In The Borderlands of Science Michael Shermer takes us to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another. An excursion through the borderlands of science, history, and historical biography, enlivened by the many interesting stories and insights involving many of history's most famous scientists.
Introduction
Part I: Borderlands Theories
1: The Knowledge Filter
2: Theories of Everything
3: Only God Can Do That?
4: Blood, Sweat, and Fears
5: Paradigms and Paradoxes
Part II: Borderlands People
6: The Day the Earth Moved
7: Heretic-Personality
8: A Scientist Among the Spiritualists
9: Pedestals and Statues
10: The Exquisite Balance
Part III: Borderlands History
11: The Beautiful People Myth
12: The Amadeus Myth
13: A Gentlemanly Arrangement
14: The Great Bone Hoax
Bibliography
Index
"[...] a delightful antidote to the current proliferations of media-hyped pseudoscience."
– Sunday Times
"splendidly entertaining"
– The Guardian
"Quick-witted, shrewd, open-minded – these barely describe Michael Shermer's latest confection of intriguing stories, arguments, and insightful observations. His cruise through the shadowlands of science makes a fascinating expedition of the mind."
– Gregory Benford, author of Deep Time
"Whether the issue is alternative medicine or environmental threats, cloning or race, cosmology or hypnosis, Shermer keeps his focus on the central question: Where do we draw the line between solid science, pseudoscience, and the untamed territory in between? This is a detailed, multi-faceted exploration of these ever-shifting borderlands, as well as the fascinating people who populate them."
– K.C. Cole, author of The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything