13 Things that Don't Make Sense
The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time (Vintage)
authors
data
Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-307-27881-6
ISBN-13: 9780307278814
Publisher: Vintage
Country:
Year: August 11, 2009
Number of pages: 256
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-307-27881-6
ISBN-13: 9780307278814
Publisher: Vintage
Country:
Year: August 11, 2009
Number of pages: 256
Binding: Paperback
editions
Brooks, Michael, Adams (Eds.), James (Narrator) (Eds.)
Blackstone Audiobooks; 2008
Audio Cassette
Brooks, Michael, Adams (Eds.), James (Narrator) (Eds.)
Blackstone Audiobooks; 2008
Audio CD
Brooks, Michael, Adams (Eds.), James (Narrator) (Eds.)
Blackstone Audiobooks; 2008
MP3 CD
order
description
Product Description
Spanning disciplines from biology to cosmology, chemistry to psychology to physics, Michael Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement of scientific discovery. Science’s best-kept secret is this: even today, thereare experimental results that the most brilliant scientists cannot explain. In the past, similar “anomalies” have revolutionized our world. If history is any precedent, we should look to today’s inexplicable results to forecast the future of science. Michael Brooks heads to the scientific frontier to confront thirteen modern-day anomalies and what they might reveal about tomorrow’s breakthroughs.
Spanning disciplines from biology to cosmology, chemistry to psychology to physics, Michael Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement of scientific discovery. Science’s best-kept secret is this: even today, thereare experimental results that the most brilliant scientists cannot explain. In the past, similar “anomalies” have revolutionized our world. If history is any precedent, we should look to today’s inexplicable results to forecast the future of science. Michael Brooks heads to the scientific frontier to confront thirteen modern-day anomalies and what they might reveal about tomorrow’s breakthroughs.
Amazon.com Review
Product Description
When we look to the »anomalies« that science cant explain, we often discover where science is about to go. Here are a few of the anomalies that Michael Brooks investigates in 13 Things That Dont Make Sense:
Homeopathic remedies seem to have biological effects that cannot be explained by chemistry
Gases have been detected on Mars that could only have come from carbon-based life forms
Cold fusion, theoretically impossible and discredited in the 1980s, seems to work in some modern laboratory experiments
Its quite likely we have nothing close to free will
Life and non-life may exist along a continuum, which may pave the way for us to create life in the near future
Sexual reproduction doesnt line up with evolutionary theory and, moreover, theres no good scientific explanation for why we must die
Science starts to get interesting when things dont make sense.
Sciences best-kept secret is this: even today, there are experimental results and reliable data that the most brilliant scientists can neither explain nor dismiss. In the past, similar »anomalies« have revolutionized our world, like in the sixteenth century, when a set of celestial anomalies led Copernicus to realize that the Earth goes around the sun and not the reverse, and in the 1770s, when two chemists discovered oxygen because of experimental results that defied all the theories of the day. And so, if history is any precedent, we should look to todays inexplicable results to forecast the future of science. In 13 Things That Dont Make Sense, Michael Brooks heads to the scientific frontier to meet thirteen modern-day anomalies and discover tomorrows breakthroughs.
13 Things opens at the twenty-third Solvay physics conference, where the scientists present are ready to throw up their hands over an anomaly: is it possible that the universe, rather than slowly drifting apart as the physics of the big bang had once predicted, is actually expanding at an ever-faster speed? From Solvay and the mysteries of the universe, Brooks travels to a basement in Turin to subject himself to repeated shocks in a test of the placebo response. No study has ever been able to definitively show how the placebo effect works, so why has it become a pillar of medical science? Moreover, is 96 percent of the universe missing? Is a 1977 signal from outer space a transmission from an alien civilization? Might giant viruses explain how life began? Why are some NASA satellites speeding up as they get farther from the sunand what does that mean for the laws of physics?
Spanning disciplines from biology to cosmology, chemistry to psychology to physics, Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement, messiness, and controversy of the battle over where science is headed. »In science,« he writes, »being stuck can be a sign that you are about to make a great leap forward. The things that dont make sense are, in some ways, the only things that matter.«
Amazon.com Exclusive: Anahad O'Connor Reviews 13 Things That Don't Make Sense
Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times' Science Times »Really?« columnist and author of Never Shower in a Thunderstorm, reviews 13 Things That Don't Make Sense exclusively for Amazon:
Michael Brooks opens 13 Things That Don't Make Sense with an anecdote about watching three Nobel laureates struggle to figure out a hotel elevator. It's an amusing story that illustrates at least two things. One, three heads are not always better than one. And two, as every science and health reporter learns their first day on the job, even the world's greatest minds cannot always sort through the problems we expect them to conquer.
It is this latter theme that is at the core of Mr. Brooks' fascinating new book except in this case, the problems are 13 stubborn mysteries that have stumped top scientists for decades and, in some cases, centuries. Spun out of a popular article that appeared in New Scientist an article that quickly became one of the most forwarded articles in the magazine's online history Mr. Brooks' book takes its readers on a lively journey through the cosmos, physics, biology and human nature. Along the way he explores questions such as why scientists cannot account for 90 percent of the universe (hint: dark matter has something to do with it), whether we have already been contacted by alien life but paid little mind, why humans rely on a form of sexual reproduction that, from an evolutionary perspective, is extremely inefficient, and why we are routinely deceived by the placebo effect.
Mr. Brooks expertly works his way through these and other hotly debated quandaries in a smooth, engaging writing style reminiscent of Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould. At times, as I was deeply engrossed in parts of this book, I found myself as captivated and wide-eyed as I was decades ago when I picked up my first science books and found my calling. Mr. Brooks has the ability to make his readers forget their surroundings in my case a hectic newsroom and train their minds' eyes on images as foreign as a vast Martian landscape or as distant as a roiling, infant universe. Every mystery is brought to life in vivid detail, and wit and humor are sprinkled throughout.
To be sure, some of the chapters are more entertaining than others. A section on cold fusion, for example, while understandably necessary in a book on scientific mysteries, may not turn out to be quite as captivating for some readers as the chapters that precede and follow it. That may have something to do with the notion that cold fusion has been unfairly maligned and ridiculed by scientists despite its continuing promise, an argument Mr. Brooks lays out well. But it is ultimately in his chapters on the Big Bang, dark matter, and other issues that relate to the cosmos where Mr. Brooks, who holds a Ph.D. in quantum physics, really works his magic. No surprise then that Mr. Brooks is also co-writing a TV series for the Discovery Channel that explores the universe through the eyes of none other than Stephen Hawking. If 13 Things That Don't Make Sense is any indication, the series will find an enraptured audience.
(Photo © Lars Klove)
Product Description
When we look to the »anomalies« that science cant explain, we often discover where science is about to go. Here are a few of the anomalies that Michael Brooks investigates in 13 Things That Dont Make Sense:
Homeopathic remedies seem to have biological effects that cannot be explained by chemistry
Gases have been detected on Mars that could only have come from carbon-based life forms
Cold fusion, theoretically impossible and discredited in the 1980s, seems to work in some modern laboratory experiments
Its quite likely we have nothing close to free will
Life and non-life may exist along a continuum, which may pave the way for us to create life in the near future
Sexual reproduction doesnt line up with evolutionary theory and, moreover, theres no good scientific explanation for why we must die
Science starts to get interesting when things dont make sense.
Sciences best-kept secret is this: even today, there are experimental results and reliable data that the most brilliant scientists can neither explain nor dismiss. In the past, similar »anomalies« have revolutionized our world, like in the sixteenth century, when a set of celestial anomalies led Copernicus to realize that the Earth goes around the sun and not the reverse, and in the 1770s, when two chemists discovered oxygen because of experimental results that defied all the theories of the day. And so, if history is any precedent, we should look to todays inexplicable results to forecast the future of science. In 13 Things That Dont Make Sense, Michael Brooks heads to the scientific frontier to meet thirteen modern-day anomalies and discover tomorrows breakthroughs.
13 Things opens at the twenty-third Solvay physics conference, where the scientists present are ready to throw up their hands over an anomaly: is it possible that the universe, rather than slowly drifting apart as the physics of the big bang had once predicted, is actually expanding at an ever-faster speed? From Solvay and the mysteries of the universe, Brooks travels to a basement in Turin to subject himself to repeated shocks in a test of the placebo response. No study has ever been able to definitively show how the placebo effect works, so why has it become a pillar of medical science? Moreover, is 96 percent of the universe missing? Is a 1977 signal from outer space a transmission from an alien civilization? Might giant viruses explain how life began? Why are some NASA satellites speeding up as they get farther from the sunand what does that mean for the laws of physics?
Spanning disciplines from biology to cosmology, chemistry to psychology to physics, Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement, messiness, and controversy of the battle over where science is headed. »In science,« he writes, »being stuck can be a sign that you are about to make a great leap forward. The things that dont make sense are, in some ways, the only things that matter.«
Amazon.com Exclusive: Anahad O'Connor Reviews 13 Things That Don't Make Sense
Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times' Science Times »Really?« columnist and author of Never Shower in a Thunderstorm, reviews 13 Things That Don't Make Sense exclusively for Amazon:
Michael Brooks opens 13 Things That Don't Make Sense with an anecdote about watching three Nobel laureates struggle to figure out a hotel elevator. It's an amusing story that illustrates at least two things. One, three heads are not always better than one. And two, as every science and health reporter learns their first day on the job, even the world's greatest minds cannot always sort through the problems we expect them to conquer. It is this latter theme that is at the core of Mr. Brooks' fascinating new book except in this case, the problems are 13 stubborn mysteries that have stumped top scientists for decades and, in some cases, centuries. Spun out of a popular article that appeared in New Scientist an article that quickly became one of the most forwarded articles in the magazine's online history Mr. Brooks' book takes its readers on a lively journey through the cosmos, physics, biology and human nature. Along the way he explores questions such as why scientists cannot account for 90 percent of the universe (hint: dark matter has something to do with it), whether we have already been contacted by alien life but paid little mind, why humans rely on a form of sexual reproduction that, from an evolutionary perspective, is extremely inefficient, and why we are routinely deceived by the placebo effect.
Mr. Brooks expertly works his way through these and other hotly debated quandaries in a smooth, engaging writing style reminiscent of Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould. At times, as I was deeply engrossed in parts of this book, I found myself as captivated and wide-eyed as I was decades ago when I picked up my first science books and found my calling. Mr. Brooks has the ability to make his readers forget their surroundings in my case a hectic newsroom and train their minds' eyes on images as foreign as a vast Martian landscape or as distant as a roiling, infant universe. Every mystery is brought to life in vivid detail, and wit and humor are sprinkled throughout.
To be sure, some of the chapters are more entertaining than others. A section on cold fusion, for example, while understandably necessary in a book on scientific mysteries, may not turn out to be quite as captivating for some readers as the chapters that precede and follow it. That may have something to do with the notion that cold fusion has been unfairly maligned and ridiculed by scientists despite its continuing promise, an argument Mr. Brooks lays out well. But it is ultimately in his chapters on the Big Bang, dark matter, and other issues that relate to the cosmos where Mr. Brooks, who holds a Ph.D. in quantum physics, really works his magic. No surprise then that Mr. Brooks is also co-writing a TV series for the Discovery Channel that explores the universe through the eyes of none other than Stephen Hawking. If 13 Things That Don't Make Sense is any indication, the series will find an enraptured audience.
(Photo © Lars Klove)
reviews
Baffling Mysteries but not always Intriguing 
While the book was interesting and thought-provoking for the most part, the scientific mysteries weren't always very intriguing. For example, the one-time radio signal from outer space may or may not have been from extraterrestrial origin, but why waste a whole chapter wondering whether or not ET has called? Wouldn't it make more sense to rigorously investigate reported encounters with aliens that may have happened right here, instead of pondering a single signal lasting less than a second, from light-years away? The chapter on cold fusion was interesting, mostly for the description of science politics, as in, once you fall from grace, you can never be taken seriously again. As for the author's thoughts on free will, well, he doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. The most interesting part in the section on placebos isn't whether the effect is real or not,it was the discussion on how apparently, some medicines do not work at all unless you know you are taking them (the opposite of a placebo effect). Book was not very readable (too wordy), and was biased against anything that couldn't be explained by science. Might appeal to very rational, science-minded people, but the book's tone seemed to dismiss anything even remotely metaphysical.
While the book was interesting and thought-provoking for the most part, the scientific mysteries weren't always very intriguing. For example, the one-time radio signal from outer space may or may not have been from extraterrestrial origin, but why waste a whole chapter wondering whether or not ET has called? Wouldn't it make more sense to rigorously investigate reported encounters with aliens that may have happened right here, instead of pondering a single signal lasting less than a second, from light-years away? The chapter on cold fusion was interesting, mostly for the description of science politics, as in, once you fall from grace, you can never be taken seriously again. As for the author's thoughts on free will, well, he doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. The most interesting part in the section on placebos isn't whether the effect is real or not,it was the discussion on how apparently, some medicines do not work at all unless you know you are taking them (the opposite of a placebo effect). Book was not very readable (too wordy), and was biased against anything that couldn't be explained by science. Might appeal to very rational, science-minded people, but the book's tone seemed to dismiss anything even remotely metaphysical.
absolutely fascinating, and you get more out of it with multiple readings 
I found this book to be absolutely fascinating. I got it in audible format, and have listened to it more than once. Every time I listen to it, I get more out of it, and hear things that I missed the first time. I find it to be information-dense, and therefore it gets better with time.
I found this book to be absolutely fascinating. I got it in audible format, and have listened to it more than once. Every time I listen to it, I get more out of it, and hear things that I missed the first time. I find it to be information-dense, and therefore it gets better with time.
Box of Chocolates 
This book is a lot like Forrest Gump's comment, `Life is like a box of chocolates'--a little bit of very thing to satisfy the various scientific interests/tastes of many people. This book gives a very well written, snappy but brief introduction to 13 delicious topics in different areas and fields of science which need better explanations due to unexpected results and observations that fail to meet accepted theory and facts. These topics include: 1) dark energy/dark matter 2) gravity 3) loss of absolute units of measure 4) cold fusion 5) origins of life 6) life on other planets--exobiology 7) intelligent alien life 8) mega virus, and how to define and classify life itself 9) death--programmed or avoidable 10) evolution of sex 11) free will vs. organic determination 12) placebo effect 13) homeopathy and its place in health care A good spattering of key names of scientists, concepts and ideas used to describe the above 13 topics could be an intellectual catalyst for deeper studies, especially for those young and talented enough with the proper motivation. Just one topic from the above list could enthrall some for a lifetime of study and discovery. For us older Forrest Gump types, we can set back and enjoy the flavor and texture of these `intellectual chocolates,' and maybe enjoy sharing our `science chocolates' with others.
This book is a lot like Forrest Gump's comment, `Life is like a box of chocolates'--a little bit of very thing to satisfy the various scientific interests/tastes of many people. This book gives a very well written, snappy but brief introduction to 13 delicious topics in different areas and fields of science which need better explanations due to unexpected results and observations that fail to meet accepted theory and facts. These topics include: 1) dark energy/dark matter 2) gravity 3) loss of absolute units of measure 4) cold fusion 5) origins of life 6) life on other planets--exobiology 7) intelligent alien life 8) mega virus, and how to define and classify life itself 9) death--programmed or avoidable 10) evolution of sex 11) free will vs. organic determination 12) placebo effect 13) homeopathy and its place in health care A good spattering of key names of scientists, concepts and ideas used to describe the above 13 topics could be an intellectual catalyst for deeper studies, especially for those young and talented enough with the proper motivation. Just one topic from the above list could enthrall some for a lifetime of study and discovery. For us older Forrest Gump types, we can set back and enjoy the flavor and texture of these `intellectual chocolates,' and maybe enjoy sharing our `science chocolates' with others.
EXCELLENT
Interesting and compelling. Well written. Good narration/speaker. »Strange science« at its »makes one think«-best.
Interesting and compelling. Well written. Good narration/speaker. »Strange science« at its »makes one think«-best.
consider this a tidy appetizer on the issues
The book reads much the way a casual magazine article on science would – which may seem overly breezy and colloquial to an educated reader but it does allow the non-scientist at least some access to these perplexing ideas. I personally found the chapter on the mega virus to be the most interesting – but overall the chapters are touch and go, much the way you would approach a buffet table, nibbling on a few things before you get lost or bored or satiated with material that the author readily admits have no hard answers or even good possibilities. The biggest surprise, for me, coming from the arts, is that even the most illustrious scientists have been and can be incredibly petty, malicious, intolerant, and eager to shut down anyone's research just because it upsets their own (unproven) theories. I had not expected individuals that almost by unanimous assent, are the »smartest« humans on earth to behave with such smallness of character or intellect. This book, perhaps unintentionally, reveals just how very human they are as well: just as vindictive and back-stabbing, jealous, insecure and paranoid that anyone might find in the performing or visual arts! If I could have made just one suggestion to the author it would have been for him to have expanded on many of the most interesting people in his book; for example, I found Adam Riess to be so completely intriguing that I would have liked a chapter just on him, on his work and ideas; even a list of his published articles would have been wonderful.
The book reads much the way a casual magazine article on science would – which may seem overly breezy and colloquial to an educated reader but it does allow the non-scientist at least some access to these perplexing ideas. I personally found the chapter on the mega virus to be the most interesting – but overall the chapters are touch and go, much the way you would approach a buffet table, nibbling on a few things before you get lost or bored or satiated with material that the author readily admits have no hard answers or even good possibilities. The biggest surprise, for me, coming from the arts, is that even the most illustrious scientists have been and can be incredibly petty, malicious, intolerant, and eager to shut down anyone's research just because it upsets their own (unproven) theories. I had not expected individuals that almost by unanimous assent, are the »smartest« humans on earth to behave with such smallness of character or intellect. This book, perhaps unintentionally, reveals just how very human they are as well: just as vindictive and back-stabbing, jealous, insecure and paranoid that anyone might find in the performing or visual arts! If I could have made just one suggestion to the author it would have been for him to have expanded on many of the most interesting people in his book; for example, I found Adam Riess to be so completely intriguing that I would have liked a chapter just on him, on his work and ideas; even a list of his published articles would have been wonderful.
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© 1994–2010 Sascha Hendel
last update: 3/18/2010
URL: http://www.book-info.com/isbn/0-307-27881-6.htm
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