10 Questions Science Can't Answer (Yet): A Guide to Science's Greatest Mysteries

by Michael Hanlon

Book Overview

From the author of the bestselling The Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes another incredible trip to an even more mysterious terrain. Michael Hanlon identifies ten scientific questions that we simply can't seem to answer and explains why these compelling mysteries will remain unsolved for years to come. How did life begin? Why are there two sexes? Where did language originate? In Hanlon's characteristically witty style, he ponders...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0230517587
• ISBN13: 9780230517585
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

SOCRATIC CANDOR & CUTTING EDGE SCIENCE

Umberto Eco was right: Science has all the trappings of just another religion. A strict belief system and lists of virtues and sins; acolytes and authoritative high-priests; dogmas and unquestionable Truths. And like any religion, it has its logical limits. Michael Hanlon has been the Science editor for DAILY MAIL, DAILY EXPRESS and INDEPENDENT. For a journalist he has a firm grasp of the latest scientific discoveries and their philosophical implications. This book is an excellent example of this. The book addresses some cardinal questions (from consciousness and the nature of time to the emergence of life and the perception of reality) and some marginal ones (the causes of modern obesity epidemic and the paranormal theories). Written with a deep understanding of the sciences involved, Hanlon manages to speak to both scientists and laymen alike. References are kept to a minimum and explanations are complete but far from apocryphal. RECOMMENDED!

Easy to read book takes the reader to science's cutting edge & demands more; a glimpse of the oute

Michael Hanlon writes clearly on challenging subjects, which sets this book apart from the average book on science. The reader does not need any specialized knowledge to understand the book's description of the latest scientific achievements, and to look wonderingly toward what might lie beyond. The prose is intelligent, but not arrogant, even as it asks what may appear as thorny questions. Each of the ten chapters explores a question and discusses the extent to which science has come close or stayed away from that question. The chapters cover a variety of subjects that confront different branches of science. The book presents just the right amount of information and questioning in a comfortable, almost always entertaining tone, which occasionally gets conversational. The book's adoption of popular lingo (e.g., in a chapter entitled "What are we going to do with the stupid?") can turn off some sensitive readers.