Scientific Babel: The language of science from the fall of Latin to the rise of English by Professor Michael Gordin [432 pages, Profile Books, 2015; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK hardcover/paperback/Kindle UK; Amazon US hardcover/kindle US]
Publisher’s synopsis: Today scientists are a resolutely monoglot community, using exclusively English — but the rise of English was anything but inevitable and only very recent.
In a sweeping history, from the Middle Ages through to today, Michael Gordin untangles the web of politics, money, personality and international conflict that led to the English language dominated world of science we now inhabit. He takes us on a journey from the fall of Latin to the rise of English, telling how we lost Dutch, Italian, Swedish and many other languages on the way. The significance of language in the nationalistic realm of science is astounding — just one word mistranslated into German from Russian, triggered an inflammatory contest between Germany and Russia for the credit of having discovered the periodic table. In Michael’s hands we see that science isn’t the universal quest for truth we thought, but rather the subject of political jockeying, national rivalry, and fierce competition.
Intelligent, revealing and full of amazing stories, Scientific Babel shows how the world has remade science just as much as science has transformed the world.
My first impression: This fascinating book is a scholarly investigation of the use of language to publish scientific findings, discoveries and ideas. The author introduces his treatise with a striking graph showing which languages were used to publish papers in the natural sciences — biology, chemistry and physics — from 1880 until the present time. Each chapter focuses upon a particular language — Latin, Greek, French, German, Russian, English, Esperanto, Ito and Japanese — and explores tension between the languages and the symbols (atomic structure, mathematics, etc.) used to communicate scientific ideas. Quotes about science appear frequently throughout the book in their original language (along with English translations in footnotes). Although I’ve just started reading this book, I am extremely curious to know what prevented German from becoming the universal language of science, although it certainly looks like it could have done.
Higher Education in the Digital Age by William G. Bowen [192 pages, Princeton University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK hardcover/paperback/Kindle UK; Amazon US hardcover/paperback/kindle US]
Publisher’s synopsis: Two of the most visible and important trends in higher education today are its exploding costs and the rapid expansion of online learning. Could the growth in online courses slow the rising cost of college and help solve the crisis of affordability? In this short and incisive book, William G. Bowen, one of the foremost experts on the intersection of education and economics, explains why, despite his earlier skepticism, he now believes technology has the potential to help rein in costs without negatively affecting student learning. As a former president of Princeton University, an economist, and author of many books on education, including the acclaimed bestseller, The Shape of the River, Bowen speaks with unique expertise on the subject.
Surveying the dizzying array of new technology-based teaching and learning initiatives, including the highly publicized emergence of “massive open online courses” (MOOCs), Bowen argues that such technologies could transform traditional higher education — allowing it at last to curb rising costs by increasing productivity, while preserving quality and protecting core values. But the challenges, which are organizational and philosophical as much as technological, are daunting. They include providing hard evidence of whether online education is cost-effective in various settings, rethinking the governance and decision-making structures of higher education, and developing customizable technological platforms. Yet, Bowen remains optimistic that the potential payoff is great.
Based on the 2012 Tanner Lectures on Human Values, delivered at Stanford University, the book includes responses from Stanford president John Hennessy, Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner, Columbia University literature professor Andrew Delbanco, and Coursera cofounder Daphne Koller.
My first impression: Where is higher education headed? Might it be headed towards a bright future based upon technical innovation and social inclusion, or will higher education increasingly be limited to the children of wealthy elites? This engaging book comprises a series of public lectures by the author, William Bowen, rewritten and adapted to a book format, along with some of the responses to those lectures. These lectures address “the affordability crisis” that prevents so many people from attending university, and explore the rapid expansion of online learning as a remedy to that problem. Really interesting, insightful and engaging reading, and there’s lots of useful information and references for those who wish to further explore the primary literature.
Science in Wonderland: The scientific fairy tales of Victorian Britain by Melanie Keene [256 pages, Oxford University Press, 2015; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK hardcover; Amazon US hardcover/kindle US]
Publisher’s synopsis: In Victorian Britain an array of writers captured the excitement of new scientific discoveries, and enticed young readers and listeners into learning their secrets, by converting introductory explanations into quirky, charming, and imaginative fairy-tales; forces could be fairies, dinosaurs could be dragons, and looking closely at a drop of water revealed a soup of monsters.
Science in Wonderland explores how these stories were presented and read. Melanie Keene introduces and analyses a range of Victorian scientific fairy-tales, from nursery classics such as The Water-Babies to the little-known Wonderland of Evolution, or the story of insect lecturer Fairy Know-a-Bit. In exploring the ways in which authors and translators — from Hans Christian Andersen and Edith Nesbit to the pseudonymous ‘A.L.O.E.’ and ‘Acheta Domestica’ — reconciled the differing demands of factual accuracy and fantastical narratives, Keene asks why the fairies and their tales were chosen as an appropriate new form for capturing and presenting scientific and technological knowledge to young audiences. Such stories, she argues, were an important way in which authors and audiences criticised, communicated, and celebrated contemporary scientific ideas, practices, and objects.
My first impression: What a delightful fun- and fact-filled book! Replete with reproductions of drawings and full-colour paintings that originally appeared in children’s fairy-tales, this thoughtful book covers topics like dragonology, wizards and demons, natural magic, the adventures of Madalene and Louisa, and a drop of water on its travels (that last was inspired by Faraday’s Royal Institution lectures). I am certain that I am going to be reading (or re-reading) lots of Victorian fairy-tales with fresh eyes after I’ve finished reading this sweet little book.
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When she’s not got her nose stuck in a book, GrrlScientist is very active on twitter @GrrlScientist and lurks on social media: facebook, G+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Source:New books party: books that arrived recently