Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2015 - Science & Technology

Miller (emer., Univ. College London, UK), author ofEinstein, Picasso (CH, Nov'01, 39-1334), examines that part of the contemporary art world in which discoveries in biotechnology, physics, mathematics, and computer science animate the work of designers, musicians, and artists, forcing the recalibration of the concepts of art, beauty, and even science.  The author provides an exciting, interesting tour of topics such as 3-D mutating computer graphics, Joe Davis's bacterial radio, harmonic resonators, image choreography, and Eduardo Kacs transgenic art, including the rabbit genetically implanted with a jellyfishs green fluorescent protein.  Miller also discusses data landscapes, acoustic botany, neuroaesthetics, engineered skin tissue, and Orlans notion of the body as canvas.  Though Miller wants to focus on those artists who use science to illustrate their themes and those whose works actually illuminate science and contribute to scientific research, it is apparent that it is far more common for advances in science and technology to alter the concepts and tools of art than for new directions in art to encourage revisions of scientific thinking or technique.  This very readable, meticulously researched, highly anecdotal work is certainly the best in the field to date and belongs in every library collection in art or science.Summing Up: Essential. All library collections.

This reviewer's first undergraduate philosophy class, ostensibly a history of the field, began with the professor's introducing a different format for the class.  It was not a survey of the disciplinecovering much but providing an understanding of little.  Instead, students read one work of each of four philosophers: Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein.  This method helped this student begin a love affair with philosophy that continues to this day.  Here, in this very readable text, Parsons (philosophy, Univ. of Houston-Clear Lake) uses the same method to examine the field of the philosophy of science.  This approach allows him to show his enthusiasm for the field, gives readers a sense of the major issues, and engages them in ways that standard textbook surveys of the field do not.  Kudos to Parsons.  For those unaware of the difference in his technique, it is the difference between reading Freuds case histories and reading an introductory psychology textbook.  Parsons also manages to avoid technical jargon, making the text more of a conversation between author and readers than a pedantic exercise showing how much the author knows and how little others, except for experts, care about that knowledge.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic and general audiences.

An award-winning physician-scientist, Ness (Univ. of Texas Health Science Center, Houston) has written an extraordinarily concise book that promotes new thought processes and paradigms.  Organized into five partsamong them "Is Caution about the Social Club?" "Is Caution about Averting Threat?" "Is Caution about the Money?"the book encourages revolutionary, unique concepts in science and technology research.  Ness's analysis of longstanding investigatory practices is clear and comprehensive, and she suggests ways to draw out individuals' fullest creativity.  Her motive is to stimulate a more productive scientific ecosystem because existing theories and habits restrict outcomes.  She suggests specific ways to cope with stagnant thought processes that have proven unsuccessful.  Using as examples the supportive practices of respected institutionsHHMI, Bell Laboratories, Stanford Universityand progressive individuals, Ness demonstrates how one can use creativity to resolve current and future health disorders and societal issues.  Multidisciplinary, communalistic research approaches, along with personal freedom and reduced administrative and bureaucratic burdens, can encourage innovative thinking and outcomes.  Each chapter has an executive summary; extensive bibliographic information enhances the authors presentation and assists inquisitive readers.  This book will stimulate much discussion and deserves considerable attention.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; technical students; professionals.

In this philosophical treatise on man and machine, noted technology writer Carr, author ofThe Shallows (CH, Nov'10, 48-1521), investigates the effects of technology on the human condition.  While conceding to the undeniable benefits of automation in helping people to live longer, healthier, cleaner, and safer lives, Carr warns that humanity also pays a price for such luxury and efficiency.  Hidden within our inheritance of ever-advancing technological change are latent and unintentional consequences that damage our perceptions and limit our choices.  He posits that these consequences are so great that they counteract the good that technology offers.  In attempting to prove his theory, he reviews and reinterprets a broad and diverse spectrum of moments in technological history.  The author also draws on a wide range of Western thinkers, including Karl Marx, René Descartes, Plato, Adam Smith, George Dyson, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Frost, to assist him in presenting his view that technology should be adapted to the human condition and not, as he asserts is happening everywhere, the other way around.  Those familiar with the historians, writers, technologists, and economists mentioned will gain additional insight through Carrs penetrating analysis of human experiences like flow, proprioception, focus, and complacency.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.