Science as a Way of Knowing: The Foundations of Modern Biology

by John Alexander Moore

For the past twenty-five years John Moore 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 the answers. This book makes Moore's uncommon wisdom available to students in a lively and richly illustrated account of the history and workings of life. Employing a breadth of rhetoric strategies--including vividly written case histories, hypotheses and deductions, and chronological narrative-- Science as a Way of Knowing provides not only a cultural history of biology but also a splendid introduction to the procedures and values of science.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Philosophy

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1993

Reviews

[Robu-sensei · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a clearly written and well-organized overview of the advancement of scientific thought, with a focus on evolution, genetics and developmental biology. So why did I get bogged down so badly in the sections on evolution and developmental biology? Author John A. Moore seems to have skeptics in mind for his discussion of evolution, and to the sympathetic reader, he appears to spend a little too much effort in trying to convince the reader that evolution is sound science. To the complete novice, however, this approach may be warranted.

Part Three, on genetics, is of special interest to students of genetics, because it covers in detail the flowering of genetics as a new field of study in biology; this historical background is sometimes glossed over in college and graduate school genetics classes. (It's also an excellent illustration about how scientists can be led astray by studying the wrong organism first. Insects, which have several different genetic mechanisms for sex, are a poor model for learning about sex determination in people, although the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster happens to use the same system that we do.)

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I once had a professor who would begin every lecture with meticulously prepared slides and notes. Halfway through each class, he would forget what he was talking about, stop advancing slides, and the lecture would veer off into the weeds. I quite liked that course. This book follows a similar trajectory.

The central idea is that science is a coherent way to understand the world, far superior to other ways (such as supernatural explanations). At first, Moore used biology to illustrate and inform this central idea. However, as the book went on it became more and more a mini-textbook on his favorite fields of biology. The entire last half is too technical for non-biologists and too superficial for specialists; I am not sure what audience he had in mind while writing these sections.

Despite this, I found the book worthwhile. My four-star review is honestly biased towards those already interested in biology. For general audiences, I'd rate it a three out of five. In all cases: read part 1 and the first bit of part 2, then just skip to the brief conclusion. If you'd like a nice, historical review of paleobiology, cytology, genetics, or embryology, those sections stand on their own.

[David]

I'm not rating this because I didn't finish it. I read the first 50 pages or so, which are quite excellent. An overview of science, how it developed and how it works, with a focus on biology. It really does become a biology textbook, though, and I didn't have the time or interest to pursue it further.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge biology nerd, so I loved this book.

[Julie Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good overview of science. not a textbook but can seem like it at times.