The Golem: What You Should Know about Science

Depending on your intentions, this book, and its companion volume The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology, could be indespensible. They comprise a number of case studies in contemporary (i.e. 20th century) scientific discoveries and controversies that can be read in any order. The studies are couched between an introduction and conclusion that express the authors' aims -- to show science in action as messy and controversial but nontheless a powerful means for generating knowledge. These slender volumes are ideally suited for a course in the history or philosophy of science.By exploring how scientists actually conduct themselves and describing the scientific and extra-scientific stakes, the authors (two sociologists of science) dispel many scientific myths in a lucid, approachable style. Even with casual study, they can bolster scientific understanding. The books are of potentially special value to undergraduate and graduate students studying and doing science themselves. I'm tempted to say that if you're a young scientist, these books cannot fail to make you a better one. Even if you're not a scientist, and never intend to be one, these are fascinating stories.Of course, many scientists have known for a long time what Collins and Pinch have tried to convey. J.B.Conant was such a scientist. His case studies, published in 1957, provide historical examples in the same mold as Collins and Pinch, who explicitly admit to having drawn inspiration from The Harvard Case Studies in Experimental Science edited by J.B.Conant

Collins is a big shot in science studies. He introduced a rather strong research tradition in the sociology of science. There he looks at controversies in science and shows that scientific truth is being produced continously by the scientists. Basically, his point is that science is a social enterprise, done by people and that social mechanisms are inherent to scientific results and by no means just flaws in a otherwise pure science. This little book gives a collection of various case-studies (from relativity to para-science) that have been given a treatment of this kind. The different topics make it easy and interesting to read and show that the same mechanisms work in any scientific field. I particularly like the book because it relates various case-studies that otherwise have little in common with one another.