The Secret Life of Science: How It Really Works and Why It Matters

by Jeremy J. Baumberg

A revealing and provocative look at the current state of global science

We take the advance of science as given. But how does science really work? Is it truly as healthy as we tend to think? How does the system itself shape what scientists do? The Secret Life of Science takes a clear-eyed and provocative look at the current state of global science, shedding light on a cutthroat and tightly tensioned enterprise that even scientists themselves often don't fully understand.

The Secret Life of Science is a dispatch from the front lines of modern science. It paints a startling picture of a complex scientific ecosystem that has become the most competitive free-market environment on the planet. It reveals how big this ecosystem really is, what motivates its participants, and who reaps the rewards. Are there too few scientists in the world or too many? Are some fields expanding at the expense of others? What science is shared or published, and who determines what the public gets to hear about? What is the future of science? Answering these and other questions, this controversial book explains why globalization is not necessarily good for science, nor is the continued growth in the number of scientists. It portrays a scientific community engaged in a race for limited resources that determines whether careers are lost or won, whose research visions become the mainstream, and whose vested interests end up in control.

The Secret Life of Science explains why this hypercompetitive environment is stifling the diversity of research and the resiliency of science itself, and why new ideas are needed to ensure that the scientific enterprise remains healthy and vibrant.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Audiobook, History

248 pages, Hardcover

Published May 15, 2018

Reviews

[Mark Drinnenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book may be very interesting to scientists, but to non-scientists, not so much. It has some very good moments, such as when Baumberg explains how the science that gets reported on is the science that will appeal to readers and how such reporting affects funding and careers, etc. Science reporting also gives the public the idea that major breakthroughs in science are common when in reality they are not. Such reporting also creates an expectation that science has value not just for knowledge's sake, but for the useful products that can result from it (e.g., medicines, inventions, etc.). Such an expectation placed upon science ignores the fact that it sometimes takes years (even decades) of less-exciting research (which must also be funded) to end up with a product that attracts attention and benefits society.

Additionally, funders can be attracted to the scientists who are best at selling the importance of their research (and who look and sound good doing it), regardless of whether or not they are good scientists, while slow-talking, bumbling geniuses sometimes get caught in the squeeze. Baumberg is good at demonstrating how such things can be both good and bad for the future of science.

The above examples are some of the most interesting reading in this book for the non-scientist, but then come pages of something like detailed descriptions of how conferences are organized and run, the various types of meetings that take place at such conference, and things like that. If I were hoping to become a scientist, I might like to read such detail to learn what I would be getting myself into with such a pursuit; but for the rest of us, such writing can feel tedious and make you wonder how many pages there are until the end of the chapter.

Clearly Baumberg is a scientist who has a good handle on how what he terms the ecostystem of science functions (a very helpful metaphor). If the details of how the scientific world operates are your cup of tea, you may love this book. If not, you may find some very interesting sections in its pages (as I did) while finding the rest of the book to be somewhat dry.

[Peter McCluskey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent and unexciting description of how science looks to a typical scientist.

Most of what it says is right, but I was disappointed at how little it said about "why it matters", in spite of putting that in the subtitle.

The book might lead readers to think that one of the bigger problems facing science is the pressure to attend more conferences. That is undoubtedly a distraction that's quite conspicuous to scientists. But I expect anyone who manages to focus on the big picture would be more concerned about the poor incentives that influence funding decisions.

And speaking of incentives: the author is aware that peer reviewers have poor incentives, but he seems uninterested in any problems that might cause. He's also a bit misleading about the history of peer review: "This is the way the system has worked for centuries ... no one has devised anything better". Yet Wikipedia suggests that it was uncommon for editors to use external reviewers until the middle of the 20th century. I suspect that the older practice, of editors doing most of the reviewing, was better for science. I suspect that the switch to unpaid external reviewers served mainly to minimize the risk that editors would suffer consequences for bad decisions.

The last chapter is fairly different, and gives some fairly creative suggestions for improving science. Alas, they weren't quite thoughtful enough for me to want to analyze them carefully.

[Yoric · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title looks appealing to anyone interested in science.
However, listening to the first 20 min was very boring.

Did you ever hear someone talking about a topic, in such a verbose and boring way that you forget what is the topic itself?
The book should have been titled: "the least interesting way to talk about science".

[Patrick Pilz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very british and kind of painful to read or listen to. If you are on a career path to science, or you are interested in the inner workings of the science community, go for it. But make sure that this is a book by someone on a mission, at times confused in his own thoughts.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wonder at why it was not titled "The Failing Business of Science," but that might have been a bit unkind. Baumberg shoved a whole lot of facts into a book about how the world has developed a huge amount of effort into turning ideas into reality - with some success at keeping it interesting.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a philosophy of science book -- it's a practical guide to how actual science gets conducted. Probably a good introduction for a graduate student who's serious about becoming a professional scientist and wants a guidebook on what to expect.

[Kristine · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a scientist, I was intrigued to see how these topics would be presented for a more general audience. Unfortunately, scientists already know and live this, and it is irrelevant and quite boring for non-scientists. It may be useful for aspiring scientists, but it isn’t relevant to most readers.

[Fernando Hoces de la Guardia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half of the book, on the different components behind the science ecosystem, it’s worth reading