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A Student's Guide to Natural Science
Physicist Stephen M. Barr’s lucid Student’s Guide to Natural Science aims to give students an understanding, in broad outline, of the nature, history, and great ideas of natural science from ancient times to the present, with a primary focus on physics. Barr begins with the contributions of the ancient Greeks, in particular the two great ideas that reality can be understood by the systematic use of reason and that phenomena have natural explanations. He goes on to discuss, among other things, the medieval roots of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, the role played by religion in fostering the idea of a lawful natural order, and the major breakthroughs of modern physics, including how many newer “revolutionary” theories are in fact related to much older ones. Throughout this thoughtful guide, Barr draws his readers’ attention to the larger themes and trends of scientific history, including the increasing unification and “mathematization” of our view of the physical world that has resulted in the laws of nature appearing more and more as forming a single harmonious mathematical edifice.
90 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2006
13 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Stephen M. Barr
4 books21 followersStephen M. Barr is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Delaware. His physics research interests include theoretical particle physics. His particular areas of expertise are grand unified theories, theories of CP violation, theories of neutrino masses and mixing, and particle cosmology, especially theories of baryogenesis and dark matter.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2011 "for original contributions to grand unified theories, CP violation, and baryogenesis".
Dr. Barr has also written and lectured extensively on the relation of science and religion. He is a believing and practicing Catholic, and was elected to the Academy of Catholic Theology in 2010. He is a member of the editorial Advisory Council of First Things magazine.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2011 "for original contributions to grand unified theories, CP violation, and baryogenesis".
Dr. Barr has also written and lectured extensively on the relation of science and religion. He is a believing and practicing Catholic, and was elected to the Academy of Catholic Theology in 2010. He is a member of the editorial Advisory Council of First Things magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 27, 2015
Succinct and fascinating yet not completely understandable (by me anyway).
August 16, 2018
Admittedly, this book did not do a very good job at appealing to me when it comes to natural science. Even so, the fact that the author spends a lot of time talking about the history and philosophy of science makes this a better book than it could have been otherwise. Admittedly, as someone with very strong views on science [1], it would be hard for a book to please me completely, and this book does talk about science and a good view when it comes to paradigmatic shifts in views of science, even if it was not exactly what I was looking for. If someone is reading this book as a student, it is likely that they will come to it and be pleased to see the difference between proper restraint when it comes to the study of science and the sort of hype and myth that gets attached to successful scientific theories (like the theory of relativity), even when the science is sound. As science wars are something that people need to pay attention to, this book certainly does good service, even if it is far less pointed than I would prefer.
After a short introduction the author talks about the birth of science in the ancient world (like many people he focuses on Greece and does not give enough attention to the existence of science and mathematics in the Middle East that the Greeks drew from). He then talks about the second birth of science in the high middle ages thanks to the recovery of a great deal of ancient knowledge. After that there is a discussion of the relationship between science, religion, and philosophy, a relationship that on all sides has been fraught with considerable difficulty. After this comes a look at the scientific revolution, with particular focus on the scientific method, the period from Copernicus to Newton, and the new role of mathematics in the developing scientific mindset. After this comes a discussion of Newtonian physics as well as insights into forces and fields in the 19th century. After this there is a discussion of the revolutions in relativity and quantum mechanics in twentieth century physics, along with a discussion of the role of symmetry and the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in understanding our physical world, after which there are some notes and plenty of suggestions for future reading.
So, what would I have preferred to read? I would have preferred that the author discuss the origins of science without focusing on Greece, as this bias matches the efforts of the series as a whole in giving undue praise to Athens and minimizing other perspectives that demonstrate Greece was an effective copier of the insights of others but was not as creative as is often thought, nor as fundamental to a proper view of the world. In addition to this, it is a bit disappointing that the author did not take so much contemporary thought with regards to biology and other historical sciences behind the woodshed for their exaggerations and misunderstandings with regards to evidence and the proper role of science vis-a-vis philosophy and theology, which it appears to have often neglected in the last 150 years. That said, one does not review a book on what one would prefer to have read but rather on the book that is, and this book does offer some worthwhile suggestions in reading that help to overcome its own lacunae, which makes this book worthwhile at least for students looking on suggestions on what to read next.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
After a short introduction the author talks about the birth of science in the ancient world (like many people he focuses on Greece and does not give enough attention to the existence of science and mathematics in the Middle East that the Greeks drew from). He then talks about the second birth of science in the high middle ages thanks to the recovery of a great deal of ancient knowledge. After that there is a discussion of the relationship between science, religion, and philosophy, a relationship that on all sides has been fraught with considerable difficulty. After this comes a look at the scientific revolution, with particular focus on the scientific method, the period from Copernicus to Newton, and the new role of mathematics in the developing scientific mindset. After this comes a discussion of Newtonian physics as well as insights into forces and fields in the 19th century. After this there is a discussion of the revolutions in relativity and quantum mechanics in twentieth century physics, along with a discussion of the role of symmetry and the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in understanding our physical world, after which there are some notes and plenty of suggestions for future reading.
So, what would I have preferred to read? I would have preferred that the author discuss the origins of science without focusing on Greece, as this bias matches the efforts of the series as a whole in giving undue praise to Athens and minimizing other perspectives that demonstrate Greece was an effective copier of the insights of others but was not as creative as is often thought, nor as fundamental to a proper view of the world. In addition to this, it is a bit disappointing that the author did not take so much contemporary thought with regards to biology and other historical sciences behind the woodshed for their exaggerations and misunderstandings with regards to evidence and the proper role of science vis-a-vis philosophy and theology, which it appears to have often neglected in the last 150 years. That said, one does not review a book on what one would prefer to have read but rather on the book that is, and this book does offer some worthwhile suggestions in reading that help to overcome its own lacunae, which makes this book worthwhile at least for students looking on suggestions on what to read next.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
May 5, 2017
I recently had the great pleasure to learn that the conservative think tank Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), in an effort to revive education on the Western tradition for college students, commissioned different authors to write different guides to students in different areas of study, from science to literature to philosophy. The first one I have read is Stephen Barr's quick guide to natural science, which could more accurately be termed a short history of physics (since as the author explains, all the other sciences are founded in some shape or form off physics). The author takes us back to the roots of science in the inquiries of the Pre-Socratic philosophers such as Thales and Democritus, through the Middle Ages where the Aristotelian paradigm became dominant, and into the Scientific Revolution where through the advances made through the Aristotelian tradition, a truly modern science was born. I wish the guide were longer and touched more thoroughly on concepts in modern physics such as relativity and quantum mechanics, but overall it's a good very brief introduction to science and a history of how that profession came out of the very best ideas in the Western world, from the Judeo-Christian religion to the Greek philosophers.
January 11, 2025
A Student’s Guide to Natural Science was a thorough explanation of the origins and history of science and mathematics, particularly relating to physics. I learned a lot, especially about the relationship between science and the Church. It cleared up some common myths and misunderstandings about Galileo, the Ptolomeic system of astronomy, and the basic goals and organization of modern science. I thought it especially explained Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity well, which I have struggled to understand, as well as quantum theory. My only complaint would be that sometimes, the author would reference scientific terms or theories I did not know about without explaining them, which made things confusing. However, his intended audience might be older students specifically studying science who would know these things, and the purpose of the book is to be a general overview. In that, the author succeeded, and I think I understand the purpose and beauty of science and its basic tenets better.
June 23, 2020
Barr relies too much on his Catholic roots without enough criticism of philosophy of science. Plato is different from the modern view of Platonism, which owes more to Descartes (a Catholic). Still a helpful book to beginners.
July 7, 2020
A very interesting book with very insightful observations of history, science, and philosophy.
September 18, 2013
This little book (74 pages of main text, plus 6 pages of notes and recommended reading) could best be described as a short overview of the history of physics (including its interaction with astronomy up to the time of Newton), with occasional musings on the philosophy of science as well as science's interactions with the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Given the book's title, there is precious little devoted to the natural sciences other than physics and astronomy, which may disappoint many readers. For example, the mini-biographies included in the book include Archimedes, Hipparchus, Oresme, Galileo, Niels Stensen, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Newton, Laplace, Lavoisier, Maxwell, Einstein, Heisenberg, and Faraday. The list is dominated by physicists and astronomers; moreover, only two of the fifteen personae are from the 20th century.
The author, Stephen M. Barr, is an accomplished physicist and a scholar in the field of science and religion. The book is published in the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Guides to the Major Disciplines series. The publisher is a conservative academic outfit; their perspective is reflected in the book by the author's emphasis on science and religion. Nonetheless Barr tells us that the medieval church’s adoption of Aristotelian physics was "unhelpful" to the development of physical science (p. 17), and he does not deny evolution (p. 33). In this respect, the author may be closer to the scientific mainstream than other conservative voices in the national conversation of recent years. The author is careful to confine his discussion of science and religion to a mostly descriptive one, until perhaps the last few pages, where he quotes prominent physicists on their thoughts about God. In doing so he has cherry picked from those who believe, and ignores those who might differ, like Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, who famously wrote that "the more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless."
Just over half of the book is dedicated to the history of physics prior to Newton. This includes the ancient Greeks, the medieval era, and the Scientific Revolution in Europe, culminating in the Newtonian synthesis. The author makes the point that the Scientific Revolution was perhaps the only true "revolution" in physics, in the sense of completely replacing what came before (i.e., Aristotelian physics). The "revolutions" of relativity and quantum theory did not make classical physics totally unusable, but rather established its limits. Barr covers both of the modern topics in the second half of the book, but does not address the third paradigm shift of the 20th century, centered on nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory. (Indeed, not once does he mention Thomas Kuhn.) Barr briefly discusses the lack of consensus on the interpretation of quantum theory, although he seems to favor an interpretation of quantum probability in terms of an observer’s state of knowledge (p. 65). (An interpretation along such lines--QBism--has received an unusual amount of attention lately: see Physics Today, July 2012.)
Barr tackles electromagnetic theory in about 5 pages, and leaves out thermodynamics and statistical physics altogether. In a book of its length, its coverage is pretty superficial on all topics. Barr does try to show us some characteristics of a scientist's thought process, such as the interaction between theory and experiment, and the importance of predictions in evaluating new theories. He also takes a swipe at the "two great contrary movements in European philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries," rationalism and empiricism, each of which is based on an incomplete appreciation of the scientific method, he tells us (p. 27). Of more current interest is his quite useful counter-critique to post-modernists' attack on the alleged circularity or non-objectivity inherent in the theory-laden interpretation of experiments (p. 30).
What can a secular scientist take away from this little book? Insights on the history of physics are certainly of intrinsic value, and the brevity of this primer makes it an appealing vehicle to acquaint oneself with bits of that history. However, the book is too brief to tackle either the history or philosophy of physics in a substantive way. It is worth mentioning that the official blurb on Goodreads (above) is also a quite accurate and useful description of the book.
The author, Stephen M. Barr, is an accomplished physicist and a scholar in the field of science and religion. The book is published in the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Guides to the Major Disciplines series. The publisher is a conservative academic outfit; their perspective is reflected in the book by the author's emphasis on science and religion. Nonetheless Barr tells us that the medieval church’s adoption of Aristotelian physics was "unhelpful" to the development of physical science (p. 17), and he does not deny evolution (p. 33). In this respect, the author may be closer to the scientific mainstream than other conservative voices in the national conversation of recent years. The author is careful to confine his discussion of science and religion to a mostly descriptive one, until perhaps the last few pages, where he quotes prominent physicists on their thoughts about God. In doing so he has cherry picked from those who believe, and ignores those who might differ, like Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, who famously wrote that "the more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless."
Just over half of the book is dedicated to the history of physics prior to Newton. This includes the ancient Greeks, the medieval era, and the Scientific Revolution in Europe, culminating in the Newtonian synthesis. The author makes the point that the Scientific Revolution was perhaps the only true "revolution" in physics, in the sense of completely replacing what came before (i.e., Aristotelian physics). The "revolutions" of relativity and quantum theory did not make classical physics totally unusable, but rather established its limits. Barr covers both of the modern topics in the second half of the book, but does not address the third paradigm shift of the 20th century, centered on nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory. (Indeed, not once does he mention Thomas Kuhn.) Barr briefly discusses the lack of consensus on the interpretation of quantum theory, although he seems to favor an interpretation of quantum probability in terms of an observer’s state of knowledge (p. 65). (An interpretation along such lines--QBism--has received an unusual amount of attention lately: see Physics Today, July 2012.)
Barr tackles electromagnetic theory in about 5 pages, and leaves out thermodynamics and statistical physics altogether. In a book of its length, its coverage is pretty superficial on all topics. Barr does try to show us some characteristics of a scientist's thought process, such as the interaction between theory and experiment, and the importance of predictions in evaluating new theories. He also takes a swipe at the "two great contrary movements in European philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries," rationalism and empiricism, each of which is based on an incomplete appreciation of the scientific method, he tells us (p. 27). Of more current interest is his quite useful counter-critique to post-modernists' attack on the alleged circularity or non-objectivity inherent in the theory-laden interpretation of experiments (p. 30).
What can a secular scientist take away from this little book? Insights on the history of physics are certainly of intrinsic value, and the brevity of this primer makes it an appealing vehicle to acquaint oneself with bits of that history. However, the book is too brief to tackle either the history or philosophy of physics in a substantive way. It is worth mentioning that the official blurb on Goodreads (above) is also a quite accurate and useful description of the book.
March 16, 2014
Good little book discussing the history and development of science from the Greeks to today's 'superstring theory.' Most of it is very accessible, probably all of it if you are already relatively familiar with the history of science and scientists as well as some of the theories and ideas connected to physics.
The book also has lots of good little quips and ideas to pull and share with others. Here are a few I marked:
This, he says, in order to contrast the idea that Christians prevented or halted continued significant scientific advances.
The book also has lots of good little quips and ideas to pull and share with others. Here are a few I marked:
Physics can be regarded as the most fundamental branch of natural sciences, since the laws of physics govern the processes studied in all the other branches... [D]evelopments in physics and astronomy have had the most profound impact on philosophical thought.
The fact is that the glory days of ancient science were long gone by the time Christians became a significant demographic or intellectual force.
This, he says, in order to contrast the idea that Christians prevented or halted continued significant scientific advances.
Contrary to what many imagine, religious skepticism does not appear to have been a generative factor in the Scientific Revolution.
Galileo said that the great Book of Nature is written in the language of mathematics.
August 15, 2009
A fascinating overview of the natural sciences that have shaped Western thought. The author focuses primarily on physics and astronomy, touching on the highlights throughout the ages. There are also wonderful little biographies of astronomers and physicists.
August 7, 2015
Uhhhhhh
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews