Instability Rules: The Ten Most Amazing Ideas of Modern Science

by Charles Flowers

Overview

World-altering discoveries that reveal a universe of uncertainty and constant change
Whether probing the farthest reaches of the vast universe or exploring the microscopic world of genetics and the subatomic world of quantum mechanics, Instability Rules is a remarkably informative and engaging look at ten milestone discoveries and their discoverers-a wide range of very human personalities whose insights have dramatically altered our most basic assumptions about human existence during the last century. The stories include Edwin Hubble and the expanding universe, Alfred Wegener and continental drift, Neils Bohr and quantum mechanics, Alan Turing and artificial intelligence, and James Watson and Francis Crick and DNA. Also covering discoveries of the twenty-first century that are already refining these and other ideas, Instability Rules is an exhilarating, sometimes amusing encounter with the defining scientific discoveries of our age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470312544
Publisher:	Trade Paper Press
Publication date:	04/21/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
File size:	593 KB

About the Author

CHARLES FLOWERS is an award-winning author or coauthor of fifty-eight books, most recently Mapping the Stars, The Big Bang (with David Appel), and A Science Odyssey: 100 Years of Discovery, the companion book to the PBS series.

Table of Contents

Preface: "It Moves . . . "

1 Hubble and the Expanding Universe.

2 Einstein and the Wonder of Light.

3 Bohr and the Puzzles of the Quantum World.

4 Wegener and the Dance of the Continents.

5 Big Bang, Big Crunch, and Big Bore.

6 Fermat, Godel, and Fuzzy Math.

7 Mendel, Watson, Crick, and the Human Genome.

8 Hominids, Humans, and the Search for Origins.

9 Turing and the Brain as Computer, and Vice Versa.

10 Freud, the Unconscious, and Other Views.

Acknowledgments.

Photo Credits.

Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"...a great primer for anyone who wants to read a general introduction to some of the most important ideas that underpin much of today's science...if you want to catch up on the last 100 years of sceintific breakthroughs, there's no better place to start..."(Focus, July 2002)

Editorial Reviews

Written for the general reader, this book provides an overview of some of the most radical scientific theories of the last hundred years. It explains how the previous world view, centered on ideal of harmony and permanence, came to be replaced by an Heraclitean view of a universe in constant flux. Flowers (a journalist and science writer) portrays the major figures of recent scientific progress, including Hubble, Einstein, Wegener, and Freud. He also considers the impact and implications of Bohr's revelations about the atomic world, Turing's idea about intelligence, the Leakey family's work on our hominid ancestry, and other breakthroughs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

* "...For its clarity and wit, this is a winner..." (New Scientist, 22 June 2002)

"...remarkable and engaging..." (Materials World, July 2002)

"...a highly readable account of what Charles Flowers thinks were the most fundamental and far-reaching ideas..." (Chemistry & Industry, February 2004)

From the Publisher