History & Philosophy of Science 2011 - Princeton University

[Pages:20]History & Philosophy of Science 2011

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New Paperback

Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Winners of the 2005 Erasmus Prize, Praemium Erasmianum Foundation

With a new introduction by the authors

Leviathan and the Air-Pump

Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life

Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer

Praise for Princeton's previous editions:

"Leviathan and the Air-Pump [is] the most influential text in our field since Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions." --James Secord, Isis

"This is simply one of the most original, enjoyable, and important books published in the history of science in recent years." --Owen Hannaway, Technology and Culture

Steven Shapin is the Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Simon Schaffer is professor of history of science at the University of Cambridge.

"Shapin and Schaffer have written one of the very first lives of an instrument.... They [also] had the wit ... to take virtually the first piece of apparatus of the new laboratory science, and so have given us an unparalleled vignette of the birth pangs of a new style of reasoning." --Ian Hacking, British Journal for the History of Science

Leviathan and the Air-Pump examines the conflicts over the value and propriety of experimental methods between two major seventeenthcentury thinkers: Thomas Hobbes, author of the political treatise Leviathan and vehement critic of systematic experimentation in natural philosophy, and Robert Boyle, mechanical philosopher and owner of the newly invented air-pump. The issues at stake in their disputes ranged from the physical integrity of the air-pump to the intellectual integrity of the knowledge it might yield.

Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer use the confrontation between Hobbes and Boyle as a way of understanding what was at stake in the early history of scientific experimentation. They describe the protagonists' divergent views of natural knowledge, and situate the Hobbes-Boyle disputes within contemporary debates over the role of intellectuals in public life and the problems of social order and assent in Restoration England. In a new introduction, the authors describe how science and its social context were understood when this book was first published, and how the study of the history of science has changed since then.

2011. 416 pages. 15 halftones. 7 line illus.

Pa: 978-0-691-15020-8

$29.95 | ?20.95

Princeton Global Science () is a new initiative of Princeton University Press highlighting the work of our authors and their books in addressing the great scientific and technological issues alive in the world today.

cover illustration: A pneumatical engine and its parts, from Boyle's "Spring and Weight of the Air," published in 1661 (engraving) (b/w photo) by English School (17th century). Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library

New Paperback

Finalist, 2009 National Book Award, Nonfiction One of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2009 Winner of the 2010 Gold Medal in Biography, Independent Publisher

The Poison King

The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy

Adrienne Mayor

"A wonderful reading experience, as bracing as a tonic.... It's drenched in imaginative violence and disaster, but it also wears the blameless vestments of culture and antiquity." --Carolyn See, Washington Post

"Mithradates should be a household name alongside his fellow rebels Hannibal, Cleopatra, Spartacus, and Attila. This detailed, juicy, entertaining, yet painstaking work of superb scholarship should finally give Mithradates the recognition he deserves." --Margaret George, author of Helen of Troy: A Novel

In this richly illustrated book, Adrienne Mayor combines a storyteller's gifts with the most recent archaeological and scientific discoveries to tell the tale of Mithradates as it has never been told before.

Adrienne Mayor is a research scholar in classics and history of science at Stanford University.

2011. 480 pages. 10 color plates. 75 halftones. 9 maps.

Pa: 978-0-691-15026-0

$18.95 | ?12.95

Cl: 978-0-691-12683-8

$29.95 | ?20.95

Forthcoming With a foreword by Philip J. Davis

Fascinating Mathematical People

Interviews and Memoirs

Edited by Donald J. Albers & Gerald L. Alexanderson

"Fascinating Mathematical People is a wonderfully varied collection. We meet brilliantly successful teachers, authors, a dentist, and two Fields Medal?winning Scandinavians. Some came from academic or intellectual families, another from a blazing-hot glass factory in Pennsylvania, and still another from an ancient and storied English aristocratic background. All of them had surprising side paths and detours on their way to mathematical success." --Reuben Hersh, coauthor of Loving and Hating Mathematics

Fascinating Mathematical People is a collection of informal interviews and memoirs of sixteen prominent members of the mathematical community of the twentieth century, many still active. The candid portraits collected here demonstrate that while these men and women vary widely in terms of their backgrounds, life stories, and worldviews, they all share a deep and abiding sense of wonder about mathematics.

Donald J. Albers is editorial director of the books program at the Mathematical Association of America. Gerald L. Alexanderson is the Michael and Elizabeth Valeriote Professor of Science at Santa Clara University.

October 2011. 264 pages. 189 halftones.

Cl: 978-0-691-14829-8

$35.00 | ?24.95

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Forthcoming

Reinventing Discovery

The New Era of Networked Science Michael Nielsen

New

Discoverers of the Universe

William and Caroline Herschel Michael Hoskin

"Science has always been a contact sport; the interaction of many minds is the engine of the discipline. Michael Nielsen has given us an unparalleled account of how new tools for collaboration are transforming scientific practice. Reinventing Discovery doesn't just help us understand how the sciences are changing, it shows us how we can participate in the change." --Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus

In Reinventing Discovery, Michael Nielsen argues that we are living at the dawn of the most dramatic change in science in more than 300 years. This change is being driven by powerful new cognitive tools, enabled by the internet, which are greatly accelerating scientific discovery. There are many books about how the internet is changing business or the workplace or government. But this is the first book about something much more fundamental: how the internet is transforming the nature of our collective intelligence and how we understand the world.

This is a book for anyone who wants to understand how the online world is revolutionizing scientific discovery today--and why the revolution is just beginning.

Michael Nielsen is one of the pioneers of quantum computing. He is an essayist, speaker, and advocate of open science.

"In this joint biography, written with the cooperation of the Herschel family, historian of astronomy Michael Hoskin portrays the siblings' shared passion for the night sky, and the triumphs and pitfalls of their work. Using an amateur telescope, the pair charted thousands of stars and nebulae in catalogues that are still used today." --Nature

Discoverers of the Universe tells the gripping story of William Herschel, the brilliant, fiercely ambitious, emotionally complex musician and composer who became court astronomer to Britain's King George III, and of William's sister, Caroline, who assisted him in his observations of the night sky and became an accomplished astronomer in her own right. Together, they transformed our view of the universe from the unchanging, mechanical creation of Newton's clockmaker god to the ever-evolving, incredibly dynamic cosmos that it truly is.

Michael Hoskin is fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, where he lectured in the history of astronomy from 1959 until his retirement in 1988, and founding editor of the Journal for the History of Astronomy.

2011. 272 pages. 16 color illus. 25 halftones.

Cl: 978-0-691-14833-5

$29.95 | ?20.95

November 2011. 280 pages. 6 halftones. 8 line illus.

Cl: 978-0-691-14890-8

$24.95 | ?16.95

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New

How Old Is the Universe?

David A. Weintraub

New

The Little Book of String Theory

Steven S. Gubser

"Astronomer David Weintraub explains ... how we know that the Universe is 13.7 billion years old, a finding that has had an impact on science, philosophy and religion. By looking at the various ways in which the age of the cosmos has been established over the centuries--from the lifecycles and pulsations of stars to galactic structures and cosmology--he reveals the process of scientific enquiry and shows how astronomers gather evidence to grapple with deep questions." --Nature

"If you really want to know the age of the universe, then you too have to start from scratch. How Old is the Universe? places the question in its proper historical context and explains what has gone into answering it." --Kulvinder Singh Chadha, Physics World

Astronomers have determined that our universe is 13.7 billion years old. How exactly did they come to this precise conclusion? How Old Is the Universe? tells the incredible story of how astronomers solved one of the most compelling mysteries in science and, along the way, introduces readers to fundamental concepts and cutting-edge advances in modern astronomy.

David A. Weintraub is professor of astronomy at Vanderbilt University.

2010. 384 pages. 46 halftones. 76 line illus.

Cl: 978-0-691-14731-4

$29.95 | ?20.95

"The Little Book of String Theory by theoretical physicist Steven Gubser puts into words the abstract maths of some of the most challenging areas of physics, from energy and quantum mechanics to branes, supersymmetry and multiple dimensions." --Nature

"With Gubser as our guide science starts to seem less like the exclusive domain of the brainy, and more like a window into the universe that is open for everyone." --Glenn Dallas, San Francisco Book Review

The Little Book of String Theory offers a short, accessible, and entertaining introduction to one of the most talked-about areas of physics today. String theory has been called the "theory of everything." It seeks to describe all the fundamental forces of nature. It encompasses gravity and quantum mechanics in one unifying theory. But it is unproven and fraught with controversy. After reading this book, you'll be able to draw your own conclusions about string theory.

The Little Book of String Theory is the essential, most up-to-date beginner's guide to this elegant, multidimensional field of physics.

Steven S. Gubser is professor of physics at Princeton University.

Science Essentials

2010. 184 pages. 21 line illus.

Cl: 978-0-691-14289-0

$19.95 | ?13.95

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New

Divine Machines

Leibniz and the Sciences of Life Justin E. H. Smith

"With this book, Justin Smith turns the world of Leibniz scholarship upside down. Others have argued for the centrality of Leibniz's views on language and logic, or on physics and mathematics, or on theology, but Smith shows us how to read this key figure in the history of modern thought through his biology. This learned, original, and exciting book is obligatory reading for anyone interested in the origins of modern philosophy." --Daniel Garber, Princeton University

Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of G. W. Leibniz. In Divine Machines, Justin Smith offers the first in-depth examination of Leibniz's deep and complex engagement with the empirical life sciences of his day, in areas as diverse as medicine, physiology, taxonomy, generation theory, and paleontology. He shows how these wide-ranging pursuits were not only central to Leibniz's philosophical interests, but often provided the insights that led to some of his best-known philosophical doctrines.

New

The Brain and the Meaning of Life

Paul Thagard

"[Thagard] offers a tightly reasoned, often humorous, and original contribution to the emerging practice of applying science to areas heretofore the province of philosophers, theologians, ethicists, and politicians: What is reality and how can we know it? Are mind and brain one or two? What is the source of the sense of self? What is love? What is the difference between right and wrong, and how can we know it? What is the most legitimate form of government? What is the meaning of life, and how can we find happiness in it? Thagard employs the latest tools and findings of science in his attempts to answer these (and additional) questions." --Michael Shermer, Science

Why is life worth living? What makes actions right or wrong? What is reality and how do we know it? The Brain and the Meaning of Life draws on research in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to answer some of the most pressing questions about life's nature and value.

Paul Thagard is professor of philosophy, psychology, and computer science at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

2010. 296 pages. 12 line illus.

Cl: 978-0-691-14272-2

$29.95 | ?20.95

Justin E. H. Smith is associate professor of philosophy at Concordia University in Montreal.

2011. 392 pages. 1 halftone. 5 tables.

Cl: 978-0-691-14178-7

$45.00 | ?30.95

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Forthcoming Paperback With an introduction by Michael Ruse

The Origin Then and Now

An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species

David N. Reznick

"Reznick ... succeeds where others have failed.... His account is a welcome tool for those who'd like to hear evolution from Darwin himself but find the master impenetrable." --SEED Magazine

David N. Reznick is professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside.

December 2011. 448 pages. 15 halftones. 17 line illus.

Pa: 978-0-691-15257-8

$22.95 | ?15.95

Cl: 978-0-691-12978-5

$29.95 | ?20.95

Forthcoming

A Cooperative Species

Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis

"[A] fresh and pioneering entry into the pivotal field of human social evolution." --Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University

Using experimental, archaeological, genetic, and ethnographic data to calibrate models of the coevolution of genes and culture as well as prehistoric warfare and other forms of group competition, A Cooperative Species provides a compelling and novel account of how humans came to be moral and cooperative.

Samuel Bowles heads the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute and teaches economics at the University of Siena. Herbert Gintis holds faculty positions at the Santa Fe Institute, Central European University, and the University of Siena.

July 2011. 280 pages. 39 line illus. 24 tables.

Cl: 978-0-691-15125-0

$35.00 | ?24.95

Forthcoming

Creating the Market University

How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine

Elizabeth Popp Berman

American universities today serve as economic engines, performing the scientific research that will create new industries, drive economic growth, and keep the United States globally competitive. But only a few decades ago, these same universities self-consciously held themselves apart from the world of commerce. Creating the Market University is the first book to systematically examine why academic science made such a dramatic move toward the market. Drawing on extensive historical research, Elizabeth Popp Berman shows how the government--influenced by the argument that innovation drives the economy--brought about this transformation.

Elizabeth Popp Berman is assistant professor of sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

February 2012. 264 pages. 6 line illus. 2 tables.

Cl: 978-0-691-14708-6

$35.00 | ?24.95

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New

The Zodiac of Paris

How an Improbable Controversy over an Ancient Egyptian Artifact Provoked a Modern Debate between Religion and Science Jed Z. Buchwald & Diane Greco Josefowicz

"This book presents important and fascinating themes, and skillfully combines them. The birth of Egyptology, the French Revolution, the rule of Napoleon, the age of the Earth, and our knowledge of the stars all feature in its chapters. Above all there is the ever-shifting relationship between science, religion, and atheism. I discovered something new on every page." --John Ray, University of Cambridge

The Dendera zodiac--an ancient bas-relief temple ceiling adorned with mysterious symbols of the stars and planets--was first discovered by the French during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, and quickly provoked a controversy between scientists and theologians. Brought to Paris in 1821 and ultimately installed in the Louvre, where it can still be seen today, the zodiac appeared to depict the nighttime sky from a time predating the Biblical creation, and therefore cast doubt on religious truth. The Zodiac of Paris tells the story of this incredible archeological find and its unlikely role in the fierce disputes over science and faith in Napoleonic and Restoration France.

New Paperback--Third Edition

The Crest of the Peacock

Non-European Roots of Mathematics George Gheverghese Joseph

Praise for Princeton's previous editions:

"Enthralling.... After reading it, we cannot see the past in the same comforting haze of age-old stories, faithfully and uncritically retold from teacher to pupil down the years.... Invaluable for mathematics teachers at all levels." --New Scientist

"What is valuable here is the unified approach that Joseph brings ... and the non-technical clarity that the attempt to reorder historical priorities and educate his readers out of their European prejudices requires." --Times Literary Supplement

George Gheverghese Joseph was born in Kerala, India, grew up in Mombasa, Kenya, and completed his degrees in England. He has worked in various occupations that have taken him to places all over the world, including East and Central Africa, India, Papua New Guinea, and South East Asia.

2010. 592 pages. 6 halftones. 164 line illus. 18 tables. 6 maps.

Pa: 978-0-691-13526-7

$29.95 | ?20.95

Jed Z. Buchwald is the Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology. Diane Greco Josefowicz teaches in the writing program at Boston University.

2010. 448 pages. 8 page color section. 73 halftones.

Cl: 978-0-691-14576-1

$35.00 | ?24.95

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