Overview
- Text is structured as a narrative with rich historical context and little mathematics
- The central ideas of modern physics are introduced in a non-mathematical, accessible, and historically motivated manner
- Covers many issues of current global interest, including climate change, pollution, population growth, nuclear power, renewable energy and the dangers of electromagnetic and nuclear radiation
- Students are challenged to question their own beliefs and to develop realistic fact-based worldviews
- Explains the differences between science and pseudoscience
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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About this book
This undergraduate textbook educates non-science majors—our future policy makers—on how science works, the rules that underpin our existence, our impact on nature, and nature's impact on us. The book provides a concise, historically based, non-mathematical treatment of modern physics relevant to societal issues. It challenges readers to examine the problems we face (and their own beliefs) in light of the scientific method.
With a narrative structure, Science and Society explains the scientific process and the power it brings to dealing with the natural world. The reader will gain a deeper understanding of scientific results reported by the media, and thus the tools to develop a rational, fact-based assessment of energy and resource policy.
Praise for Science and Society:
"Anyone who thinks society can be managed without science should think again, or better: read this book. Eric Swanson explains how science permeates society, and with simple examples of the scientific process he shows its special power in dealing with the natural world. This is a must read for the world's seven billion scientists."
F.E. Close, OBE, Oxford University, author of, among others, "Half-Life: The Divided Life of Bruno Pontecorvo, Physicist or Spy", "The Infinity Puzzle", and "Neutrino"
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Science and Society
Book Subtitle: Understanding Scientific Methodology, Energy, Climate, and Sustainability
Authors: Eric S. Swanson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21987-5
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-21986-8Published: 05 October 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-36855-9Published: 23 August 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-21987-5Published: 25 September 2015
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIX, 276
Topics: Methodology of the Social Sciences, Societal Aspects of Physics, Outreach and Education, Economic Theory/Quantitative Economics/Mathematical Methods, Energy, general, History of Science
Industry Sectors: Engineering