Scientific Research

Nine Crazy Ideas in Science A Few Might Even Be True

Name: Nine Crazy Ideas in Science A Few Might Even Be True
Author: Robert Ehrlich
ISBN: 9780691070018

by Robert Ehrlich

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Overview

AIDS is not caused by HIV. Coal and oil are not fossil fuels. Radiation exposure is good for you. Distributing more guns reduces crime. These ideas make headlines, but most educated people scoff at them. Yet some of science's most important concepts-from gravity to evolution-have surfaced from the pool of crazy ideas. In fact, a good part of science is distinguishing between useful crazy ideas and those that are just plain nutty. In this book, a well-known physicist with an affinity for odd ideas applies his open mind to nine controversial propositions on topical subjects. Some, it turns out, are considerably lower on the cuckoo scale than others.

Robert Ehrlich evaluates, for the general reader or student, nine seemingly far-out propositions culled from physics, biology, and social science. In the process, he demonstrates in easy-to-understand terms how to weigh an argument, judge someone's use of statistics, identify underlying assumptions, and ferret out secret agendas. His conclusions are sometimes surprising. For instance, he finds that while HIV does cause AIDS and the universe almost certainly started with a big bang, our solar system could have two suns, faster-than-light particles might exist, and time travel can't be ruled out as mere science fiction.

Anyone interested in unorthodox ideas will get a kick out of this book. And, as a fun way of learning how to think like a scientist, it has enormous educational value. Of course, only time will tell whether any of these nine ideas will be the next continental drift—the now orthodox account of the Earth's geology that was for years just a crazy idea.

Author Biography: Robert Ehrlich is Professor of Physics at George Mason University. His books include Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down and Turning the World Inside Out and 174 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations (both Princeton).

...a good part of science is distinguishing between useful crazy ideas and those that are just plain nutty. In this book, a well-known physicist with an affinity for odd ideas applies his open mind to nine controversial propositions on topical subjects...

About the Author, Robert Ehrlich

Robert Ehrlich is Professor of Physics at George Mason University. His books include Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down and Turning the World Inside Out and 174 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations (both Princeton).

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Evolution was considered a "crazy idea" 150 years agoand still is by some peoplebut within 50 years of its introduction, it was accepted by most scientists. Today a handful of scientists believe that oil and gas have not been produced by the decay of organic materials and that massive reserves exist deep in the earth. How should we go about evaluating such ideas, which may appear to be "crazy" at first glance? Here, Ehrlich, a professor of physics at George Mason University and author of other popular-science books (Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down), looks at nine offbeat ideas to show how seriously they should be taken. He uses a rating system of zero to four cuckoos ("why not?" to "certainly false") to evaluate the plausibility of each one. Ideas such as "More guns mean less crime" and "There was no big bang" receive three cuckoos ("almost certainly not true"). However, awarding zero cuckoos to the idea that "faster-than-light particles exist" (in his own area of expertise) but three to "AIDS is not caused by HIV" may lead readers to question his objectivity, since there is still as much to be learned about retroviruses as about tachyons. Some chapters are better argued than others: Ehrlich persuasively shows how a nonbiogenic origin for oil and natural gas is at least plausible, whereas the writing gets sloppy at times in the AIDS and time travel chapters. The author says that the book is aimed at the "general reader," but science buffs won't find much here that's new and interesting; other readers may miss the spark of excitement and enthusiasm found in the best popular-science writing. (May) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

More guns, less crime? AIDS not caused by HIV? Sun exposure and low doses of nuclear radiation are good for you? Two suns for our solar system? "Fossil fuels" don't come from organic matter? Time travel is possible? Some particles move faster than light? The Big Bang never banged? Robert Ehrlich—a physicist at George Mason University with a flair for explaining science—tackles each of these nine "crazy" ideas, illustrates them with zany cartoons, spells out the arguments for and against them, and rates them on a scale from zero to three cuckoos. This is a wonderful book for getting high school and college students to open their minds to unconventional ideas. Even readers who can't follow the math or technical details in some chapters can get a feel for the ways controversial ideas arise, why they can be good for science, how scientists go about testing them, and how ordinary citizens can evaluate unorthodox scientific and medical ideas that affect our daily lives. The discussion on abiogenic origins of oil, gas, and coal and the consequences for public policy if the theory is right (Ehrlich thinks it is) alone are worth the price of the book to anyone who teaches earth sciences, environmental sciences, energy issues—or who is trying to decide what kind of car to buy. As science editor at Rutgers University Press, I published Ehrlich's books The Cosmological Milkshake (1994) and What If You Could Unscramble an Egg (1996). I like his light-hearted approach to tough scientific problems, and I would have been proud to be his editor for this one, too. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, Princeton Univ. Press, 244p. illus. notes.bibliog. index.,
— Karen Reeds

Nature - Paul Davies

Modern science, especially physics, is replete with outlandish ideas that defy common sense and intuition. It is almost impossible for the non-scientist to discriminate between the legitimately weird and the outright crackpot. . . . Robert Ehrlich has assembled a fascinating collection of apparently crazy ideas, and subjected them to careful analysis. . . . Ehrlich points out how statistics can be misleadingly presented . . . and how the distinction between effects that are causally related and those that are merely correlated often gets blurred.

Physics Today - William H. Ingham

Clear and lively. . . . Ehrlich . . . is entertaining, but the genuine value of his book lies in the analyses. . . . An important addition to an underpopulated genre of science books: It critically examines both sides of interesting, important, and unsettled arguments.