The Scientific Sublime: Popular Science Unravels the Mysteries of the Universe

by Alan G. Gross Narrated by Bob Souer

Overview

The sublime evokes our awe, our terror, and our wonder. Applied first in ancient Greece to the heights of literary expression, in the 18th-century the sublime was extended to nature and to the sciences, enterprises that viewed the natural world as a manifestation of God's goodness, power, and wisdom.



In The Scientific Sublime, Alan Gross reveals the modern-day sublime in popular science. He shows how the great popular scientists of our time-Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, Steven Weinberg, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Rachel Carson, Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, and E. O. Wilson-evoke the sublime in response to fundamental questions: How did the universe begin? How did life? How did language? These authors maintain a tradition initiated by Joseph Addison, Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith, towering 18th-century figures who adapted the literary sublime first to nature, then to science-though with one crucial difference: religion has been replaced wholly by science.



In a final chapter, Gross explores science's attack on religion, an assault that attempts to sweep permanently under the rug two questions science cannot answer: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of the good life?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

05/07/2018
Gross (The Rhetoric of Science), a University of Minnesota–Twin Cities professor emeritus of communication studies, tackles the question of how successful popular science writers transmit complex ideas to a general audience, but his own work lacks a self-evident audience among either professional or lay readers. For examples, Gross chooses the writings of five physicists, Richard Feynman, Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking, Lisa Randall, and Steven Weinberg, and of five scientists involved with evolutionary theory, Rachel Carson, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Pinker, and E.O. Wilson. Unfortunately, Gross doesn’t have the knack for clearly and simply summarizing thorny concepts that he attributes to his subjects, so their ideas become ever more abstruse as he attempts to discuss them. Although mostly adulatory, he does takes aim at Pinker’s hypotheses, but with abbreviated and generally unconvincing criticisms, such as that Pinker’s statistical argument for the historical decline of violence excludes automotive deaths. He concludes with an out-of-place chapter arguing that those who conclude that science must replace God are mistaken, an argument perhaps germane to Dawkins but less so to the other writers discussed. This frustrating book does little to advance the understanding of the nature of science or of science writing. (July)

From the Publisher

"Few readers can have missed the enormous sales of popular science books such as Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time or Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Alan Gross writes about such works with clarity and energy, and his book is succinct and often brilliant." — David E. Nye, University of Minnesota, Charles Babbage Institute, ISIS

"...a very attractively written and interesting book... [it] can serve as a perfect source of information about the best science popularisation works. It may be used to ignite the interest of readers and move them to reading the texts presented in the book in their original form." — Elena Maceviciute, : University of Borås, Information Research

"With clarity and elegance, Alan Gross introduces readers of The Scientific Sublime to contemporary scientists who are prose artists and whose works have introduced the public to extremely-scaled phenomena, from quantum mechanics and cosmology to panoramic theories of evolution. Extending the rhetorical concept of the sublime as a form of overwhelming persuasion, Gross points out the effects of his chosen writers' visionary descriptions and theorizing. In doing so he creates a new critical term, the scientific sublime, that will inform future assessments of the science writing of any era. His final chapter is a surprising and bracing retreat from appreciation, as Gross points out the moral and human sublime, beyond the expertise of his model authors, that requires other forms of artistic expression." — Jeanne Fahnestock, University of Maryland

"Alan G. Gross is a Science Studies pioneer, with lots of the rest of us standing on his shoulders, and this may be his best work, certainly the most gracefully written, compulsively readable, and wittiest of his books. Decidedly, the most fun. That would be worth the price of admission on its own. But it's not on its own. The Scientific Sublime also gives us portraits of some of our most eloquent scientists and science writers-Rachel Carson, E.O. Wilson, Steven Pinker, Richards Feynman and Dawkins-with Gross not only charting out that eloquence but sometimes matching it, in prose that bristles with insights and urbanities, and, on occasion, flares into a take-no-prisoners acerbity that would also be at home with some of those writers."— Randy Harris, University of Waterloo

"In this beautifully written, engaging and perceptive book, Gross has tracked the idea of the sublime from its origins in pre-modern western culture to the popularizations of science of the last half century. He shows how influential physicists and biologists have united to present a vast epic that attempts to explain the origin and meaning of life-an account that competes with the Biblical narrative. Anyone interested in what modern science tells us about humanity's place in nature must read this book." — Bernard V. Lightman, York University

MARCH 2019 - AudioFile

Several popular audiobooks attempt to explain contemporary science, the best known being Bill Bryson’s A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING. In this work Gross is unique in his focus on one central feature, the sublime—in nature, in the theories of scientists, and in scientific writing. Bob Souer proves an excellent choice as narrator for this challenging and provocative text. Some of the theory is difficult to grasp; some of Gross’s judgments are unsparing. Even so, the notion of the sublime opens up new channels in the mind and puts into a simple but profound context so much of contemporary science that seems beyond understanding. Lucid, effectively read, rich in detail and insight, this highly rewarding title crosses the borders of science, biography, and literary criticism. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171447045
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	12/28/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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