Review by Choice Review
For much of humankind's history, curiosity was frowned upon or even condemned. According to science writer Ball (Nature's Patterns, CH, May'10, 47-4994), distrust of curiosity or the desire for knowledge ran through Christian thought for millennia. This changed around Galileo's time, as the Renaissance was born. The author primarily focuses on the 16th to 18th centuries, covering, in an entertaining fashion, many of the geniuses and outright characters whose wide-ranging curiosity led to many scientific advances. Men such as Galileo, Brahe, Kepler, and Copernicus placed Earth in its rightful place orbiting the sun. But others, such as Robert Hooke, who developed the law of elasticity, allowed their imaginations such free rein that they started dozens of investigations for every one they actually completed. Ball suggests that the epitome of research stemming from pure curiosity is the vastly expensive Large Hadron Collider, built to answer questions such as "Where does mass come from?" Is the answer worth billions of dollars? Einstein, who stated, "Never lose a holy curiosity," would say yes. Ball masterfully shows how innate curiosity can lead to both great discoveries and absurd experiments. A book well worth reading, with a useful bibliography and chapter notes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic and general readers. C. G. Wood formerly, Eastern Maine Community College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the gap between the Bible's warning against being curious in unnecessary matters to Einstein's reverence for holy curiosity, Ball discerns a profound cultural shift. To explain the shift that transformed curiosity from a dangerous temptation to a praiseworthy motivation, Ball revisits the intellectually restless lives of great scientists across the centuries, including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. But readers soon learn that the work of investing curiosity with a new and positive value also involved astrologers, magicians, courtiers, and mystics. The curiosity that licensed skeptics to transgress against religious orthodoxy also impelled the devout to probe more deeply into God's marvels. For both the secular-minded and the pious, the boundaries of curiosity grew wider as seafaring explorers discovered new lands and as ingenious technicians opened new telescopic and microscopic vistas. Even as he watches curiosity enlarge its scope, Ball sees it mutate into two different, almost antithetical, manifestations: a pragmatic, agenda-driven desire to expand control over the knowable world, and a spontaneous capacity for contemplative wonder. As the story of how a strange coalition of revolutionaries defied traditional restraints on the hunger for new knowledge, Ball's history of curiosity tells readers much about the dangerous adventure of being a modern human.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Freelance writer Ball (Critical Mass) worked for 20 years as an editor at Nature, a magazine essentially dedicated to fostering and satisfying the curiosity of everyone from would-be E.O. Wilsons to, well, E.O. Wilson. But according to Ball, the curious haven't always been held in high esteem-in the classical world, the curious person was regarded as "a meddler and a nuisance or hazard to society." That may sometimes be the case-the image of a cheap chemistry set blowing up in an inquisitive kid's face is a familiar one-but the world has benefited enormously from those who shirked the status quo, risked religious condemnation, and pursued wild ideas til they became accepted knowledge. Focusing on the 16th and 18th centuries, Ball looks at the transformation of curiosity from stigma to scientific stimulus through a survey of important figures like Francis Bacon, Galileo, and Descartes, as well as critical inventions and discoveries, including the telescope and supernovae. Ball also traces the evolution of the scientific method, and shows how even respected thinkers like philosopher Thomas Hobbes refused to believe that experimentation could uncover truth. This history of wonder is at times too dense for even dedicated meddlers, but those willing to stay the course will find their curiosity alternately sated and piqued. 38 halftones, 5 line drawings. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Well into the 16th century, curiosity was frowned upon. Ball (former editor, Nature; Why Society Is a Complex Matter: Meeting Twenty-first Century Challenges with a New Kind of Science) argues that an evolving attitude toward inquiry played almost as important a role in shaping the 17th-century scientific revolution as did the actual discoveries made, theories proposed, or methodological changes wrought in the way science was conducted. He shows that the path to modern science was neither simple nor linear. For example, the distinctions between science and pseudoscience (both of which encouraged curiosity) were not clear from the start. "Experiments" weren't conducted as rigorously as today, and it was often unclear what deserved attention out of the profusion (and confusion) of phenomena that nature offered. Even such giants as Galileo, Robert Boyle, and Newton were neither one kind of practitioner nor the other. Galileo probably fudged the results of some of his experiments, Boyle was fascinated by alchemy, and Newton's preoccupation with biblical chronology is well documented. VERDICT Although Ball doesn't shed new light on the subject, he possesses the gift of making complicated topics compelling and understandable. A substantial work in the history of science, this engaging title should appeal to serious readers, both academic and armchair.-David Keymer, Modesto, CA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
