Interesting book review... STEVEN PINKER (2007, May 27). The Known World. The New York Times (Sunday Book Review). Retrieved May 27, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/books/review/Pinker-t.html (free registration required, or get from your local library).

Of course we tend to like things we agree with but there were a couple of things in this review that I liked:

Though we live in an era of stunning scientific understanding, all too often the average educated person will have none of it. People who would sneer at the vulgarian who has never read Virginia Woolf will insouciantly boast of their ignorance of basic physics.

Nice to hear from someone else who is as tired as I am at hearing people brag of their ineptitude with/ignorance of science (or math or statistics). I've heard this from some very smart people -- why do they think it's ok to neglect these areas of knowledge?

Another thing that resonated (very worrisome):

“The Canon” begins on an engaging note, lamenting what is one of my pet peeves as well — the idea that science is something for kids. When their children turn 13, Angier notes, many parents abandon their memberships in zoos and science museums for more “mature” institutions like theaters and art museums.

What might be most useful for me and for science bloggers is his concise dissection of how science is communicated to the public in the papers. He seems a bit tough on the analogies -- she no doubt goes overboard, but it's probably very rare and difficult to get an analogy that works on every level like the example he gives.

BTW- the book looks good, too :)  ¶ 10:50 PM| |cites (technorati) |