The History of Science by Peter Whitfield

by Peter Whitfield

Book by Whitfield, Peter

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction, Audiobook, History Of Science

Unknown Binding

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Todd Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The History of Science by Peter Whitfield is a brief overview of science history that goes badly off the rails.

By way of evidence one has to point no further than the authors repeated use of the terms ‘western science’ (to presumably describe methodological naturalism) and ‘non-western science’ (to describe ... ?? I don’t know, maybe things you feel to be true in your gut?). It’s pure spiritual gobbledygook.

Here’s the thing, there is no such thing as ‘western science’ or ‘non-western science’ or ‘Jewish science’ or ‘Buddhist science’ or ‘Atheist Science’ … there’s only ‘science’. Science is a methodology / process that is used to ensure our feelings, biases and intuitions don’t lead to an erroneous conclusion. Science produces evidence with which to test a proposition … either that evidence supports that proposition or it doesn’t. Over time, as experiments are replicated, the evidence may converge to provide closer and closer approximations of the truth. Scientists utilize methodological naturalism in this endeavor because it works as opposed to super-naturalism which has not been shown to exist. Whatever Whitfield has in mind when he refers to ‘non-western science’ is nothing more than magical thinking.

The author also floats the easily discredited idea that science, like religion, is a system of belief. Of course, it’s not. Science is true whether you believe in it or not. It is based on evidence and is used because it works. And unlike religion, it discards old ideas when evidence demonstrates them to be false. When a scientist says they ‘believe’ the sun will rise tomorrow, it is fundamentally different from say, a belief in an afterlife. The rising of the sun is based on an understanding of the cosmological laws of the universe and empirical evidence. Whereas the other is decidedly not.

I wasn’t able to find any information about Whitfield, other than he is the former director of Stanford’s International Map Centre in London. I was unable to determine if he has an ideological axe to grind or is just a sloppy thinker with a poor understanding of science. In the end he does present some history of science, but his editorializing as he does so is crap.

[Daniel Chaikin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick, but nice overview. I was impressed with the care put into the wording, that allowed this brief overview to work so well. I thought the coverage of the ancient stuff was excellent. I was disappointed it did not cover the occult, which it described simply as something that misdirected science for about 100 years, instead of seeing its roll as a step towards the scientific revolution. And I did not like the conclusion which I felt over-credited how well we understand the world and the universe. But, those are small complaints.

[Hussein AlSarabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good as an overview of some of the topics and themes of the history of science. Poor in the pre-18th century accounts, and in insisting on inserting philosophical and materialistic "facts" in his accounts throughout the book.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, short, skim the surface type of book. Hits the science highlights and gives a general overview...nothing earth shattering but still quite interesting.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The History of Science by Peter Whitfield nice and short brief on science development through the ages. Science meaning from the dictionary the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. The author did the highlights of scientific achievments from the greeks to islam medieval renaissance to the 20th century all very well enough I thought, I found interesting about the start of science of quantum mechanics and how much much more science there is to go and a fact it's a never ending story.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good quick summary of the history of science, divided into four parts over four CD's. 1. The Ancient & Medieval World. 2. The Renaissance & the Scientific Revolution. 3. The 19th Century (The Machine Age). 4/ The 20th Century (the atom, cosmology & genetics).

This is a good companion to "The Science Class you Wish You Had," which focuses on seven scientific breakthroughs and the individuals who discovered them - Newton, Einstein, Hubble, Watson/Crick, etc.

[Keir · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview, clear to understand and covering a wide range of scientific and technological advancement. The explanations of concepts in modern physics, such as quantum physics and the uncertainty principle was especially lucid.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and concise overview of the major scientific events. Even though I've read similar books on more specialized topics (e.g. physics, chemistry), I still learned new things. [listened to on audiobook]

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good brief overview of the history of science. I like that the author starts off with Democritus and the early Greek "natural philosophers" instead of skipping way up to Galileo and the Renaissance.

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of books, and I had the first 4 (up to the science of the Middle Ages). Good for an overview and with more in depth work, hopefully one can get more out of the series.

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of this book remarks on the limitations of writing it when, approaching the topic of Quantum Mechanics and physics in the 20th Century, he says that modern science stretches the capabilities of language. I would only subtract the word modern.

All science is hard to understand. It is even harder to describe in words. It is almost impossible to explain without illustrations and mathematics. Science truly does stretch the limits of language, and attempting to make it clear to the layman using words alone is literally a form of translation. A phrase such as "the force of gravity is proportional to the product of two masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, multiplied by the universal gravitational constant" is a translation of this formula:

And that's just gravity - a quite elementary topic in physics. There is a reason why you have to learn this stuff from textbooks.

But this obvious limitation aside, the author has set out to write a History of Science, not a textbook. And even in this sense, he's just ok. To truly understand the significance of so great a figure as Newton or Einstein, we must to come to understand (however basically) the ideas of the man himself. Only then can we begin to see what a remarkable genius he was. Anyone who has studied Classical Mechanics and Calculus can arrive at this admiration of Newton by his own way. Only after barely surviving a university semester of both courses does it dawn on us that the same man INVENTED both of these subjects before he turned 40. It is genuinely a shock. And it makes you feel small. But that feeling is the indicator that you are beginning to understand and appreciate Newton as a giant in the history of science.

Unfortunately, the author's attempt at inspiring the same admiration by overusing words like "radical" and "revolution" are a weak substitute. It's not really his fault. I highly doubt that Peter Whitfield understands the science, himself. Of course, he was commissioned to write a history and that is what he has tried to do.

I can't recommend this book for anything other than a superficial survey of the great names of science. If you are interested in science, yourself, chances are you are interested in some particular branch and not a mere historical overview. Then, you would probably be reading textbooks and surveys specific to that branch. If you're completely ignorant of science and you just want some place to start, then I suppose this isn't a bad book. Perhaps you'll come away with some particular enthusiasm, perhaps with some abstract admiration for the scientists the author outlines.
But to anyone interested in sincerely understanding the importance of what is summarized in this book, I suggest you pick up a textbook and learn science in its own language.

[Hari Tiwari · Rating 5 out of 5]

AUDIOBOOK: An excellent overview! Whitfield conveys topics in the history of science, such as the birth of germ theory and the development of relativity, in a clear and lucid manner intended for a general, non-specialist audience. His voice is crisp and pleasant, and he consciously slows down when taking the listener through complex scientific concepts, giving a broad overview but with sufficient non-technical depth that you appreciate their importance. A great listen!

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could be titled "A Very Superficial History of Science." We see a few of the high points, but what is included and what is not is seems arbitrary and the treatment of different topics is uneven. Not a bad book necessarily, but it is one that best belongs in the hands of a high school student.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent overview of the history of science. It's aimed at middle schoolers, but it isn't overly simplistic. The discussion of science in the Islamic world (800-1100 CE) is excellent, and the presentation of quantum mechanics is enlightening and clear. In printed form it's an 11 volume set, but the audiobook is relatively short (~6 hours).

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a quick introduction prior as a warm up prior to a class discussion on History of Science. This is a good refresher.