Year first published: 26 Oct 2010
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback / softback
b>"A superb and convincing work." br> -Malcolm Gladwell /b> br>br> At a time when our planet is in dire peril, Americans mistrust science more than ever. Few journalists appreciate what is at stake better than Michael Specter, who has spent the last twenty years reporting on everything from the AIDS epidemic to the digital revolution. In i>Denialism/i>, he eloquently shows how, in a world where protesters march against childhood vaccines and Africans starve to death rather than import genetically modified grains, we must reconnect with the rational thinking that has underpinned the advance of civilization since the eighteenth century. What emerges is a manifesto that brilliantly captures one of the pivotal clashes of our era.BR>BR>b>In this provocative and headline-making book, Michael Specter confronts the widespread fear of science and its terrible toll on individuals and the planet./b>br>br>In i>Denialism, /i>Michael Specter reveals that Americans have come to mistrust institutions and especially the institution of science more today than ever before. For centuries, the general view had been that science is neither good nor bad-that it merely supplies information and that new information is always beneficial. Now, science is viewed as a political constituency that isn't always in our best interest.br>br>The issues may be complex but the choices are not- Are we going to continue to embrace new technologies, along with acknowledging their limitations and threats, or are we ready to slink back into an era of magical thinking? In i>Denialism/i>, Specter makes an argument for a new Enlightenment, the revival of an approach to the physical world that was stunningly effective for hundreds of years- What can be understood and reliably repeated by experiment is what nature regarded as true. Now, at the time of mankind's greatest scientific advances-and our greatest need for them-that deal must be renewed.
ISBN: 9780143118312
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Year first published: 26 Oct 2010
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback / softback
b>"A superb and convincing work." br> -Malcolm Gladwell /b> br>br> At a time when our planet is in dire peril, Americans mistrust science more than ever. Few journalists appreciate what is at stake better than Michael Specter, who has spent the last twenty years reporting on everything from the AIDS epidemic to the digital revolution. In i>Denialism/i>, he eloquently shows how, in a world where protesters march against childhood vaccines and Africans starve to death rather than import genetically modified grains, we must reconnect with the rational thinking that has underpinned the advance of civilization since the eighteenth century. What emerges is a manifesto that brilliantly captures one of the pivotal clashes of our era.BR>BR>b>In this provocative and headline-making book, Michael Specter confronts the widespread fear of science and its terrible toll on individuals and the planet./b>br>br>In i>Denialism, /i>Michael Specter reveals that Americans have come to mistrust institutions and especially the institution of science more today than ever before. For centuries, the general view had been that science is neither good nor bad-that it merely supplies information and that new information is always beneficial. Now, science is viewed as a political constituency that isn't always in our best interest.br>br>The issues may be complex but the choices are not- Are we going to continue to embrace new technologies, along with acknowledging their limitations and threats, or are we ready to slink back into an era of magical thinking? In i>Denialism/i>, Specter makes an argument for a new Enlightenment, the revival of an approach to the physical world that was stunningly effective for hundreds of years- What can be understood and reliably repeated by experiment is what nature regarded as true. Now, at the time of mankind's greatest scientific advances-and our greatest need for them-that deal must be renewed.
