The Age Of Science

by Gerard Piel, Peter Bradford (Illustrator)

When historians of the future come to examine western civilization in the twentieth century, one area of intellectual accomplishment will stand out above all others: more than any other era before it, the twentieth century was an age of science. Not only were the practical details of daily life radically transformed by the application of scientific discoveries, but our very sense of who we are, how our minds work, how our world came to be, how it works and our proper role in it, our ultimate origins, and our ultimate fate were all influenced by scientific thinking as never before in human history. In The Age of Science , the former editor and publisher of Scientific American gives us a sweeping overview of the scientific achievements of the twentieth century, with chapters on the fundamental forces of nature, the subatomic world, cosmology, the cell and molecular biology, earth history and the evolution of life, and human evolution. Beautifully written and illustrated, this is a book for the connoisseur: an elegant, informative, magisterial summation of one of the twentieth century's greatest cultural achievements.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

480 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Piel graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor of arts degree in 1937. He was the science editor of Life Magazine from 1939 to 1945. In 1946 and 1947, he worked at the Henry Kaiser Company as assistant to the president. In 1948, in association with two colleagues, he launched a new version of Scientific American, to promote science literacy for the general public in the postwar era. He held a number of honorary degrees and awards, including the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 1962.

Reviews

[Sam knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is an excellent compendium of scientific discoveries from the 20th century. the topics are many and varied, ranging from biology, sociology, paleontology, physics, astronomy and many more. the thing that impresses me the most is the fine level of detail and accuracy entailed within every page. when you start reading the part about the basic tenets of astronomy, or perhaps the philosophical debunking of quantum theory, expect to be briefed on the history and contemporary development of those things, with tidbits on the lives of the men who worked on them. I won't lie this is not an easy read, has a lot of names to remember, but still consider this to be a book worth reading.