¡Eureka!: Descubre al científico que llevas dentro

by Chad Orzel, Julia Alquézar (Translator)

Coleccionar sellos no es mucho más complejo que lo que hizo Darwin a bordo del Beagle. Jugar al Bridge es tanto o más difícil que la Astronomía. Y lo creas o no, hacer crucigramas o cocinar un buen guiso tienen mucho en común con los procedimientos de la física cuántica. Y es que cuando de ciencia se trata, la mayoría de nosotros tiende a sentirse intimidado. Craso error, porque los principios básicos del pensamiento científico son tan sólo una extensión de nuestra manera de observar el mundo y de nuestros procesos mentales más habituales. Y es que la ciencia, aunque no seamos conscientes de ello, es en parte lo que nos hace humanos. En su nuevo libro, el físico y divulgador Chad Orzel nos explica de forma sorprendente cómo la ciencia forma parte de nuestra vida cotidiana y nos invita a entender la ciencia como un recurso a disposición de todos, así como una herramienta para abordar y solucionar nuestros problemas personales y profesionales más comunes. En definitiva, una guía fundamental para descubrir el científico que todos llevamos dentro.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Popular Science

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 2014

About the author

Chad Orzel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

He studied at University of Maryland, College Park, MD: PhD in Chemical Physics, 1999 and Williams College, Williamstown, MA: BA in Physics, 1993.

From 1999-2001, Chad was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Physics Department at Yale University, studying Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in the group of Mark Kasevich.

Chad has published in Science Magazine, Physics World and his PhD thesis research was carried out in the Laser Cooling Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple. Direct. Understandable. And, best of all, challenging one to perceive what one's senses report in new, but attainable, ways. I was delighted to realize that I could gift this to my high-school-aged grands and expect they'd "get it"—and they did.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The goal of this book is one that I am very sympathetic to - to provide a stripped-down description of scientific methods and show their connection to ordinary, fundamentally human activities. What else is science after all but making sense of the world and using our knowledge to solve problems? With "look-think-test-tell" I think he has hit on just the right formula. The writing style is clear, easy and conversational. A minor drawback for my reading enjoyment is that the examples he draws on are pretty standard and familiar for someone with a physics background, but he's going for a broader audience here than physics teachers like me, so that's probably a positive benefit.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of scientific discoveries demonstrating observational science - look to see what is happening, think of a theory that proves and predicts, test that theory with more predictions, then share your theory with others for clarification and critique. Will following this method win you a Nobel? Probably not, but it will help you understand how science led to the knowledge we have today.

Other reviewers seem to think this is about specific scientific discoveries, comparing it to the quick summaries given in high school science texts. Instead, this book is about thinking like a scientist, applying the scientific method, with examples drawn from history AND the current day. Chapters have both humor and extensive footnotes.

The other focus is Look / Think / Test / Tell, a way of describing how all reputable scientists back up observations and discoveries with duplication and publication. For the rest of us, this can be an easy way to avoid being fooled by Cold Fusion or Alien DNA - if it can't be duplicated and there are very few published papers (if any), then it is probably bunk.

Was it 5 star? No, but definitely way above average. I'd like to see more science education among the peoples of the world, especially in some developed countries that seem to be backsliding at the moment. As some other reviews show, this might not be the best book to reach them.

[David Rosage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has had a huge effect on my thinking and has formed the basis of my concept to run business like an experiment. "Look" for common problems or inefficiencies, "Think" of a solution, "Test" with prototypes or surveys, and finally "Tell" or in business this would be replaced with sell. REPEAT...

[A YOGAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Heureka-Prinzip: Die Lizenz zum Klugscheißen für Jedermann
Chad Orzel möchte uns glauben machen, dass in jedem von uns ein kleiner Einstein schlummert – selbst wenn unser größtes physikalisches Experiment bislang darin bestand, herauszufinden, wie lange eine Tiefkühlpizza im Ofen bleiben kann, bevor sie in den Aggregatzustand „Kohle“ übergeht. In „Das Heureka-Prinzip“ tritt er an, um zu beweisen, dass wir den ganzen Tag Wissenschaft betreiben: beobachten, Hypothesen aufstellen („Der Bus kommt bestimmt gleich“) und testen („Mist, schon wieder zu spät“). Es ist der Versuch, unseren chaotischen Alltag in den Adelsstand des Forschens zu erheben.
Das Buch ist eine Achterbahnfahrt durch die Geschichte der Geistesblitze und Alltagskuriositäten. Orzel springt mit entwaffnender Leichtigkeit von antiken Wasseruhren zu moderner Vakuumenergie und macht auch vor dem Usenet oder der Verhaltensökonomie nicht halt. Es liest sich ein wenig, als hätte man MacGyver und Stephen Hawking in einen Raum gesperrt und sie gezwungen, ein Handbuch für den geordneten Umgang mit Unordnung zu schreiben. Dabei lernt man nebenbei, dass große Entdeckungen selten göttliche Eingebungen sind, sondern eher das Ergebnis sturer Hartnäckigkeit und des Muts, Dinge einfach auszuprobieren.
Besonders reizvoll ist, wie Orzel die Weihe der Wissenschaft entzaubert. Die großen „Heureka“-Momente entstanden häufig genauso chaotisch wie unser Versuch, ein IKEA-Regal ohne Anleitung aufzubauen. Ob bei der Entdeckung von Uran oder der Berechnung von Wahlwahrscheinlichkeiten – am Ende ist alles eine Frage der Methode. Für alle, die im Physikunterricht lieber Fensterbilder malten, ist dieses Buch eine späte Rehabilitation: Wissenschaft besteht nicht nur aus kryptischen Formeln, sondern aus einer Haltung, die man auch beim Kreuzworträtsel kultivieren kann.
Orzel liefert zudem die ideale Ausrede für jeden Fehlschlag im Leben: Kein Scheitern – nur negative Daten einer laufenden Langzeitstudie! Wenn man das nächste Mal den Autoschlüssel verlegt und ihn durch logische Deduktion im Kühlschrank wiederfindet, darf man sich dank dieses Buches zufrieden zuflüstern: „Saubere Methodik, Kollege.“
„Das Heureka-Prinzip“ ist das perfekte Buch für alle, die sich gern klug fühlen, ohne dafür einen Laborkittel überstreifen zu müssen. Unterhaltsam, erhellend und wohltuend für das Ego – es vermittelt das angenehm tröstliche Gefühl, ein verkanntes Genie zu sein, das nur noch auf sein erstes Forschungsprojekt wartet. Man sollte es kaufen, lesen und den eigenen Forschergeist entdecken – oder zumindest den Anteil, der gerne klugscheißt.

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eureka is a book by Chad Orzel. The title refers to the famous and possibly apocryphal story of Archimedes running through the streets naked while shouting that phrase.

Orzel contends that deep down, we all have an inner scientist waiting to bubble forth. When people imagine a scientist, they usually go for someone like Professor Frink from the Simpsons television show or Albert Einstein. People see science as a useless collection of facts and figures, but they are wrong. Science is not a monolithic aggregate of facts. It is a process, a way of thinking. Using the power of science can help your reasoning skills.

To demonstrate his point, Orzel uses famous discoveries of people using the four aspects of science. Orzel calls them Looking, Thinking, Testing, and Telling. Yes, they get capitalized. For example, the Looking portion of science covers times when people found something astounding merely by looking at the right thing. The Theory of Evolution is one of those things.

People could see that some creatures bear similarities to one another for centuries, but we didn't have a testable or credible mechanism for why that happened. Charles Darwin comes along after his Voyage of the Beagle and postulates that creatures with preferable or superior traits survive and reproduce. All he did was look at different Finch species and see their beaks changed according to their diet. In today's world, we can see it happen before our eyes. Bacteria gain resistance to our powerful antibiotics, creating new, more dangerous strains. You need an influenza vaccine every year because the virus that causes it mutates and changes its protein shell.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read focused on the Look / Think / Test / Tell methodology of interacting with our world. We're all scientists ~ from the earliest humans observing the changing seasons and the stars to modern physicists working at CERN; whether we realize it or not, it's what we do in countless aspects of our daily lives.

Dr. Orzel takes great pains to show us just how prevalent this way of seeing the world is and how it pervades every aspect of our lives in an effort to show how "science" isn't a big, scary, abstract thing done in ivory towers of the Academy, but rather, our normal modus operandi as rational beings. His thrust though, especially throughout the conclusion is that we must not shirk our duties to be participative in the process of "science". As we go through our lives, we must observe the world around us, think about why things are the way they are, test ways to improve, and tell everyone what does/doesn't work so that they may share in our new-found knowledge.

While I wasn't a huge fan of all the sportsball references, in all, I thought Dr. Orzel wove a tale that demonstrated a few things: 1.) Scientists can be effective communicators, 2.) Communication with "non-scientists" can be done and is vital to all sciences and, to a great extent, informing public policy, and importantly, 3.) Science is hopeful in its outlook towards the future ~ if we can embrace a method of looking at the world and explaining it, we can make it better.

The gains of the scientists are gains for humanity. But, we must always remain vigilant and aware of unscrupulous claims ~ trust, but verify.

[Jehona · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was better than I expected it to be. It was fun, full of anecdotes from the lives of scientists and important scientific discoveries. It shows how everybody thinks and acts as a scientist in their everyday life. The reason why they don't hate it in these cases is that they don't realize that this is exactly the kind of thinking employed when studying "the scary subject" they got a bad grade at in middle school or high school. It is the kind of book that I would recommend to non-scientists, in order to help overcome their fear of science, which they so often pass down to their children making them more unlikely to choose science as their future career. I would not recommend it to young people trying to understand the world of science and how they might enter it.

I was a bit disappointed by the chapter about sports. It might be interesting to someone who likes sports. But even in that case, the chosen sports were very American, which sort of limits his audience. I guess, if you are not American, just skip that one.

Another annoying thing was his attack on Dawkins. I guess it has become sort of a sport to attack him in order to show what a nice guy you are. Neil deGrasse Tyson made the exact same point in a talk, yet nobody seems to attack him for it. Not that either of them was wrong. Putting religious constraints in science is a sure path to stopping its progress.

[Jody Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book does the exact opposite. It kills the inner scientist. It's an absolute bore like being trapped in high school science class. If I wanted to read a collection of historical discoveries I'd pick up a book on it!

I expected to be inspired, thrilled and hungry for more. Instead it couldn't be worse and I fear for aspiring scientists. If anything this book will turn them away from science as a really monotone load of crap.

It makes sense though since Orzel is a physicist so inherently dry by nature.

If you want to be inspired or learn about science in a fun way try any of Stephen H's texts. At least it's inspiring and constantly relates to real life examples.

Don't waste your time guys.

[Carlton King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the thesis of this book, that science is a human tool that can be used by anyone. The examples and analogies used by Orzel to demonstrate how science mimics other aspects of life are interesting, although they sometimes go into detail that may be harder to digest by those not somewhat familiar with the fields they cover, particularly when reading some of the examples discussing astronomical and modern physics measurements, I had to reread a few times. Otherwise, Orzel's voice is charming and enjoyable to read; he is optimistic, welcoming, and adds enjoyable touches of humor every now and then. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about scientific discoveries, but may not label themselves a scientist.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag kind of book. I really enjoyed learning about citezen science websites and there's a chapter about solving mysteries compared to finding out what happened to the dinosaurs that was a great read.
It just got sort of slow at times and became more of a "history of science" book than I was expecting. I also just read a couple science/ history books so I guess I wasn't prepared for another one yet.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first statements in the book is so true... that scientists more often say "That's funny" than "Eureka" in reaction to a discovery. The biggest take-away for me is Orzel's statement that all scientific conclusions are provisional--they cannot be really believed until the studies/experiments have been repeated and verified, preferably many times.

[Evs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as a way to reinvigorate my own personal excitement for learning and curiosity.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed reading this book by Orzel, who also runs a blog (now substack) that readers should also check out (chadorzel and substack should lead you there). Orzel uses a simple 4 step process to explain science: look, think, test, tell. This does a good job of encapsulating the scientific process and the author does a good job of using interesting and relevant examples for each section. The book was written nearly a decade ago, and while some of the examples are a little bit dated, they serve their purposes quite well.

Orzel's main argument is that the scientific process is something all people use and have used for thousands of years. It's true that "science" is now more formalized, but the basic ideas of the process are relevant for everyone. This rings true to me, and Orzel's explanations at the least give reasons that this is accurate in a broad sense. I especially liked the concluding section that goes through some myths about science and explains why they are either untrue or misleading.

My standard complaint of explanations of Noether's theorem applies in this book, as it uses a specific symmetry of physics implies a specific conservation law. Noether's theorem says that a symmetry in the Lagrangian implies a conservation law. It doesn't say that a specific symmetry implies a specific conservation law. There are a few other minor complaints I would have, but they are as irrelevant to the overall message of the book as my Noether's theorem complaint, and can be part of the explaining things at the appropriate level. (I certainly didn't the author to use the term or idea of Lagrangians.)

[Kristina]

I wanted to like this book. I wanted to feel like this book was showing me how I, as a non-scientist, think like a scientist everyday. That is what the book is supposed to be about after all. But I just felt like the author was writing a textbook for a science class. Dry, boring, and above my head. It made it difficult to really get into the book when I kept having complex scientific principles thrown at me.

[Bruce Reiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were a teacher of high school science, I would find a way to get this book into the hands of students. It is very readable and demystifies science and scientists. The book humanizes science and brings the process of science into the common day. The process of science becomes a series of steps that most people use to solve problems.The book is well-planned with many anecdotes to keep the reader involved and interested.

[Anthony Faber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does a good job of explaining how science and scientists work, with lots of interesting and often important examples. I don't think you have to have much background at all to read it.

[Eegore James · Rating 1 out of 5]

A huge bore...too much anecdotal crapola and the science
was just rehashed stuff from 1,000 other books. Yuck.

[John Oliver]

It wasn't for me.