The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …”
– Isaac Asimov
I recently read 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense by Micheal Brooks. It’s a popular science book that opens with the above quote and discusses thirteen things that are “funny” about modern science. I really enjoyed this book.
Each of the chapters in this book describes something that’s a little (or a lot) off when described by the current best theory. Why does sex exist when asexual reproduction is so much simpler, more efficient, and less error-prone? Where is 96% of the universe? The author explores the current thinking on these questions and shows where scientists are working on the gap between theory and reality.
The book itself is well written and lays out the problems in relatively easy to understand terms. Some of the transitions between chapters are a little awkward – this is more a collection of essays than a continuous narrative. This book reminded me a lot of Borderlands of Science without being quite as fringe.
I hope that Micheal Brooks updates this book in five or ten years to show how things have or have not changed. Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to have any other books out as I would love to read more of his essays.
New Scientist has an article that can give you a decent feel of Micheal Brooks’ writing on this topic: 13 things that do not make sense.
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As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life – so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
– Matt Cartmill