Science as a Way of Knowing

Library Journal

From the Greeks onward, our written records show that humankind has tried to answer ``simple'' questions--what is life, how does it reproduce, and why is there such diversity in plants and animals. Moore, professor emeritus of biology at the University of California at Riverside, traces these questions in history (primarily the 19th and 20th centuries) and their partial solution by biology. The result is a lucid, lengthy intellectual history of biology into which is woven information on geology, theology, people, equipment, and lab technique. Moore clearly explains biological terms, and he uses illustrations in the second part to help clarify biological processes. Much of this material appeared previously in eight essays in the American Zoologist . Recommended for all collections. --Michael D. Cramer, Viriginia Polytechnic & State Univ. Libs., Blacksburg

Booknews

For the past 25 years, the author has taught biology instructors how to teach biology by emphasizing the questions people have asked about life through the ages and the ways natural philosophers and scientists have sought answers. This work makes his uncommon wisdom available to students in a lively and richly illustrated account of the history and workings of life. Employs rhetoric strategies including case histories, hypotheses and deductions, and chronological narrative, providing a cultural history of biology and an introduction to the procedures and values of science. Includes b&w historical illustrations, and b&w photos of artifacts. The author is a professor of biology at UC-Riverside, and has written many textbooks in genetics and development. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Nature

This volume is a worthy addition to the literature on the history of biology. It explains the foundations of evolution, genetics, and development and the logic behind scientific enquiry with a clarity that will put most writers of...textbooks to shame. It both demystifies science and exalts it.

New Scientist

To pen a single volume embracing the entire history and present compass of ideas about life and its evolution, from the cave art of Lascaux to the molecular genetics of today, is a formidable undertaking. To tell the developing story of biological thought as an illustration of the principles and methods of scientific enquiry in a much broader sense compounds the task. John Moore...has fulfilled these aims amply in a work of enormous scope. He has informed his book with wit, a gentle humanism, and considerable charm. Science as a Way of Knowing may well become a classic.

Science News

Emphasizing not just the steady accumulation of understanding but also the way in which understanding was achieved, Moore traces biology from its beginnings in ancient cultures, especially that of Greece, to its emergence as a modern scientific discipline. In sections covering the changing conception of nature in general, evolution, genetics, and organismal development, Moore's selection of case studies and hypotheses builds into a narrative account of the reason's biologists think as they do.