Reviews
Good science and common sense often don't mix. In Weighing the Soul, Len Fisher shows the path to scientific discovery is frequently a bumpy one that follows Schopenhauer's famous maxim - 'All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.' Fisher tells the fascinating, human stories behind some of the great as well as some of the not-so-great scientific ideas of the past - those that were truly bizarre, peculiar or downright daft, and those that just seemed that way at the time. As he shows, it is often only with hindsight that the two can be told apart, and it is some of those who appeared most wrong - and who were variously ignored, persecuted and imprisoned as a result - that ultimately went on to be proved most right.
'This distinguished physicist describes here the evolution of scientific beliefs. Throughout history scientists have pursued ideas that seemed bizarre, peculiar or even downright daft, and in this sharp and witty overview of the great - and the not so great - moments of scientific experimentation, Fisher illuminates the true process of discovery.'
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