How We Know

The portraits of Freud, Shakespeare, Einstein, and Leonardo da Vinci on the cover symbolize a major theme of How We Know—that the creative imagination plays a role in the sciences no less than in the arts, and that scientific discoveries have an aesthetic beauty of their own that can be enjoyed by the nonscientist. Written to be understood by readers without proper scientific training, the main features of scientific method are illustrated by the use of case histories of research and discovery. The book also explores such questions as the nature of scientific understanding of the world, how theories are invented, how they are tested experimentally, and whether the scientist is ever "objective."The broad scientific experience of Martin and Inge Goldstein has made them aware not only of the distinctive features of diverse disciplines, but also of the common ground all fields of science share. This book was written in the belief that these common features of the scientific enterprise can be communicated to the nonscientist, and that it is important both for science and for society as a whole that this be done.How We Know offers help to those mystified and confused by the methods and aims of science. It firmly establishes science as a product of human beings acting in human ways, a process where the search for beauty can be as compelling as the search for truth.

Thomas Gilovich offers a wise and readable guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. When can we trust what we believe—that "teams and players have winning streaks," that "flattery works," or that "the more people who agree, the more likely they are to be right"—and when are such beliefs suspect? Thomas Gilovich offers a guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. Illustrating his points with examples, and supporting them with the latest research findings, he documents the cognitive, social, and motivational processes that distort our thoughts, beliefs, judgments and decisions. In a rapidly changing world, the biases and stereotypes that help us process an overload of complex information inevitably distort what we would like to believe is reality. Awareness of our propensity to make these systematic errors, Gilovich argues, is the first step to more effective analysis and action.

Why did pirates covet maps more than gold? Does Mars sometimes slip into reverse gear? Can trees reveal secrets of the past? There are millions of facts that we know about the world-that the earth is round, that birds migrate and that dinosaurs once roamed the planet. But how do we know what we know? Regaling us with tales of remarkable men and women who didn't rest until they got the answers they sought, Shruthi Rao chronicles the stories behind the discoveries and inventions we take for granted today. This book, in fifty marvellous accounts, tells us of the sense of mystery and wonder that propel scientists to find solutions to the puzzling problems of the world around us.

What does it mean to know something? Can we have confidence in our knowledge? Epistemology, the study of knowledge, can often seem like a daunting subject. And yet few topics are more basic to human life. We are inquisitive creatures by nature, and the unending quest for truth leads us to raise difficult questions about the quest itself. What are the conditions, sources, and limits of our knowledge? Do our beliefs need to be rationally justified? Can we have certainty? In this primer on epistemology, James Dew and Mark Foreman guide readers through this discipline in philosophy. This second edition has been expanded with new material and now serves as the first volume in IVP's Questions in Christian Philosophy series. By asking basic questions and using clear, jargon-free language, they provide an entry into one of the most important issues in contemporary philosophy. The Questions in Christian Philosophy Series features introductory textbooks that offer students a Christian perspective on the various branches of philosophy, enabling them as they seek to understand all facets of life including existence, knowledge, ethics, art, and more.

Eleanor and Park meets Saved! in this moving contemporary novel from New York Times bestselling author Tamara Ireland Stone. Lifelong best friends and next-door neighbors Hannah and Emory have never gone a single day without talking. But now its senior year and they haven't spoken in three months. Not since the fight, where they each said things they couldn't take back. They're aching to break the silence, but those thirty-six steps between their bedroom windows feel more like thirty-six miles. Then one fateful night, Emory's boyfriend, Luke, almost dies. And Hannah is the one who finds him and saves his life. As Luke tries to make sense of his near-death experience, he secretly turns to Hannah, who becomes his biggest confidante. In Luke, Hannah finds someone she can finally talk to about all the questions she's grappling with. Emory just wants everything to go back to normal -- the way it was before the accident. She has no idea why her relationship is spiraling out of control. But when the horrifying reason behind Hannah and Emory's argument ultimately comes to light, all three of them will be forced work together to protect the one with the biggest secret of all. In the follow-up to her New York Times bestseller, Every Last Word, Tamara Ireland Stone crafts a deeply moving, unforgettable story about love, betrayal, and the power of friendship.

A Cosmopolitan Best Young Adult Book of 2019 A Buzzfeed Pick for "YA Books You Absolutely Must Read This Spring" Sparks fly between a K pop starlet and a tabloid reporter in this heartwarming rom-com from Maurene Goo. 10:00 p.m.: Lucky is the biggest K-pop star on the scene, and she’s just performed her hit song “Heartbeat” in Hong Kong to thousands of adoring fans. She’s about to debut on The Tonight Show in America, hopefully a breakout performance for her career. But right now? She’s in her fancy hotel, trying to fall asleep but dying for a hamburger. 11:00 p.m.: Jack is sneaking into a fancy hotel, on assignment for his tabloid job that he keeps secret from his parents. On his way out of the hotel, he runs into a girl wearing slippers, a girl who is single-mindedly determined to find a hamburger. She looks kind of familiar. She’s very cute. He’s maybe curious. 12:00 a.m.: Nothing will ever be the same. With her trademark humor and voice, Maurene Goo delivers a sparkling story of taking a chance on love—and finding yourself along the way.

AN INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "No one does suburban paranoia like Shari Lapena." —Ruth Ware, internationally bestselling author of The Woman in Cabin 10 Maybe you don't know your neighbours as well as you thought you did . . . In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses—and into the owners' computers as well—learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets? In this neighbourhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide. You never really know what people are capable of . . .

In the tradition of The Power of Habit and Thinking, Fast and Slow comes a practical, playful, and endlessly fascinating guide to what we really know about learning and memory today—and how we can apply it to our own lives. From an early age, it is drilled into our heads: Restlessness, distraction, and ignorance are the enemies of success. We’re told that learning is all self-discipline, that we must confine ourselves to designated study areas, turn off the music, and maintain a strict ritual if we want to ace that test, memorize that presentation, or nail that piano recital. But what if almost everything we were told about learning is wrong? And what if there was a way to achieve more with less effort? In How We Learn, award-winning science reporter Benedict Carey sifts through decades of education research and landmark studies to uncover the truth about how our brains absorb and retain information. What he discovers is that, from the moment we are born, we are all learning quickly, efficiently, and automatically; but in our zeal to systematize the process we have ignored valuable, naturally enjoyable learning tools like forgetting, sleeping, and daydreaming. Is a dedicated desk in a quiet room really the best way to study? Can altering your routine improve your recall? Are there times when distraction is good? Is repetition necessary? Carey’s search for answers to these questions yields a wealth of strategies that make learning more a part of our everyday lives—and less of a chore. By road testing many of the counterintuitive techniques described in this book, Carey shows how we can flex the neural muscles that make deep learning possible. Along the way he reveals why teachers should give final exams on the first day of class, why it’s wise to interleave subjects and concepts when learning any new skill, and when it’s smarter to stay up late prepping for that presentation than to rise early for one last cram session. And if this requires some suspension of disbelief, that’s because the research defies what we’ve been told, throughout our lives, about how best to learn. The brain is not like a muscle, at least not in any straightforward sense. It is something else altogether, sensitive to mood, to timing, to circadian rhythms, as well as to location and environment. It doesn’t take orders well, to put it mildly. If the brain is a learning machine, then it is an eccentric one. In How We Learn, Benedict Carey shows us how to exploit its quirks to our advantage.