Old Email Archive

digest 2002-07-15 #001.txt

litsci-l-digest         Monday, July 15 2002         Volume 01 : Number
010



In this issue:

     lit AND sci; lit OF sci; lit OR sci, lit sci
     Book announcement

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Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 08:10:46 -0400
From: "benjamin r cohen" 
Subject: lit AND sci; lit OF sci; lit OR sci, lit sci

lots of books that deal with science as a subject.  [novels]
lots of books that discuss what science is.  [science studies
litertaure]
lots of books that discuss relations of science and humanities (art,
literature, poetry, etc.) [in science studies literature and in fiction]

what's a good book of fiction (novel, short stories) that provides
commentary on what science is that isn't frankenstein and isn't brave
new
world?  (appropriate for an undergrad intro course)

your suggestions?
thanks for any help,
ben



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Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 09:47:53 -0400
From: "Wayne Miller" 
Subject: Book announcement

From David Weininger:

I thought readers of the Society for Literature and Science might be
interested in this book.  For more information please visit
http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262194716

Ivory Bridges
Connecting Science and Society
Gerhard Sonnert, with the assistance of Gerald Holton

According to a widespread stereotype, scientists occupy an ivory
tower,
isolated from other parts of society. To some extent this is true, and
the
resulting freedom to pursue curiosity-driven research has made
possible
extraordinary scientific advances. The spinoffs of "pure" science,
however,
have also had powerful impacts on society, and the potential for
future
impacts is even greater.

The public and many policymakers, as well as many researchers, have
paid
insufficient attention to the mechanisms for interchange between
science and
society that have developed since World War II. Ivory Bridges examines
two such
mechanisms: governmental science policy (often involving the
participation
of "scientist administrators") and scientists' voluntary
public-interest
associations.

The examination of science policy is guided by the notion of
"Jeffersonian
science"--defined as basic research on topics identified as being in
the
national interest. The book illustrates the concept with a historical
case
study of the Press-Carter Initiative of the late 1970s and proposes
that a
Jeffersonian approach would make a valuable addition to future science
policy. The book also looks at the activities of citizen-scientists who
have
organized themselves to promote the welfare of society. It shows that
their
numerous and diverse organizations have made major contributions to
the
commonweal and that they have helped to prevent science from becoming
either
too subservient to government or too autonomous. An extensive appendix
profiles a wide variety of these organizations.

Gerhard Sonnert is a sociologist of science in the Department of
Physics at
Harvard University. Gerald Holton is Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics
and
Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, at Harvard University.


6 x 9, 327 pp., cloth, 0-262-19471-6


David Weininger
Associate Publicist
MIT Press
5 Cambridge Center, 4th Floor
Cambridge, MA  02142
617.253.2079
617.253.1709 fax
dgw@mit.edu

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End of litsci-l-digest V1 #10
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