Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything

Philip Ball

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Published by Vintage Digital, part of Vintage Publishing

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Format: ebook

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EAN: 9781448129553
Published: 17 May 2012

About the book

Synopsis

There was a time when curiosity was condemned.

Through curiosity, our innocence was said to be lost. Yet this hasn't deterred us. Today we spend vast sums trying to recreate the first instants of creation in particle accelerators, out of pure desire to know. There seems now to be no question too vast or too trivial. No longer reviled, curiosity is now celebrated.

By examining the rise of curiosity from the dawn of modern science to today, we can examine how it functions in science, how it is spun, packaged and sold, and how the changing shape of science influences the kinds of questions it may ask.

Press

What the critics say

Philip Ball, like Levi, displays a polymath’s enthusiasm for knowledge of all kinds, and writes of science with humility and intelligent generosity.
- Telegraph

Ball's fascinating book revels not just in the experiments of these early scientists, but also in their humanity, foibles and passions
- Sunday Times

A wonderfully nuanced and wise study of the scientific revolution
- Guardian

Fascinating
- Daily Telegraph

Philip Ball’s scintillating history of curiosity brims with treats
- Nature Magazine

By this author

About the Author

Philip Ball is a freelance writer and a consultant editor for Nature, where he previously worked as an editor for physical sciences. He writes regularly in the scientific and popular media, and his many books on scientific subjects include Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads To Another, which won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. His latest books include The Music Instinct, Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind, and, most recently, Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People. Philip obtained a PhD in physics from the University of Bristol.

Philip Ball