The Unity of Science: Exploring Our Universe, from the Big Bang to the Twenty-First Century

by Irwin Shapiro

A journey guided by science that explores the universe, the earth, and the story of life
 
For Irwin Shapiro, science starts with questions. This book provides a broad and entertaining survey of major scientific discoveries that have changed our views of nature and, in turn, spawned further questions.
 
Shapiro, an award-winning scientist and beloved teacher, separates his inquiry into three parts: looking up at the universe; looking down at the earth and its fossils; and looking in at the story of life. His framework encourages readers to view science as a detective story—to observe and question nature and natural phenomena, and to base all conclusions on scientific evidence.
 
With his knowledgeable yet conversational approach, Shapiro offers an enjoyable way for the curious to learn about the foundations of a range of scientific topics: the motions of bodies in the cosmos, the history and structure of the earth, the evolution of organisms, and the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence.

Genres: Science

376 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title and subject matter were what initially led me to pick this up. The Author, a highly distinguished Harvard professor, claims in the introduction that the book was written after he taught a one semester course at Harvard on the same subject matter and was asked by his students to produce a book.

Unfortunately, the book is poorly written and difficult to get into. I had to go back several times to reread things, and gave up after trying to understand the sidereal vs solar explanation. I wasn’t sure if it was just my adult ADHD brain not understanding the concepts but further flipping through the book proved my theory that it’s just a poor translation of a college course being actively taught by a professor vs a written account of the presented material.

Here’s one example that clearly should have been flagged by an editor for a rewrite, page 311:

“CRISPR-Casg and Its Impact
These days CRISPR-Casg is on everyone's tongue. Well, maybe just the CRISPR part and perhaps not on everyone's tongue. But certainly it's close to, or on, the tongues of many biologists. Why, you may wonder, if you don't already know. It's the latest, hottest tool to be developed by biologists and has great promise to have profound applications for humans. Many of these ways have likely not yet even been conceived.”

Not the type of writing I would expect from the director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics from 1983 to 2004 and winner of the 2013 Einstein Prize from the APS. 2 stars for effort and out of respect to a teacher.

[Roland Glotzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

No doubt the book gives an excellent overview of science but it is not an introduction to science through history but rather a textbook without too much of the maths (and as the author mentions in the introduction based on an introductory course on science he gave to his students). I couldn’t get interested and after reading a few chapters skimmed over the rest. Probably an interesting book for scientists who want a broad overview of science but certainly not very appealing to others.

[Polina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really tried reading this. Could not finish it and skimmed the last part. She gets to intense with some parts that are way over my head. I guess I am not that into science! Next.