DAVID DEUTSCH (b. 1953) is a quantum physicist and a fellow at the British Royal Society, one of the oldest scientific societies.

The Beginning of Infinity
by David Deutsch
Viking, 2011
 

The Beginning of Infinity is simply one of the best written philosophy of science books that explains what science is - a never ending quest for better explanations of reality - ad infinitum. For biologists, this book is an excellent source of understanding the problems with Creationism and Intelligent Design theory - a series of bad explanations about the origin of life. As Deutsch convincingly lays out, the truth about reality is made up of hard to vary assertions, but one can never expect to find a final truth and turn it into dogma (derive knowledge from authority). Good explanations are the result of criticism (of existing theory, dogma), conjecture (to come up with several better ideas), experience (have an experimental way of testing the ideas, even ideas rooted in mythologies), and then choose the best explanation.

August 27, 2011 /  © 2013 Lukas K. Buehler / go back to Book Review Home