Synopses & Reviews
In his most important book to date, award-winning author Timothy Ferris—"the best popular science writer in the English language today" (
Christian Science Monitor)—makes a passionate case for science as the inspiration behind the rise of liberalism and democracy. Ferris argues that just as the scientific revolution rescued billions from poverty, fear, hunger, and disease, the Enlight-enment values it inspired has swelled the number of persons living in free and democratic societies from less than 1 percent of the world population four centuries ago to more than a third today.
Ferris deftly investigates the evolution of these scientific and political revolutions, demonstrating that they are inextricably bound. He shows how science was integral to the American Revolution but misinterpreted in the French Revolution; reflects on the history of liberalism, stressing its widely underestimated and mutually beneficial relationship with science; and surveys the forces that have opposed science and liberalism—from communism and fascism to postmodernism and Islamic fundamentalism.
A sweeping intellectual history, The Science of Liberty is a stunningly original work that transcends the antiquated concepts of left and right.
Synopsis
"Ferris is a master analogist who conveys his insights on the history of cosmology with a lyrical flair." --The New York Times Book Review
In The Science of Liberty, award-winning author Timothy Ferris--called "the best popular science writer in the English language today" by the Christian Science Monitor and "the best science writer of his generation" by the Washington Post--makes a passionate case for science as the inspiration behind the rise of liberalism and democracy. In the grand tradition of such luminaries of the field as Bill Bryson, Richard Dawkins, and Oliver Sacks--as well as his own The Whole Shebang and Coming of Age in the Milky Way--Ferris has written a brilliant chronicle of how science sparked the spread of liberal democracy and transformed today's world.
Synopsis
In his most important book to date, award-winning
Table of Contents
Science & liberty -- Science & liberalism -- The rise of science -- The science of enlightenment -- American independence -- The terror -- Power -- Progress -- The science of wealth -- Totalitarian antiscience -- Academic antiscience -- One world.