Book description
The 'trouble' with science began in 1632, when Galileo demolished
the belief that the earth is the centre of the universe. Yet despite
the bewildering success of the scientific revolution, many continue to
hanker after the cosy certainties of a man-centred universe, and young
people increasingly turn away from science. In The Trouble with
Science, Professor Robin Dunbar launches a vigorous counter-blast.
Drawing on studies of traditional societies and animal behaviour, his
argument ranges from Charles Darwin to Nigerian Fulani herdsman, from
lab rats to the mathematicians of ancient Babylonia. Along the way, he
asks whether science really is unique to western culture - even to
mankind - and suggests that our 'trouble with science' may lie in the
fact that evolution has left our minds better able to cope with
day-to-day social interaction than with the complexities of the
external world.
Robin Dunbar is currently Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at
Oxford University and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His principal
research interest is the evolution of sociality. He was elected a Fellow
of the British Academy in 1998. His books include The Trouble with
Science, 'an eloquent riposte to the anti-science lobby' (Sunday Times),
and Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language. The Human Story was
described as 'fizzing with recent research and new theories' in the
Sunday Times and 'punchy and provocative' by the New Scientist. How Many
Friends Does One Person Need?: Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary
Quirks was published in 2010.
