10 Questions Science Can't Answer (Yet): A Guide to the Scientific Wilderness (MacSci) |  | Author: Michael Hanlon
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 826258
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0230622844
Dewey Decimal Number: 500
EAN: 9780230622845
ASIN: 0230622844
Publication Date: February 16, 2010
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Product Description
In the space of 60 seconds a body processes one quadrillion atoms of oxygen, several trillion molecules of carbon dioxide, and the untold products of digestion. After forty years, 90% of the atoms in our body are different. So are you still the same person? Science writer Michael Hanlon takes us into the depths of this and other scientific mysteries, exploring the oft-asked questions of young and old alike. In witty, engaging prose, Hanlon asks: · Does your dog have a soul? · Will we ever be able to live forever? · Are we getting smarter? · Is science really ready to discount the possibility of ghosts? Science may not have all the answers (yet), but while taking us on this grand tour of today’s scientific conundrums, Hanlon reveals the complexities behind the mysteries that persist, and shows us that the answers may be coming sooner than we think.
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| Customer Reviews:
 SOCRATIC CANDOR & CUTTING EDGE SCIENCE May 3, 2009
NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Umberto Eco was right: Science has all the trappings of just another religion. A strict belief system and lists of virtues and sins; acolytes and authoritative high-priests; dogmas and unquestionable Truths. And like any religion, it has its logical limits.
Michael Hanlon has been the Science editor for DAILY MAIL, DAILY EXPRESS and INDEPENDENT. For a journalist he has a firm grasp of the latest scientific discoveries and their philosophical implications. This book is an excellent example of this.
The book addresses some cardinal questions (from consciousness and the nature of time to the emergence of life and the perception of reality) and some marginal ones (the causes of modern obesity epidemic and the paranormal theories).
Written with a deep understanding of the sciences involved, Hanlon manages to speak to both scientists and laymen alike. References are kept to a minimum and explanations are complete but far from apocryphal.
RECOMMENDED!
Easy to read book takes the reader to science's cutting edge & demands more; a glimpse of the outer limits November 3, 2008
Pen Name
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Michael Hanlon writes clearly on challenging subjects, which sets this book apart from the average book on science. The reader does not need any specialized knowledge to understand the book's description of the latest scientific achievements, and to look wonderingly toward what might lie beyond. The prose is intelligent, but not arrogant, even as it asks what may appear as thorny questions. Each of the ten chapters explores a question and discusses the extent to which science has come close or stayed away from that question. The chapters cover a variety of subjects that confront different branches of science. The book presents just the right amount of information and questioning in a comfortable, almost always entertaining tone, which occasionally gets conversational. The book's adoption of popular lingo (e.g., in a chapter entitled "What are we going to do with the stupid?") can turn off some sensitive readers.
 Decent enough August 6, 2007
Charlie (Virginia, USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
About: Hanlon (Science Editor at the Daily Mail newspaper) explains 10 unanswered questions in science. Not including the introduction, there are 10 chapters, one for each question:
Is Fido a zombie? (that is, how intelligent, self-aware and clever are animals?)
Why is time so weird?
Can I live forever please?
What are we going to do with the stupid?
What is the dark side? (think dark energy and dark matter, not Darth Vader)
Is the universe alive?
Are you the same person you were a minute ago?
Why are we all so fat...and does it really matter?
Can we really be sure the paranormal is bunkum?
What is reality, really?
Pros: Quick read (if you don't like one topic, the next topic will be upon you quickly.) Nice range of questions and fields of science covered. Scientists you would expect to be mentioned are (i.e. Elizabeth Loftus on memory, Richard Dawkins on pseudoscience, and Stephen Hawking on the Big Bang) Mostly accessible writing on heady topics.
Cons: It doesn't appear that all references are cited. A conclusion would have been helpful, rather than an abrupt end of the book when the last topic is explained. Suggestions for further reading on each topic would have been welcome as well. Some topics get bogged down (albeit necessarily) with complexities and jargon.
Grade: B
Big Chemistry Error June 13, 2010
F. Baker (minnesota)
In the product description of Amazon (and in the book itself):
Product Description of Amazon
In the space of 60 seconds a body processes one quadrillion atoms of oxygen, several trillion molecules of carbon dioxide, and the untold products of digestion.
In actuality the one guadrillion atoms of oxygen processed each 60 seconds is low by a factor of about 17 million times. Each 60 seconds the body (using the figure of 4.5 grams per minute as given in the book --> page 126) processes about 17 million quadrillion atoms of oxygen. The figure of trillions of molecules of carbon dioxide is probably off by a similar factor, probably more since he uses trillions rather than quadrillions.
Other than several typos the book is fair, but treats dark matter and energy no differntly than what you would find in any other book about physics.
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