Book Description

A comprehensive introductory research methods guide, this textbook provides students with an understanding of the concepts and techniques of qualitative and quantitative research. It uses simple examples and practice exercises to demystify complex theories and methodologies. Features include: * STQ's - Self Testing Questions (and answers)* Summaries, suggestions for further reading, examples and case studies for each chapter* Consideration of the ethics of research* Comprehensive coverage of quantitative methods, qualitative methods and survey methods* Hints on how to use of the leading software packages for quantitative and qualitative research, SPSS and NUD·IST* Advice on how to write up a research report The book's accessibility and lively presentation will be valued by academics and students across the social sciences. ... Read more

Book Description

The Hadley and Walker Circulations are fundamental regulators of the Earth’s energy budget. Although the Hadley Circulation is a well-known concept, surprisingly little attention has been paid to understanding both short and long-term variability of the system. This book reviews current knowledge of Hadley and Walker circulation dynamics and their interactions with the major global monsoon systems, and evaluates paleoclimatic records within the domain of the Hadley Circulation that shed light on past variability of climate over the last 1000 years, the Holocene (the last 11,500 years), glacial periods, and warm climate periods in the past.  The book examines potentially important factors that may have affected the Hadley and Walker Circulations on these different time scales and evaluates changes in the Hadley Circulation and the monsoons as simulated by coupled models of past climate conditions, and predicted future conditions under an enhanced greenhouse effect. This book is meant to serve as a fundamental reference work for current and future researchers, graduate students in the atmospheric sciences and geosciences, and climate specialists involved in interdisciplinary research.

Book Description

In recent years, interest in proteins has surged. This resurgence has been driven by the expansion of the post-genomic era when structural genomics and proteomics require new techniques in protein chemistry and new applications of older techniques. Protein chemistry methods are used by nearly every discipline of biomedical research. Many techniques have been used in less traditional ways with exciting results. Modern Protein Chemistry: Practical Aspects describes the practical side of advanced techniques in protein chemistry. The book gives researchers an excellent "cost-benefit" analysis of these techniques. The contributors have been selected for their prominence in their specific fields and because they run laboratories that actively collaborate with other scientists. Researchers and practitioners, both beginners and experienced, who are looking for new ideas and who are interested in applying these more advanced methods will be assisted in their work by these commentaries.This guide provides hands-on information to complement theoretical understanding. The theory behind these methods can be found in existing books and in the original literature. However, no other guide will help you make a practical evaluation of these methods and their value to your work. ... Read more

Book Description

Surveying the types of personal records that are available on the Internet and through online services, this encyclopedic book explains how researchers find and use personal data, identifies the most useful sources of information about people, and offers advice for those with privacy concerns. Researchers will learn how to use online tools and databases to gain competitive intelligence, locate and investigate people, access public records, identify experts, find new customers, recruit employees, search for assets, uncover criminal records, and conduct genealogical research. Added to this updated edition is a more comprehensive listing of all vendors of public records. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Perfect Tool For The Job
I'm referred to often by talk-show hosts as 'expert on personal safety and privacy', and yet - here is a resource that is an endless wealth of information on Web resources and a few tricks even I did not know.

I have to disagree with the 'yawn' offered by another reviewer - this book isn't aimed at professionals who have already been around the block, though they can still benefit to a degree. It's aimed at people who don't have the tools and skills already at hand. Further, the best part is that there is a well-maintained Web site that keeps all the links and information up to date - more like an insider's association membership than a book with respect to usefulness. That's a value to all, especially a professional who is too busy applying what he knows to continually research the narrow topic on their own.

I've even tracked down former intelligence community types using her advice. With a table of contents 20 pages long, its in there. While the book focuses on trying to help you find someone, it logically follows that if you are trying not to be found - knowing what you are up against and how it works can help you defeat the system.

A good come-on but not much follow through
Some of the sites are informative -- for instance, if you are doing academic or "serious" research, the search engines, etc. provided are great. But as far as real "spy" stuff, there's not much new between the covers here.

Be prepared to spend yer hard earned cash...
The title should be: "The Best Places to Spend Your Money on a Whim, and Lordy, I Hope You Got Time". Lane's book is well-written, researched, and simple to understand. It covers an enormous number of topics and is actually quite useful--IF, and yes, that's a capital IF, you wish to find things as a way of making money or starting a business. The book gives you many ideas and starting points, but it, and it's official review are somewhat misleading. There is plenty of info about where to find minor stuff (geneaology, search engines, et cetera) on the 'net, but most of the good stuff (credit reports, skip tracing, legal records, criminal records, et cetera) requires you to sign up and PAY for things like Nexis-Lexis, Knight-Ridder Databases, and Dun and Bradstreet, depending on what you would like to find. For a corporation that needs these information constantly, or someone trying to learn what is available, and where to look, "Naked" can be very informative. But for those of us who just want to find someone/thing once in a while, "Naked in Cyberspace" is not worth the money nor the time spent. Bought it--returned it. 'Nuff said ... Read more

Book Description

Designed for researchers and students alike, the volume describes how to perform each stage of the data collection process on the Internet, including sampling, instrument design, and administration. Through the use of non-technical prose and illustrations, it details the options available, describes potential dangers in choosing them, and provides guidelines for sidestepping them. In doing so, though, it does not simply reiterate the practices of traditional communication modes, but approaches the Internet as a unique medium that necessitates its own conventions. ... Read more

Amazon.com

What is your cat thinking when she scratches at the door? What goes through Koko the gorilla's mind when she signs? For that matter, what goes through our minds when we think about animals and intelligence?Science writer Stephen Budiansky explores the difficulties of comparing intelligence between species in If a Lion Could Talk and takes a strong stance against measuring other animals using human standards. (The title is part of a Wittgenstein quote that ends "...we would not understand him.")

The book shows how the most basic principle of evolution--that all living things are related--has been misconstrued by well-meaning scientists to imply that all animals possess intelligence that differs from ours only in quantity. This leads to comparisons of near-equivalence between such intuitively likely pairs as adult gorillas and human children, comparisons that Budiansky suggests are misleading and more descriptive of our own minds than those of our distant cousins. What evolution should be telling us, he says, is that each species is equally well suited to its niche and should be examined for what it is, not how similar or different it is from us. How is it that chimpanzees can perform such remarkable problem-solving without language?

If a Lion Could Talk will not make anyone lose interest in animal minds, for that is not its intention. If anything, it inspires a real sense of admiration for the billions of living things that make it through each day despite the seemingly terrible handicap of not being human. Budiansky tells us that if we want to learn about our planet-mates, we have a lot of unlearning to do. Luckily for us he is gracious enough to provide an introductory unlesson. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Fascinating, Challenging, and Counter-Intuitive
If you like having things you think you know challenged by a rigorous scientific thinker and expert debater, you'll like this book. You'll also learn a heck of a lot -- not only about animals and how they evolved, but about humans and how we evolved. As well as about how some of the advantages evolution has given us actually fog our thinking on issues such as animal intelligence.

If you're not a rigorous scientific thinker, or can't stand to risk having a sacred cow gored (if I may use a term redolent of speciest violence against animals, or some such claptrap), don't bother reading this book. You'll only wind up giving it a one-star review and shrieking tediously about your violated sense of oneness with the Earth.

Laugh and learn
Budiansky performs a valuable service in this book: he casts a skeptical eye on a lot of very enthusiastic theorizing. I enjoy his sense of humor, and wish he had kept it up. The book bogs down. I got bored reading about the umpteenth clever experiment in which some animal presses, or does not press, a lever at some stimulus. Bored and envious: while I'm working for a living, these people are raking in good grant money for playing with chimpanzees? I should have studied biology!

The last chapter's attacks on evolutionary psychology didn't sit well with me. Budiansky has deliberately chosen the more untenable theories to attack, and ignored the field's provocative contributions. He could have down without a lot of the shouting.

As to Budiansky's central arguments, he would have profited greatly from the on-line, off-line thinking Derek Bickerton put forth in "Language and Human Behavior."

Discussions about animal language and consciousness miss a point: language is first and foremost a tool, and even trained apes don't use that tool. They miss the first criterion of language, that it is something to be used. I have never read an account of Chimp A using ASL with Chimp B, or transmitting it to Chimp C. Human language is the most efficent communcation device in the animal kingdom. If gorillas and chimpanzees do grasp the concepts of language, why don't they use it with each other?

In closing these random remarks, let me comment that I for one am just as happy lions can't talk. Little could be more disconcerting than walking across the savanna and hearing a voice from behind some bushes saying, "Oh goodie, just when I was so hungry, it's one of those delicious hairless things that can't run very fast."

Misrepresents study findings
On page 108, Budiansky writes: "[Birds]can fly reliably in a preset compass direction...but many such birds have no mental map or spatial memory to go with this compass. If shifted laterally off course, they do not adjust their direction to keep heading toward their habitual wintering spot, but instead continue to fly on the same preset magnetic compass bearing--and they wind up displaced laterally from their destination."

This does not represent the findings of the largest bird migration study ever conducted, that by Dutch biologist A.C. Perdeck. Over the course of several years, Perdeck captured 11,000 migrating starlings at their autumn stopover sites in Britain and France. He ringed them and transported them by aircraft to Switzerland, 375 miles to the SE, where they were released. Perdeck found that juvenile birds that had never migrated before continued to fly on their original directional heading and ended up in southern France or Spain. Adults who had migrated before, however, reoriented themselves and flew via different headings to their normal wintering grounds in England and northern France.

Perdeck repeated the experiments with migrating chaffinches captured in Holland and released in Switzerland. Again, juvenile birds continued on with their original directional heading, SW, but adults reoriented and flew NW to their traditional wintering grounds in Britain. (In nature, the birds fly in mixed flocks of adults and juveniles.)

Budiansky doesn't footnote his statement and in the chapter notes only cites the general popular reference work, "The Oxford Companion to Animal Behavior," not even pointing to a specific article in this work. In other words, the source of the information for his statement is effectively obscured.

I am sympathetic to Budiansky's point of view, but I am very, very disappointed in the way he has presented his arguments. In short, his book is not a reliable report of research findings on animal "intelligence."

Much better than its reviews would indicate!
It's very sad that a lot of readers who have reviewed this book have been unable to get past their beliefs to give this book an honest review. If you are an animal rights type, who believes that dogs are "fur people" or that chimps experience life the same as humans, this book is not for you. If you have a genuine curiosity for interesting research and theory, and aren't totally blinded by animal rights rhetoric, you will love this book!!

Muddled logic to prove a point
The point of this book is to "prove" that only people think. Anything a non-human, be it a bacteria or a gorilla, does that looks like thinking actually isn't. It's all programmed by evolution. He cites study after study to prove his point, even when the study appears not to prove it at all.

Some examples of anthropomorphism, of course, are clearly erroneous - the famous example of the counting horse, and the way evolution seems almost spooky in its apparent "intelligence." Certainly he's right in saying that it's hubris on our part to compare animals intelligence solely in terms of ours. And it's not very accurate either; at a wolf refuge in Washington state, called Wolf Haven, they tell you that researchers have determined that a German Shepherd dog is as intelligent as a 4-year old child, but a wolf is as intelligent as a 12-year old. There are very few four-year-olds, or 12-year olds, for that matter, who could survive and thrive in the wild, hunting their food successfully and finding safe places to sleep, avoiding predators and hunters along the way.

But then he jumps from those errors, with a few bashes at Decartes along the way, to the conclusion that only people think. There is little difference, he says, between the behavior of a simple computerized model of a cricket and a real cricket.

And, by extension, there's little difference between that computer toy and a chimpanzee, at least in terms of its behavior. Bernd Heinrich, in his fascinating book Mind of the Raven, discusses his frustration at being unable to publish articles with results that appear to demonstrate raven's abilities to figure out problems. It didn't matter how carefully he was able to construct the studies, and how accurate the results appeared, the scientific community doesn't want to hear it.

Certainly it's accurate (apparently) that only humans use language in any real sense, and much of what separates human behavior from the behavior or "lower" animals is that language and what it enables us to do. But that's not enough for him, he wants to have people be the only animals that think at all, and he goes through study after study to demonstrate this fact, whether the studies show that or not.

One example: a study had chimpanzees, pigeons, and college students look at a series of pictures of birds, to learn to pick out the kingfisher. Once they could do it, they got a second set of different bird pictures, from which they were supposed to identify the kingfisher. All three groups did very well on the test (80-90% right) but on interviewing the human participants, the researchers learned that they had simply been picking out the most colorful bird, rather than correctly identifying the kingfisher. So they reran the second part of the test, using brightly colored birds with the kingfisher pictures, and the scores of the apes, the pigeons, and the college students all dropped by about 10%. This proves, apparently, that animals can't think the way people do.

It's unfortunate, because he does make some very good points. For instance, the things which set apart human brain function from other animals: language, planning, playing chess, the ability to do mathematics, are precisely those things which computers can do well - in fact, far better than we -- while the things that "even animals" can do, such as recognizing a face, or navigating across a room without bumping into anything, computers have so far been almost perfect failures at. Although he doesn't say it, it seems pretty clear to me that this is an indication that we understand things like mathematics and language much better than we do our own ability to recognize faces. What you don't understand, you can't program.

So, if you want to be reassured that the "Tenko the Robotic Puppy" your child wants for Christmas this year is just the same as a real puppy, but without the walks and the droppings, this book is for you. ... Read more

Book Description

The use of fluorescent and luminescent probes to measure biological function has increased dramatically since publication of the First Edition due to their improved speed, safety, and power of analytical approach. This eagerly awaited Second Edition, also edited by Bill Mason, contains 19 new chapters and over two thirds new material, and is a must for all life scientists using optical probes.
The contents include discussion of new optical methodologies for detection of proteins, DNA and other molecules, as well as probes for ions, receptors, cellular components, and gene expression. Emerging and advanced technologies for probe detection such as confocal laser scanning microscopy are also covered. This book will be essential for those embarking on work in the field or using new methods to enhance their research.

TOPICS COVERED:
* Single and multiphoton confocal microscopy
* Applications of green fluorescent protein and chemiluminescent reporters to gene expression studies
* Applications of new optical probes for imaging proteins in gels
* Probes and detection technologies for imaging membrane potential in live cells
* Use of optical probes to detect microorganisms
* Raman and confocal raman microspectroscopy
* Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy
* Digital CCD cameras and their application in biological microscopy ... Read more

Book Description

"The authors take a ‘user friendly’ systematic approach to qualitative research, something that has long been missing in the field. I consider this to be a groundbreaking work, one that will hit home with students and faculty alike."   
—Justin M. Laird, SUNY Brockport

“This book does an excellent job of integrating design, methods, and analysis. . . . The real beauty of the book is that it overturns many of the age-old assumptions about how ‘good’ research should be done. . . . The authors’ pleasant and refreshing style, coupled with subtle irreverence for outmoded or constraining paradigms of inquiry, makes for highly enjoyable reading.”
 —Roger Rennekamp, University of Kentucky
 
Interactive Qualitative Analysis: A Systems Method for Qualitative Research aims to help students unscramble the mysteries of qualitative data collection, coding, and analysis by showing how to use a systematic, qualitative technique: interactive qualitative analysis. The authors synthesize ideas from grounded theory, path and factor analysis, quality management theory, Foucauldian concepts of power and knowledge, and systems theory. A dialectical revision of Guba and Lincoln’s theory of rigor is offered which, combined with systems theory, offers new insights into the meaning of reliability and validity in qualitative research.

Unlike many theoretical works, Interactive Qualitative Analysis develops the theory into a complete and transparent set of protocols for research design, observation, analysis, and interpretation. The construction, interpretation, and comparison of recursive systems of meaning, or mindmaps, is articulated in detail. The book is organized so that those not interested in theory can skip to the applied chapters. Case studies illustrate each stage of the research process with an emphasis on interpretation.

The combination of theory and practice perfectly suits the book for advanced qualitative research courses across the social sciences, especially those that address epistemology. Professional researchers and evaluators will also find this an invaluable guide to qualitative analysis.

Key Features

* Advice boxes alert readers to potential pitfalls in qualitative research, and offer the appropriate steps to take in order to avoid such issues
* Sidebars provide clear and concise snapshots of the theoretical basis for research  decisions
* Interactive CD contains sample data and exercises to provide students with effective practice as well as reinforce and clarify principles explained in the book
* Provides a “road map” to using interactive qualitative inquiry in dissertation writing

Book Description

Bringing together the recent and relevant contributions of over 125 scientists from industry, government, and academia in North America and Western Europe, Alternative Toxicological Methods explores the development and validation of replacement, reduction, and refinement alternatives (the 3Rs) to animal testing. Internationally recognized scientists present what has been accomplished thus far in developing acceptable alternatives to traditional animal toxicological assessment and provide potentially new initiatives.In over 40 chapters, the book addresses 7 themes, beginning with the validation and regulatory acceptance of alternatives in the US, the UK, and Western Europe. Then the book covers methods based on the mechanisms of eye irritation at the ocular surface, dermal toxicity testing, and assessing neurotoxicity. It also includes a case study in the use of alternatives to determine the mechanism of sulfur mustard action and discusses the role of transgenics and toxicokinetics in the development of alternative toxicity tests. Finally the book presents recent innovations in alternatives, including the use of archival data, and in silico techniques.Focusing on the science and not the politics, Alternative Toxicological Methods concisely discusses the application of state-of-the-art methods and explores cutting-edge research related to developing and validating alternatives to animal testing. This book will benefit toxicologists, cosmetic chemists, pharmacologists, experimental biologists, dermatologists, ophthalmologists, and regulatory officers in their quest for applying the 3Rs to the use of animals in toxicological testing of drug candidates, chemicals, and cosmetics. ... Read more

Book Description

The management of biomedical research using animals has become increasingly complex due to new technology, increased regulatory oversight, and recognition of the need for animals free of disease and distress. Within this changing environment, individuals charged with the management of laboratory animal facilities have a substantial responsibility to the institution, the public, and the animals. Management of Laboratory Animals Care and Use Programs provides both factual and theoretical information drawn from the substantial experience of authors who are noted experts in the field. This book will provide individuals with the basic knowledge and information necessary to meet typical professional challenges. A co-publication with the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, this valuable book serves as the text for the Certified Manager Animal Resources (CMAR) exam. ... Read more

Book Description

Australian Sir Douglas Mawson chose not to go with Robert Scott to the South Pole in 1911, but instead set out on a less prestigious expedition to chart Antarctica's coastline. Mawson was not inexperienced - in 1908 he had led an important expedition to the South Magnetic Pole - but nothing could have prepared him for what happened on this trek. Mawson's task was to chart 1,500 miles of coastline and claim it for the British crown. Setting out in a party of three, he faced mountains, crevasse-filled glaciers, and 60-mile-per-hour winds. Six weeks and 320 miles out, one man fell into a crevasse, along with the tent, most equipment, and all but a week's supply of food. After losing his other companion and the dogs, Mawson fought his way back home alone through horrific wind, snow, and cold to leave his own mark in history. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Unbelievable!!!
I first learned about Mawson when reading a children's book on Antartic Explorers. First of all, I read Shackleton's "South" and found that to be a great adventure on saving 20+ men... but Mawson's is a whole different situation. Imagine traveling with 2 buddies, dozen dogs, plenty of food, and equipment. Now imagine that being taken away from you in the middle of Antartica, hundred miles from base camp! What a survival story! What emotions he must have went through! It was Providence that saved him! Read this story especially if you are interested in your own faith and positive attitude.
WOW!!!!

If you think life is tough...
There is something buried deep within us all called the survival instinct. It's in the cancer patient fighting for another day no matter how painful, it's in the Apollo 13 astronauts alone and thousands of miles from safety, the lone sailor or even that person you pass on the street and barely notice.

Perhaps it's the result of 4 billion years of evolution, an involuntary reaction to the need to continue the species forward. Or maybe it's altogether more spiritual, part of the journey that gives life meaning and value. Whatever, clearly it's a very important part of what makes us who we are.

But in these comfortably numb times, it's all too easy to lose touch with these very basic principles of existence. We are not challenged for survival and we barely understand that such a need can exist.

Which is why Mawson's Will, the story of the epic battle for life by Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson, is more than just an epic tale of adventure. While his lonely struggle to cross 300 miles of frozen wasteland after the death of his colleagues is in itself a wonderful tale of courage and resourcefulness, it resonates far deeper than just an explorer's tale.

Wracked by the pain of mysterious illness (later discovered to be fatal levels of Vitamin A poison from eating husky dog livers to stay alive) and caught in the most hostile environment on the planet, Mawson has many reasons to give up. Agony, loneliness and despair were his constant companions. On more than one occasion, dangling suspended by a rope through a fallen crevice all it would take was to reach into his pocket for the knife that would cut the thin line that held him in limbo. It a moment it would be over, the pain and useless struggle over.

But Mawson refused to succumb, and eventually, through extraordinary efforts, survived. Even to this day it hard to imagine how.

In his wonderful account of this story, culled mostly from Mawson's own heart wrenching diary of the events, veteran Australian writer Lennard Bickell has managed to capture superbly the details of Mawson's battle to survive.

While he spends little time contemplating the inner meaning of such a struggle, it is plainly there for the reader to contemplate. We are left to consider our own resources, our own inner strength. For anyone involved in a difficult situation that requires courage and fortitude, 'Mawson's Will' is an inspiration. And for those of us merely intrigued by the real nature of existence, here at least is a definition of the outer borders of human willpower, that strange and unknown land where the real world meets the spiritual.

A wonderful book.

A must for the hard-core Antarctic fan
It's remarkable that people well-versed in the classic polar adventures of Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott often barely know who Douglas Mawson is. Mawson's story of survival in the Antartic--alone and without food following the death of his companions--is the equal of these more familiar tales and dates from the same era. Bickel has a good grip on his story and writes well.

Every reader looking to complete his/her knowledge of polar exploration, or just looking for another adventure "fix," will want to read this story. Readers new to the topic may find they understand Mawson's story better if they begin with the better-known stories.

Most memorable True-Life Book
I first 'heard' Mawson's Will as it was read, unabridged, on PBS in 1979. I soon found the book and have read it repeatedly over the years. Mawson's Will, along with Niven's Known Space series of Sci.Fi. adventures might be all a soul would need if sealed up with only a few books to choose from.
The description of the soles of Mawson's feel as they separted from his body and had to be tied on with leather strips is something you'll never forget, remembering he was hundreds of miles from safety. He ate what he could find without knowing he was slowly poisoning himself with excess vitimin A with every bite. The author writes in a way that makes the story seem immediate and real.

Hollywood ending-but real
This story could translate well into a movie plot with little, if any, changed made. I agree with some of the random conversations between characters with no idea of how the author knows that they occured but it wasn't enough to give it 1 star. I also don't understand the giving of 1 star becase the story is great but it didn't include any maps. That's a bit harsh.

I bought this book based on the reviews on here. I am not an antarctic exporation buff-actually I have no previous experience with this sort of genre-but I really enjoyed the story and would certainly do some further studying in the field of polar exploration if another book surfaced as well written as this with as compelling of a story. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Functional Microbial Genomics, edited by two leading experts in the field, provides the researcher with an up-to-date collection of articles on post-genome technologies central to studying the function of microorganisms.

Since the release of the first complete genome sequence of a free-living organism in 1995, over 100 microbial genomes have been completely sequenced. The advent of new technologies for post-genomic analyses has allowed the rapid exploitation of this genome sequence information, heralding a golden era in microbial research. Functional Microbial Genomics provides in-depth accounts from scientists working with these new technologies explaining both the techniques and the ways in which they have been applied to the study of gene function in different microbial species.

Methods in Microbiology is the most prestigious series devoted to techniques and methodology in the field. Established for over 30 years, Methods in Microbiology will continue to provide you with tried and tested, cutting edge protocols to directly benefit your research.

* Bioinformatic approaches to genome sequence analysis
* Details the design, construction and applications of DNA microarrays
* Covers advances in bacterial proteome and metagenome analysis
* Describes functional genomic approaches for novel antibiotic target and vaccine candidate discovery
* Presents case studies where functional genomic analyses have revolutionized our understanding of model species ... Read more

Book Description

Advances in Ecological Research presents a wide range of papers on all aspects of ecology.Topics include the physiology, populations, and communities of plants and animals, as well as landscape and ecosystem ecology.In 1999 the Institute for Scientific Information released figures indicating that this serial has an impact factor of 9.6 and a half-life of 10.0 years, ranking it first in the highly competitive category of ecology. ... Read more

Book Description

"Insights of Genius is one of very few books to make a serious attempt to place scientific imagery into a wider context alongside creative activities in the visual and linguistic arts. It provides a lucid and fluently written beginning to a huge subject." -- John D. Barrow, Times Higher Education Supplement

". . . the best discussion of creativity I have come across." -- Rudolf Arnheim, Journal of Aesthetic Education

How can new knowledge be created from already existing knowledge? Insights of Genius shows how seeing is central to the greatest advances of the human intellect. Artists and scientists alike rely on visual representations of worlds both visible and invisible.

Insights of Genius, first published by Copernicus in 1996, explores the creative leaps that led some of the greatest scientists and artists to dramatically transform how we understand nature. The scope of figures runs from Galileo and da Vinci to Einstein and Picasso. Focusing on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the age of modern art and modern physics, the book travels through the philosophy of mind and language, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and art history. Insights of Genius discusses intuition, aesthetics, realism, representation, metaphors, and visual imagery. Allied to these concepts are causality, relativity, energy conservation, entropy, the correspondence principle, scientific creativity, and Cubism. Running through the book is the idea that science extends our intuition from common sense to an understanding of a world beyond our perception. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

insights not very insightful
if you have not yet read this book then please dont becasue it is a complete waste of time. is there no limit to how arrogant a writer can get, the flow is incoherent, consatntly skipping from one subject matter to another without ever clearly explaning any of them. Also related is Einstien and Picasso another Miler book not worth reading at all. This book he claims is the deinitive work on Einstien, but it is not much more than a uncomplete biography which would not even cover the facts needed for a GCSE project. Waste of time! he talks about creativity, no where is it seen in any of these two books

Fascinating mix of science history and philosophy.
Whereas the author's main thesis concerns imagery and intuition as they help (or hinder) scientific progress, I liked this book more simply for its historical detail. Also, it was fascinating for his summaries of philosophy of science (and history of philosophy of science). It is not a book for the science phobic but it is not overly technical. One nice feature is that the philosphical issues continue right up to the "science wars" of the 1990's. It is an excellent book for all students of science ... Read more