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Perhaps it's a harbinger of the end of science that so much attention is being paid to the impossible. In Impossibility, astronomer John D. Barrow outlines a maturation pattern for areas of deep human inquiry that includes an adolescence of exciting discoveries, new formulas, and unusual predictions. As science has matured, our confidence in it has grown. We expect that science has answers, that its predictive powers are mostly accurate. But what happens when the science gets old? Oddly enough, it seems to have started trying to find the end of its own usefulness--its formulas "predict that there are things which they cannot predict, observations which cannot be made, statements whose truth they can neither affirm nor deny."
Barrow's book is a fairly tough read, delving into topics as varied as theology, art, mathematics, and cosmology in its quest to define impossibility. But for those who have noticed that, "Scientists seem no longer content merely to describe what they have done or what Nature is like; they are keen to tell their audience what their discoveries mean for an ever-widening range of deep philosophical questions," Impossibility is an intriguing look at the evolution of our thoughts on knowing everything. Without limits, there would be no science, and though our imaginations may roam freely through the realms of impossibility, we may find in the end that "what cannot be known is more revealing than what can." --Therese Littleton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
...a thoughtful, careful and insightful book that is presented in a skillfully woven narrative, guiding the reader gently through the thicket of logic, physics, and mathematics. I highly recommend it, especially if you like dizzying, mind-bending ideas that will make your head swim. If you are fascinated, as I am, by the limits of knowledge, you will be richly rewarded by this book. -- New Scientist, Michio Kaku
Barrow, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Sussex, has written a very engaging and even playful book. He attempts to show how certain "laws" governing "Nature" help us to separate the possible from the impossible....Barrow's book enjoyable, informative, and thought provoking. -- Paul Copan, Philosophy and Theology --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
http://rapidshare.com/files/270775805/Impossibility_-_The_Limits_of_Science_and_the_Science_of_Limits__J.Barrow__1998_.rar |
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