CURIOSITY: HOW SCIENCE BECAME INTERESTED IN EVERYTHING

Book ID/图书代码： 00200012B54606

English Summary/英文概要： There was a time when curiosity was condemned. To be curious was to delve into matters that didn’t concern you - after all, the original sin stemmed from a desire for forbidden knowledge. Through curiosity our innocence was lost.

Yet this hasn’t deterred us. Today we spend vast sums trying to recreate the first instants of creation in particle accelerators, out of pure desire to know. There seems now to be no question too vast or too trivial to be ruled out of bounds: Why can fleas jump so high? What is gravity? What shape are clouds? Today curiosity is no longer reviled, but celebrated.

Examining how our inquisitive impulse first became sanctioned, changing from a vice to a virtue, Curiosity begins with the age when modern science began, a time that spans the lives of Galileo and Isaac Newton. It reveals a complex story, in which the liberation - and the taming - of curiosity was linked to magic, religion, literature, travel, trade and empire.

By examining the rise of curiosity, we can ask what has become of it today: how it functions in science, how it is spun and packaged and sold, how well it is being sustained and honoured, and how the changing shape of science influences the kinds of questions it may ask.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 有一段时间好奇心被认为是罪的，人们认为好奇就是钻研那些跟自己无关的一些事情。毕竟原罪起源于对禁止的只是的渴望，因为好奇而失去了我们原本的纯洁。

然而，这并不能阻止我们。今天，出于纯粹的渴望，我们花费巨资，试图通过例子加速器重造创造的第一瞬间。现在看来，要规定其出界无疑是过于庞大或过于琐碎的：为什么跳骚可以跳得那么高？什么是地心引力？云彩是什么形状的？现在，拥有好奇心不再被唾骂，而是被称赞。

研究我们好奇的冲动是如何在开始时被认为是有罪的，从恶习变成了一种美德。好奇心开始于现代科学开始的时代，一时间，贯穿了伽利略和艾萨克牛顿的生命。它揭示了一个复杂的故事，包括好奇心的解放与驯服，好奇与魔术，宗教，文学，旅游，贸易和军权是相联系的。

通过研究好奇心地位的上升，我们可以问它今天变成了什么样子：它在科学中是如何发挥作用的？它是如何剥离和打包并出售的？它是如何延续下去并且被当做一种荣耀的？科学形式的变化是如何影响它可能会问的问题的？(LNL)

Awards/获奖情况："Curiosity is a wonderful book that revises popular assumptions about the Scientific Revolution with great wit and insight. But ultimately it is both a cogent and vigorously argued reflection on what drives modern experimental science… Philip Ball distinguishes himself as unquestionably one of our finest – and most curious – writers on the history and future of science."--Jerry Brotton, Literary Review

"Philip Ball, like Primo Levi, displays a polymath’s enthusiasm for knowledge of all kinds, and writes of science with humility and intelligent generosity… Ball’s new book, a readable survey of the role of curiosity in science, is a good example of what the French call haute vulgarisation – high-class popularisation. In pages of limpid prose, Ball brings difficult ideas down a level."--Ian Thomson, Daily Telegraph

"Ball’s fascinating book revels not just in the experiments of these early scientists, but also in their humanity, foibles and passions."--Ian Critchley, Sunday Times

About the Author/作者介绍： Philip Ball 是《自然》的一名自由撰稿人和顾问编辑，他曾在那担任物理科学的编辑。他定期给科学和大众媒体撰稿，并且他的许多书都是研究科学主题的，包括《临界物质：一件事情是如何导致另一件事情的》，获得2005年得安万特科学图书奖。他最新书中包括《音乐本能》、《宇宙的石:沙特尔大教堂和中世纪思想的胜利》，以及最近的《不正常现象：形成人类的邪恶思想》。Philip在布里斯托大学获得物理学博士学位。

Philip Ball is a freelance writer and a consultant editor for Nature, where he previously worked as an editor for physical sciences. He writes regularly in the scientific and popular media, and his many books on scientific subjects include Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads To Another, which won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. His latest books include The Music Instinct, Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind, and, most recently, Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People. Philip obtained a PhD in physics from the University of Bristol.

Format:插图

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：SOLD

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

原文第一章内容：暂无

手稿：暂无

大纲：暂无