Yes, We Have No Neutrons: An Eye-Opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Bad Science: Amazon.de: A. K. Dewdney: Englische Bücher

Taschenbuch: 192 Seiten
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons; Auflage: 1. Auflage (2. September 1998)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0471295868
ISBN-13: 978-0471295860
Gr��e und/oder Gewicht: 23,3 x 15,5 x 1,2 cm

Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 3.8 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (9 Kundenrezensionen)

Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 302.734 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)

M�chten Sie die Produktinformationen aktualisieren oder Feedback zu den Produktabbildungen geben?

Ist der Verkauf dieses Produkts f�r Sie nicht akzeptabel?

Komplettes Inhaltsverzeichnis ansehen

Entdecken Sie B�cher, lesen Sie �ber Autoren und mehr

› Besuchen Sie die Seite von A. K. Dewdney auf Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

A.K. Dewdney is well-known to readers of the Scientific American as their former "Mathematical Recreations" columnist. Here he acts as a well-placed professional terrier who has assigned himself the task of sniffing out the rats in the scientific closet and giving them a good shaking. By Dewdney's definition "science" is a big cupboard which includes the social sciences. And he clearly relishes the all-encompassing breadth of his task, which is not to rubbish science--far from it--but to serve warning on slipshod science and its practitioners. Even Nobel Prizes do not give immunity, as Fleishmann and Pons will learn if they care to read this fascinating book. Indeed, every scientist (of both the hard and soft variety) should be given a copy as a reminder of some basic home truths, such as the necessity for reproducibility of results, and as a warning against the lure of instant fame.

As Dewdney writes, "when science goes wrong all hell breaks loose ... the public grows confused [and] sceptical about the scientific process.…" His sample of scientific transgressions runs from the hard science of Blondot's turn-of-the-century "discovery" of N- rays, through the soft science of IQ tests and Freudian psychoanalytical theory, to SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), neural nets, cold fusion (the Fleishmann and Pons story), Biosphere 2 and J. Phillipe Rushton's racial theory as proposed in his book ,The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. Most of his victims are in the soft sciences, perhaps because Dewdney feels that most damage is caused in this area, since they generally make for more media-friendly stories, or maybe just because they are easier targets. Freud may have grossly over-interpreted at times, but recent research on mother/offspring influence supports his Oedipal complex theory and it would be interesting to know what Dewdney thinks of these results.

Dewdney's experience as a professional science writer shines through, making this book a joy to read, and there is a helpful index and bibliography. Finally, as he warns any would-be star of science, "if there are dreams of glory, real scientists keep them, trembling, in the background." -- Douglas Palmer -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .

Amazon.com

"Cold fusion" has become an oft-used synonym for science gone wrong, but as A.K. Dewdney colorfully explains in Yes, We Have No Neutrons, bad science has a long and (un)distinguished history. Predicating his discussion on Langmuir's "Laws of Bad Science," which describes common characteristics of dubious scientific claims, Dewdney recounts such classic scientific blunders as the "discovery" of N rays by René Blondlot, psychoanalysis as practiced by Sigmund Freud, and even the ill-fated Biosphere 2 experiment. (Yes, cold fusion is there, too.) Dewdney's book will sharpen the mental razor of anyone who hopes to separate legitimate claims from bunk.

Alle Produktbeschreibungen

Kunden diskutieren

Das Forum zu diesem Produkt

Diskussion	Antworten	J�ngster Beitrag
Noch keine Diskussionen

Fragen stellen, Meinungen austauschen, Einblicke gewinnen

Neue Diskussion starten

Thema:

Erster Beitrag:

Bei neuen Eintr�gen E-Mail erhalten

Eingabe des Log-ins

Richtlinien

Aktive Diskussionen in �hnlichen Foren

Diskussion	Antworten	J�ngster Beitrag
Forum: englische b�cher We can get a book for free? Great! Please post here!	44	Vor 3 Stunden
Forum: englische b�cher Suche engl. B�cher mit denen ich die Sprache besser erlerne	8	Vor 10 Stunden
Forum: englische b�cher Aktuell kostenlose Kindle-B�cher in franz�sisch	10	Vor 11 Stunden
Forum: englische b�cher Welches englische Buch lest Ihr zur Zeit?	237	Vor 11 Stunden
Forum: englische b�cher Meet Our Authors	116	Vor 16 Stunden
Forum: englische b�cher Utopia/Dystopia	10	Vor 2 Tagen
Forum: englische b�cher it. girl band 6	1	Vor 4 Tagen
Forum: englische b�cher American Based Thriller Writers Please Post	117	Vor 6 Tagen

Kundendiskussionen durchsuchen

�hnliche Foren

Forum: englische b�cher (530 Diskussionen)

Legen Sie Ihre eigene Lieblingsliste an

Kundenrezensionen

1 Sterne

3.8 von 5 Sternen

Kundenrezension verfassen

Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen

1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Fun for some 26. April 2000

Von Dennis Littrell

Format:Gebundene Ausgabe

The clever title refers to the cold fusion delusion of 1989. Dewdney also takes apart the Biosphere 2 experiment in Arizona in 1991 where the roaches prospered while the people lost a lot of weight and would never have made it without some artificial help from a CO2 "scrubber." Freud, SETI, The Bell Curve believers and neural nets also come under attack as unscientific.

Well, Freud shouldn't even be suspected of being "scientific." In France Freud is read as literature, as is only right. And to attack SETI! Sure it's a long shot, probably a VERY long shot, but what else do we have to do that could possibly reveal anything near as interesting should it succeed? Shame on you, Dewdney. Otherwise, I tend to agree with him, especially about Biosphere 2 which ought to be done again with people who have something close to a clue as to the sort of Herculean dedication and commitment necessary. And bravo for going after the not-too-bright proponents of the antiquated notion of IQ, who think they can define "intelligence," but haven't the foggiest understanding of the real question, "Intelligence for what?" even if they could define it.

In other words, this is a fun book if your ox is not being gored.

Kommentar |

War diese Rezension f�r Sie hilfreich?

Nein

Good textbook 10. Februar 2000

Von Ein Kunde

This book approaches many topics of "bad science", however the author is extremely biased on a few of the topics. It is an interesting textbook.

Good but with some key flaws 15. Juni 1999

Format:Taschenbuch

I'm happy to see that other reviewers noted Dewdney's excesses regarding the validity of the SETI efforts. Whether or not you think you know what SETI will find, his analysis of SETI's objectives and methodology seems completely inconsistent with his stated theme and has all the appearances of a personal prejeudice. In contrast, he goes out of his way to be fair in his coverage of the cold fusion debacle. I generally enjoy Dewdney's work-- just watch out for his indiosyncrasies here.