Book Description: Knowledge is a big subject, says Stuart
Firestein, but ignorance is a bigger one. And it is ignorance--
not knowledge--that is the true engine of science. Most of us
have a false impression of science as a surefire, deliberate,
step-by-step method for finding things out and getting things
done. In fact, says Firestein, more often than not, science is
like looking for a black cat in a dark room, and there may not
be a cat in the room. The process is more hit-or-miss than you
might imagine, with much stumbling and groping after phantoms.
But it is exactly this not knowing, this puzzling over thorny
questions or inexplicable data, that gets researchers into the
lab early and keeps them there late, the thing that propels
them, the very driving force of science. Firestein shows how
scientists use ignorance to program their work, to identify what
should be done, what the next steps are, and where they should
concentrate their energies. And he includes a catalog of how
scientists use ignorance, cons