A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks (Nation Books) |
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A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks (Nation Books)
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by Clifford D. Conner
Sales Rank: 65706
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Discount: 32 %
List Price: $17.95
$13.46
At Amazon
on 4-17-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 424 pages
Published by: Nation Books October 18, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 1560257482
ISBN 13 Number: 978-1560257486
Book Dimensions:
8.2 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
Weighs: 1 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
In this persuasive history, Conner aggressively pursues evidence of how, since the earliest civilizations, elite scientists have suppressed and excluded lower class innovators while learning from and using their discoveries, often without giving them credit. As Conner notes, many of the "Great Man" myths about people like Galileo and Columbus, once believed to have made their contributions to science out of their own genius, have been debunked, but even those persist in the popular imagination, and others have never been addressed. The pages are dense with information and quotes from both primary sources and modern revisionist historians, and Conner tries to cover too much in too little space, but he writes clearly and skillfully shows connections as he ranges across time periods and disciplines from medicine to Art to astronomy. However, despite promising to highlight women's important role in the sciences, they are mostly absent, and the brief chapter on modern times mostly concerns itself with corruption in the pharmaceuticals and atomic weaponry industries. Nonetheless, this book is a valuable synthesis of previously spotty attempts to show science's reliance on the anonymous multitudes for many important advances.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Explicitly emulating Howard Zinn's enduringly popular A People's History of the United States (1979), Conner applies an anti-elitist point of view in his survey of science from prehistory to the present. Conner is not as occupied with scientific ideas and discoveries as he is with the sociology and historiography of science. He is keen to oppose the inculcation of admiration for the Great Men of Science--words he capitalizes in disparagement--but since science historians of socialist bent have preceded him in this iconoclastic project, Conner acknowledges that his work is something of a synthesis. That will be valuable for bringing specialist literature to general readers, who will imbibe Conner's contention that manual workers, tradesmen, and craftsmen, through a trial-and-error process, created the empirical basis for the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. In Conner's collectivist framework, names associated with the experimental method, such as Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle, are like copyright pirates; and the notion of the individual genius-scientist is illusory. With a stout left-wing attitude, Conner's tome will instigate debate. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Reader Reviews
To say that the scientific profession is removed from the "common" elements of society in that they are more intelligent, insightful, dispassionate, objective, and trustworthy is perhaps one of the most inaccurate historical (and scientific) myths that have permeated Western society. And to say that scientific or technological progress is due to a small number of "great" individuals (mostly men) throughout history is also completely unsubstantiated scientifically. It would take an enormous amount of research to substantiate either of these two beliefs, which, anecdotally speaking, seem to be held by a vast amount of people. Hero worship, the great men theory of history, and false imputations of genius occur in the scientific profession as they do in any others. For those interested in an accurate view of the history of science, these beliefs must be subjected to severe scrutiny. Intuitively, it would seem more accurate to believe that scientific ideas or even revolutions find their origins in many different people, some of who have chosen to not engage in scholarship, but have instead used these ideas because of their value in practical application. But if some ideas, or indeed most, are the result of anonymous individuals, this would be of course be difficult to prove, because of the lack of historical records. The author of this book therefore has a difficult job, for he wants to show that it was the common people, the `miners, midwives, and low mechanicks' that were primarily responsible for scientific advances. But `the people' did not write down their contributions, and so any credit to be granted to them will have to find its origin in the statements and writings of those who interacted with them. The author has done a fair job in his attempt to substantiate this claim, but there are many places in the book where he displays an anger that is best left out of an objective, professional study. His politics is definitely to the left end of the spectrum, and he interjects various politically charged statements at various places in the book. In addition, he has a somewhat bizarre condemnation of the profit motive, considering this book itself would not have appeared in print if it were not for those who are motivated by profits. Readers will be exposed to assertions that are very different from the ones they perhaps grew up with. Even if these assertions are not factual, they could still encourage critical thinking on the part of these readers. There is some very interesting content in the book, with appropriate references given. One will learn for example that the first oil well was drilled using techniques that were imported from China. Indeed, the author spends an entire section on the contributions to modern science from `Chinese artisans.' In addition, the author asserts that "Henry the Navigator" did not in fact arrive at any knowledge of navigation by himself but merely purchased it. Many, many other interesting discussions can be found in the book, some of which are "radical." Those who do not wish their cognitive equilibrium disturbed should avoid reading this book. The author also wants to fast forward to the current situation in scientific research circles. When reading this part of the book one can perhaps take a more relaxed notion of evidence and argue that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that there are severe problems in the halls of academia, that the predominant emotion there is envy, that there is more joules of energy expended on infighting than there is on research, that patronage and favoritism governs promotions rather than competence, that thesis advisors take credit for the ideas of their students, and that many of its members are so hypersensitive to criticism that reviews of their work must be done anonymously lest the reviewer be subjected to unrelenting criticism and pressure. But this reviewer knows of no scientific study that would corroborate this (anecdotal) evidence. Such a study would be of great interest to those interested in the sociology and psychology of scientific research, and to those young people who are interested in entering the scientific profession. But even if these attitudes were shown to be characteristic of the majority of academia, the fact remains that some individuals, be they famous or completely unknown, be they in academia or industry or in a garage, are responsible for the incredible rate of scientific and technological advance in the twenty-first century. These individuals whether they be `scholars' or `craftsman', and whether they documented their efforts or not, are certainly greatly appreciated, and they have left an immutable mark on history, whether this was their intent or not.
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A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks (Nation Books)
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Price: $13.46
Updated on 4-17-2008.
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