Product Description

What is the golem? In Jewish mythology the Golem is an effigy or image brought to life. While not evil, it is a strong, clumsy and incomplete servant. Through a series of case studies, ranging from relativity and cold fusion to memory in worms and the sex lives of lizards, Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch debunk the traditional view that science is the straightforward result of competent theorization, observation and experimentation. Scientific certainty is the interpretation of ambiguous results. The very well received first edition generated much debate, reflected in a substantial new Afterword in this new edition, which seeks to place the book in what have become known as ‘the science wars’.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313371 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 212 pages

Review
‘A very readable account.’ New Scientist

‘ .. it succeeds extraordinarily well in this task of portraying and assessing the real fabric of scientific research, based on the insights of modern scholarship.’ Bernard Dixon, former editor of New Scientist

Customer Reviews

Challenging description of scientific work
"The Golem" describes how seven somewhat controversial scientific theories were developed and accepted (or not). It is a historical account, opposing the somewhat popular view presented in schoolbooks, about how scientific theories are "proved" by experiments. Among the interesting theories are whether the relativity theory was proved by the Michelson/Morley experiment and Eddington's measurements, a controversal theory about the sexual life of lizards, an account of the cold fusion theory and debate, and whether memory can be chemically transferred between individuals.

I read it as part of a university course in research methodology, and I must say it gave a somewhat more nuanced view of how research is carried out in practice - sometimes far from the idealized view of how science is done!

"The Golem" is by the way a very appropriate name for this account of scientific history - don't know what a Golem is? Read and find out...