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Despite the success of many popular-science books, science is struggling to hold the imagination of young people. Science departments are closing for lack of student intake. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that there is no accessible history of science that you can safely give to a young person in the hope of kindling a flame. In the tradition of Gombrich’s A Little History of the World, Stories of Science aims to be a small object of desire for young persons and adults alike.
Science is our great journey from the ignorance of instinctual animals to the mature self-awareness of people who know how life and the physical world works. It can help us to address flaws in the human condition and to create things undreamt of in the natural scheme of things.
The book charts the human stories behind the major discoveries concerning the physical world and the evolution of life. Brilliant thought, patient experimentation, and human vanity are all woven into the narratives.
The animating spirit of science was first expressed by the Roman poet Lucretius 2000 years ago. For Lucretius the physical word is a joy: the enemy of human happiness is superstition, religion, fear of the irrational and cruel dogmas and traditional practices. Far from this world being a vale of tears, the torments are mostly in our head and can be banished by a brave, determined enquiry into the real causes of things. Stories of Science is conceived in this Lucretian spirit.
It will speak to young people and to everyone who has curiosity and a feeling that there must be more to our era of late consumerist society than celebrity culture.
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