- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (Jun 23 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0465013058
- ISBN-13: 978-0465013050
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#113,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #48 in Books > Science > Education > Science for Kids
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
The Durham Herald Sun
“Non-scientists, and that includes most of us who work for newspapers or other media, owe it to themselves to read at least one book this year about the scientific issues facing the world. My pick is Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's Unscientific America.”
Buffalo News
“[An] important book”
NSTA Recommends
“A tour-de-force…engaging…this book should find readership beyond just science students to all students interested, or becoming interested, in current issues important to politics, education, and the general state of our nation."
“Non-scientists, and that includes most of us who work for newspapers or other media, owe it to themselves to read at least one book this year about the scientific issues facing the world. My pick is Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's Unscientific America.”
Buffalo News
“[An] important book”
NSTA Recommends
“A tour-de-force…engaging…this book should find readership beyond just science students to all students interested, or becoming interested, in current issues important to politics, education, and the general state of our nation."
Book Description
In his famous 1959 Rede lecture at Cambridge University, the scientifically-trained novelist C.P. Snow described science and the humanities as "two cultures," separated by a "gulf of mutual incomprehension." And the humanists had all the cultural power—the low prestige of science, Snow argued, left Western leaders too little educated in scientific subjects that were increasingly central to world problems: the elementary physics behind nuclear weapons, for instance, or the basics of plant science needed to feed the world's growing population.
Now, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, a journalist-scientist team, offer an updated "two cultures" polemic for America in the 21st century. Just as in Snow's time, some of our gravest challenges—climate change, the energy crisis, national economic competitiveness—and gravest threats--global pandemics, nuclear proliferation—have fundamentally scientific underpinnings. Yet we still live in a culture that rarely takes science seriously or has it on the radar.
For every five hours of cable news, less than a minute is devoted to science; 46 percent of Americans reject evolution and think the Earth is less than 10,000 years old; the number of newspapers with weekly science sections has shrunken by two-thirds over the past several decades. The public is polarized over climate change—an issue where political party affiliation determines one's view of reality—and in dangerous retreat from childhood vaccinations. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of Americans have even met a scientist to begin with; more than half can't name a living scientist role model.
For this dismaying situation, Mooney and Kirshenbaum don't let anyone off the hook. They highlight the anti-intellectual tendencies of the American public (and particularly the politicians and journalists who are supposed to serve it), but also challenge the scientists themselves, who despite the best of intentions have often failed to communicate about their work effectively to a broad public—and so have ceded their critical place in the public sphere to religious and commercial propagandists.
A plea for enhanced scientific literacy, Unscientific America urges those who care about the place of science in our society to take unprecedented action. We must begin to train a small army of ambassadors who can translate science's message and make it relevant to the media, to politicians, and to the public in the broadest sense. An impassioned call to arms worthy of Snow's original manifesto, this book lays the groundwork for reintegrating science into the public discourse--before it's too late.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not an interesting read,
By C. J. Thompson "Arctic John" (Pond Inlet, Nunavut Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future (Paperback)
The authors decry the scientific 'illiteracy' in America (and rightly so), and then go on to state that poor education cannot entirely shoulder the blame for this and that the science community, by being disengaged from the average person, also is part of the problem. This is food for thought indeed, but the central argument presented here could easily have been expressed in 20 or 30 pages. Instead, the book drones on for 132 pages (and a staggering 66 pages of notes) without really adding much more. I managed to struggle through it all eventually but it was not a riveting read. I won't bother reading it again.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A call to action for scientists,
By Stefanie (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future (Hardcover)
In this brief but important book, the authors describe in detail the historical and cultural reasons why scientists in America today find themselves "walled off" from the rest of society. One of the important conclusions of this book is that it's not enough for scientists to simply lament the deficit in science education in grade school - scientists must actively work to integrate themselves into modern culture, in order to make their messages heard.I disagree with the previous review that says this book does not apply if you do not live in America. Although a lot of US-specific examples are cited, we are certainly facing similar challenges as scientists in Canada. (Even Nature recognizes that science policy is a problem in Canada: see [...].) Many of the same actions must be taken by Canadian scientists if we want our work to be considered important by the public. My only problems with this book is that the "Notes" actually contain a lot of additional text, rather than just references, which might have been more conveniently placed in the main body of the book. Also, I would have liked to see more concrete suggestions of what individual scientists can do to help bridge the science-culture divide. Here's hoping that this book mobilizes more scientists to make their work (and rational thought in general) more relevant to society!
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
repeat once more please,
By
This review is from: Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future (Hardcover)
First of all, if you do not live in America this book doesn't apply to you, so don't bother;Second of all, this is a book that needs to be read at the exact moment that it was published ,so if you buy it in a year, forget it , it will be already badly outdated. Third of all ,if you can't stand politics of all sorts, Geez , are you in for a long read....and you thought you were going to read about science! Fourth...this book doesn't contain 220 pages of information, at best there might be 50 pages worth anything, thereis some pretty good insight, but also lots of stuff you have already read before (from the same author); and then it is just the same stories over and over and over again until it finally ends. This book feels a lot more like a long cover story that repeat itself way too many time (oh, sorry have I already said that?) What could be like a good starting point about how America is loosing it (be realistic buddy) is just in the end some sort of pep talk that I can't just bear with after a while. Who is this book for anyway? people with an unscientific mind will not waste their time reading it , so why bother. This ,as I might have already pinpointed to you, should have been published in a newspaper, week end edition , special report that could have been edited to 50% of it's present already thin coverage. The Dark Cyclist in Canada
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