Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True

Robert Ehrlich

Published by Princeton University Press 2001

Nine Crazy Ideas in Science

A Few Might Even Be True

Robert Ehrlich

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691187839

Overview
Contents

About this book

AIDS is not caused by HIV. Coal and oil are not fossil fuels. Radiation exposure is good for you. Distributing more guns reduces crime. These ideas make headlines, but most educated people scoff at them. Yet some of science's most important concepts-from gravity to evolution-have surfaced from the pool of crazy ideas. In fact, a good part of science is distinguishing between useful crazy ideas and those that are just plain nutty. In this book, a well-known physicist with an affinity for odd ideas applies his open mind to nine controversial propositions on topical subjects. Some, it turns out, are considerably lower on the cuckoo scale than others.

Robert Ehrlich evaluates, for the general reader or student, nine seemingly far-out propositions culled from physics, biology, and social science. In the process, he demonstrates in easy-to-understand terms how to weigh an argument, judge someone's use of statistics, identify underlying assumptions, and ferret out secret agendas. His conclusions are sometimes surprising. For instance, he finds that while HIV does cause AIDS and the universe almost certainly started with a big bang, our solar system could have two suns, faster-than-light particles might exist, and time travel can't be ruled out as mere science fiction.

Anyone interested in unorthodox ideas will get a kick out of this book. And, as a fun way of learning how to think like a scientist, it has enormous educational value. Of course, only time will tell whether any of these nine ideas will be the next continental drift--the now orthodox account of the Earth's geology that was for years just a crazy idea.

Author / Editor information

Robert Ehrlich is Professor of Physics at George Mason University. His books include Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down and Turning the World Inside Out and 174 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations (both Princeton).

Reviews

Modern science, especially physics, is replete with outlandish ideas that defy common sense and intuition. It is almost impossible for the non-scientist to discriminate between the legitimately weird and the outright crackpot. . . . Robert Ehrlich has assembled a fascinating collection of apparently crazy ideas, and subjected them to careful analysis. . . . Ehrlich points out how statistics can be misleadingly presented . . . and how the distinction between effects that are causally related and those that are merely correlated often gets blurred.---Paul Davies, Nature

Clear and lively. . . . Ehrlich . . . is entertaining, but the genuine value of his book lies in the analyses. . . . An important addition to an underpopulated genre of science books: It critically examines both sides of interesting, important, and unsettled arguments.---William H. Ingham, Physics Today

Topics

General Interest

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledaments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1.Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. More Guns Means Less Crime Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
3. AIDS Is Not Caused bv HIV Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
4. Sun Exposure Is Beneficial Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
5. Low Doses of Nuclear Radiation Are Beneficial Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
6. The Solar System Has Two Suns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
7. Oil, Coal, and Gas Have Abiogenic Origins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
8. Time Travel Is Possible Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
9. Faster-than-Light Particles Exist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
10. There Was No Big Bang Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
11.Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Notes to the Chapters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239