目次

1. Introduction                                                                                                                              7 Beyond our wildest dreams – what is science? – why do we do science? – pure and applied science – how do we know? – assumptions and conditions – the scope of science   2. A Brief History                                                                                                                      27 Out of the mists of time – the early civilizations – the ‘Greek Miracle’ – in transit – Islamic science – medieval science – the Scientific Revolution – the very large – the very small – light – life itself – our evolving perspectives   3. Roads to Knowledge                                                                                                           117 Curiosity – imagination – determination – solitude and teamwork – connections – cross-pollination – timing – technology – collecting – discovery – experiments and observations – hypotheses and theories –  falsification and verification – bandwagons and paradigms – serendipity –mistakes – false positives – disagreements – proposals – publish or perish – opportunity – the essence of it all   4. Science Today                                                                                                                     169 Exponential growth – curiosity-driven vs. goal-oriented research – big and small science – the support of science – international collaborations – a scientific career – science in everything – science and society – the power and perils of science – the global impact – science and the philosophy of science – science and religion – science in the information age – the massively interdependent world   5. Into the Future                                                                                                                    249 Will the current pace of science continue? – will we ever go backwards (again)? – what remains to be discovered? – can science ever be complete? – the long view   Epilogue                                                                                                                                   277   Further Reading                                                                                                                      279   Acknowledgements                                                                                                                 293   Name Index                                                                                                                             295   Subject Index                                                                                                                          301