San Antonio College Library

Traces the unusual history of parrots from their introduction in the Graeco-Roman world as items of oriental luxury, through the great age of New World exploration, to the contemporary ecological crisis of globalism.

In this easily accessible text, Mark Erickson explains what science is and how it is carried out, the nature of the relationship between science and society, the representation of science in contemporary culture, and how scientific institutions are structured.

Years ago, noted science teacher and writer Chet Raymo embarked upon his own quest to reconcile the miracle stories he learned as a child with the science he learned as an adult. Skeptics and True Believers is the culmination of that search. Acknowledging that the scientific and the spiritual communities are increasingly split, Raymo builds strong bridges between them. He illustrates his argument with an array of thought-provoking stories, such as...

"Traditional Islam and Christianity, classical metaphysics, liberal theology, and New Age thought all tell us that cosmic reality is fundamentally spiritual. In contrast, Edlin presents a skeptical view, showing how thoroughgoing naturalism results in a much more compelling picture of our world. [back cover].

"Here, Horace Freeland Judson carefully details various types of scientific fraud and how they happen: considers science's self-government, including peer review and paper refereeing; and exposes the failures of academic, legal, and government responses. With reason for hope, he also points to how the movement toward Internet publication of papers promises remarkable new checks on fraud."--Jacket.

"How do trances, visions, prayer, satori, and other mystical experiences "work"? What induces and defines them? Is there a scientific explanation for religious mysteries and transcendent meditation? John Horgan investigates a wide range of fields - chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, theology, and more - to narrow the gap between reason and mystical phenomena." "As both a seeker and an award-winning journalist, Horgan consulted a wide...

Publisher's description: Scientific uncertainty puzzles many people. The puzzlement arises when scientists have more than one answer, and disagree among themselves. This book helps people find their way through this maze of scientific contradiction and uncertainty. By acquainting them with the ways that uncertainty arises in science, how scientists accommodate and make use of uncertainty, and how they reach conclusions in the face of uncertainty,...

Women Changing Science: Voices from a Field in Transition explores the experiences of today's women in the natural and physical sciences. In interviews with women at all stages of their scientific careers, Ms. Mary Morse, a frequent contributor to Utne Reader magazine and a community activist, unearths a picture of science that rarely sees print: a field in upheaval, with female and male scientists doing their best to survive in rapidly shifting social...