The Third Culture: Scientists on the Edge

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This set of conversational essays, distilled from interviews with 23 leading scientists, presents an engaging, unparalleled road map to the frontiers of research and speculation in evolutionary biology, genetics, artificial intelligence, psychology and physics. Biologist Stephen Jay Gould argues provocatively that evolution harbors no inevitable drive toward increasing complexity or progress. Astrophysicist Martin Rees ponders the possibility of multiple universes as well as ways to locate ``dark matter,'' the 90% of the universe that exerts gravitational force yet is invisible and unaccounted for. Psychologist Steven Pinker defines language as an instinctual, specialized skill that develops in the child spontaneously. Philosopher Daniel Dennett views consciousness as a ``virtual machine,'' an abstract thinking center, while, at the opposite pole, biologist Francisco Varela melds Buddhist philosophy and neuroscience in his theory of the mind as an ``emergent self'' shaped by interactions with its environment. Contributors include biologists Richard Dawkins and Lynn Margulis, physicists Roger Penrose and Murray Gell-Mann, cosmologists Paul Davies and Alan Guth. New York literary agent Brockman is editor of About Bateson and Doing Science. Newbridge's Library of Science, Astronomy Book Club and Natural Science Book Club and Reader's Subscription special selections. (May)

Library Journal

In the style of a scientific conference, this book gathers contributions by leading intellectuals in developing fields and solicits reactions to their contributions from their colleagues. The title refers to an academic dichotomy, first identified almost 40 years ago, between the culture of humanists and that of scientists, and it further suggests that an integrating third culture is emerging through the popular scientific writings of scholars like those represented in this collection. Five parts, each organized around a current theme in science such as "The Evolutionary Idea" and "Questions of Origins," feature first-person essays by such well-known writers as Stephen Jay Gould and Murray Gell-Mann. Following each essay, there is a brief section in which other contributors respond to the ideas just presented. While the concept of a third culture is compelling and could well provide the ideological foundation of an important new movement in science, this collection is not much more than a sampler. The essays are informative but contain little new material; the follow-up commentary is sometimes gratuitous and self-congratulatory. Still, fans of science writing will like this book because of the "star" appeal of its contributors. [Brockman, a well-known literary agent who represents many scientists, also edited How Things Are: A Science Tool-Kit for the Mind, reviewed below.-Ed.]-Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib., Fla.

Gilbert Taylor

Assembling two dozen scientists who have proven their mettle as expositors for the general reader, literary agent Brockman asked them about the wider implications of their specialities. Their best-selling successes, such as Stephen Jay Gould's on evolution or Paul Davies' on physics, have challenged the work of humanists for primacy as the model of cultured writing; the model must include at least a smattering of scientific knowledge. Although Brockman and some of his contributors perhaps overdraw the fact that humanists take pride in being scientifically ignorant, this book is bound to interest those humanists on the cutting edges of evolution, artificial intelligence, cosmology, and "plectics," a word Nobelist Murray Gell-Mann coined for the combined study of simplicity and complexity. As each essay is followed by fellow contributors' comments, this tome assumes a friendly, conversational aspect, just as suitable for the coffeehouse as for the lab bench. With general science writing in something of a golden age, Brockman's group assists laggards who have missed reading the able and controversial authors of the past decade.