Research Catalog

Title

Mission to Abisko : stories and myths in the creation of scientific "truth" / edited by John L. Casti, Anders Karlqvist.

Publication

Reading, MA : Perseus Books, 1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Casti, J. L.
• Karlqvist, Anders.

Description

viii, 194 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

• In May 1997, science author John Casti led a dozen writers to a remote Swedish village called Abisko, far above the Arctic Circle, to discuss the nature of scientific truth. Their discussions and debates focused on one major question: How do the stories that scientists tell each other, and the public, affect the way they do their science? This book is the outcome of that lively meeting of minds. Each chapter is by a noted scientist who writes, or science fiction writer who practices science.
• In this fascinating look behind the scenes of science, eleven of the world's top scientist-authors examine the phenomenon of science as storytelling.
• As these authors demonstrate, the tales scientists tell each other are often even more mysterious or fanciful than those they tell the public. Many of these tales are called "thought experiments," and their purpose is to focus and encapsulate large amounts of knowledge into short, pithy pictures that capture the essence - and the shortcomings - of a scientific theory.

Alternative Title

Stories and myths in the creation of scientific "truth"

Subjects

• Science writers
• Scientific literature
• Storytelling > Scientific applications

Note

• Includes index.

Contents

Preface / John L. Casti and Anders Karlqvist -- Ch. 1. The Analogy of Nature / John D. Barrow -- Ch. 2. Proving the Dream / Greg Bear -- Ch. 3. Beyond This Horizon: Envisioning the Next Century, or Stories of our (Preventable?) Future(s) / Gregory Benford -- Ch. 4. The Cambridge Quintet: The Chronicle of an Experiment in 'Scientific Fiction' / John L. Casti -- Ch. 5. Becoming Maureen - A Story of Development / Jack Cohen -- Ch. 6. Algorithmic and Ascetic Storytelling: Alternative Approaches to Imagination and Reality / Per-A. Johansson -- Ch. 7. Einstein at the Amusement Park: The Public Story of Relativity in Swedish Culture / Kjell Jonsson -- Ch. 8. Telling Science / Anders Karlqvist.

ISBN

0738200026 :

LCCN

98087902

OCLC

ocm40686301

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries