Science Pathways of Discovery edited by Ivan Amato, Wiley, 拢20.95/$27.95, ISBN 047105660X
EACH month during 2000, the journal Science published a specially commissioned overview of one scientific discipline. The idea was to produce something as illuminating as the firework displays that marked the new millennium鈥攂ut longer-lasting.
Sixteen scientists, each with a sparkling reputation in their field, took on the task. England鈥檚 Astronomer Royal Martin Rees wrote on cosmology, Nobel laureate Eric Kandel on neuroscience鈥攁nd so on. They aimed to identify the main people and events that have contributed to our knowledge, as well as their subjects鈥� likely future trajectories.
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Some chapters soar like a rocket, others fall like a stick. Among the former is Cambridge developmental biologist Anne McLaren鈥檚 account of the history of cloning.
Unfortunately, palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould鈥檚 chapter on the social context of science drops with a thud. That is surprising, given his colossal reputation, but apparently the piece was rushed out at short notice during the 1999 World Series鈥攁nd Gould is a big baseball fan.
Overall, the flashes of scientific brilliance on offer here provide plenty of spectacle for the reader. So it is both unnecessary and tedious for editor Ivan Amato to make repeated demands that readers should be 鈥渁wed鈥� by those achievements.