Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Summary and Reviews of The Workshop and the World by Robert Crease

The Workshop and the World by Robert P. Crease

The Workshop and the World

What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us About Science and Authority

by Robert P. Crease
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • First Published:
  • Mar 26, 2019, 272 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A fascinating look at key thinkers throughout history who have shaped public perception of science and the role of authority.

When does a scientific discovery become accepted fact? Why have scientific facts become easy to deny? And what can we do about it? In The Workshop and the World, philosopher and science historian Robert P. Crease answers these questions by describing the origins of our scientific infrastructure―the "workshop"―and the role of ten of the world's greatest thinkers in shaping it. At a time when the Catholic Church assumed total authority, Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, and René Descartes were the first to articulate the worldly authority of science, while writers such as Mary Shelley and Auguste Comte told cautionary tales of divorcing science from the humanities. The provocative leaders and thinkers Kemal Atatürk and Hannah Arendt addressed the relationship between the scientific community and the public in in times of deep distrust.

As today's politicians and government officials increasingly accuse scientists of dishonesty, conspiracy, and even hoaxes, engaged citizens can't help but wonder how we got to this level of distrust and how we can emerge from it. This book tells dramatic stories of individuals who confronted fierce opposition―and sometimes risked their lives―in describing the proper authority of science, and it examines how ignorance and misuse of science constitute the preeminent threat to human life and culture. An essential, timely exploration of what it means to practice science for the common good as well as the danger of political action divorced from science, The Workshop and the World helps us understand both the origins of our current moment of great anti-science rhetoric and what we can do to help keep the modern world from falling apart.

Introduction

In the summer of 2018, I went to see the Mer de Glace, the longest glacier in France. I knew what it looked like— or thought I did. For nearly three centuries it has been one of the most painted, photographed, and described natural features in Europe. From the northern slopes of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, it twists its way slowly and inexorably between the peaks like a giant icy crocodile. Its jagged white blocks inspired Goethe, Wordsworth, and other poets. In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, the glacier's wildness is the backdrop for the monster's first confrontation with the creator who abandoned him. Many artists, including J. M. W. Turner, Caspar David Friedrich, and John Ruskin, painted its dramatic and disordered surface in images that ran from majestic and ethereal to terrifying. Visitors compared it to a hurricane- whipped ocean that had suddenly frozen and turned sheet- white.

I boarded a rack railway that had been built in 1908 to ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

The subject matter is philosophically complex, but Crease makes it accessible. He synthesizes each thinker's contribution to the broad philosophical sphere, demonstrating how their work built upon the thinking of their predecessors. He also includes examples of contemporary science denial that highlight the pernicious consequences of failing to listen to reason...continued

Full Review Members Only (891 words)

(Reviewed by Chris Fredrick).

Media Reviews

Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. A timely, sophisticated analysis of the plague of science denial, and possible correctives, via an examination of the ideas of ten profound thinkers.

Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A masterpiece that explains sophisticated concepts without shortchanging them, and demonstrates 'why the dwindling authority of science' threatens human life.

Author Blurb Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet
Science is under assault. Crease's vital new book explains how science acquired its authority, how that authority has benefited us all?and how the seeds of attack came from within science itself.

Author Blurb Edward S. Casey, author of The World on Edge
An eloquent, timely account of what went right and what wrong in modernity when it comes to the ways in which scientific discoveries and theories were received by contemporaries...Speaking forcefully to the present moment, Crease spells out a series of concrete and efficacious steps by which science denial can be addressed and combated in our own time.

Author Blurb Jimena Canales, author of The Physicist and the Philosopher
How to get angry the right way?that is the question motivating Robert Crease's magisterial account of ten of history's smartest men and women on the verge of making the world a better place...Through the lives and thoughts of these indispensable apostles of truth, Crease offers readers a profound meditation about the breaking point of modern civilization.

Author Blurb Peter Woit, author of Not Even Wrong
We live in a frightening time of assault on the notion of ‘truth' and authority. Crease's historical account of the relationship between the public and the expert sheds important light on our current plight.

Author Blurb Philip Ball, author of Serving the Reich
In this urgent book, Crease shows that there is nothing obvious or inevitable about the social reception of science. Beautifully and clearly written, it is required reading for anyone who cares about the role of science in society.

Author Blurb Robert C. Scharff, author of How History Matters to Philosophy
Rather than hard-sell current scientific claims to those unlikely to listen, Crease enhances the cultural ‘authority of the workshop' by showing how science becomes authoritative in the first place. His unique combination of talents and expertise is a benefit to us all.

Reader Reviews

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book



Understanding and Countering Science Denial

According to Robert P. Crease, science denial is a personal rejection of only those specific scientific findings that conflict with an individual's political, economic or personal/religious beliefs. The Workshop and the World by Robert P. Crease looks at science denial throughout history and offers a synthesis that outlines: 1) the characteristics of scientific study that make it vulnerable to denial, and 2) better rhetorical tactics for countering this denial.

Science denial isn't simply about a few bad actors who are politically, financially or philosophically motivated. It has a deeper dynamic. The same characteristics that make coordinated scientific study an engine for innovation and progress also make it vulnerable to repudiation. ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Workshop and the World, try these:

  • The West jacket

    The West

    by Naoíse Mac Sweeney

    Published 2023

    About this book

    Prize-winning historian Naoíse Mac Sweeney delivers a captivating exploration of how "Western Civilization" - the concept of a single cultural inheritance extending from ancient Greece to modern times - is a powerful figment of our collective imagination. An urgently needed emergent voice in big history, she offers a bold new account of ...

  • The Catalyst jacket

    The Catalyst

    by Jonah Berger

    Published 2022

    About this book

    From the author of New York Times bestsellers Contagious and Invisible Influence comes a revolutionary approach to changing anyone's mind.

We have 6 read-alikes for The Workshop and the World, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: James
    James
    by Percival Everett
    The Oscar-nominated film American Fiction (2023) and the Percival Everett novel it was based on, ...
  • Book Jacket
    But the Girl
    by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
    Jessica Zhan Mei Yu's But the Girl begins with the real-life disappearance of Malaysia Airlines ...
  • Book Jacket: Patriot
    Patriot
    by Alexei Navalny
    On the 17th of January, 2024, colleagues of Alexei Navalny posted a message to his Instagram account...
  • Book Jacket: Rental House
    Rental House
    by Weike Wang
    For many of us, vacations offer an escape from the everyday — a chance to explore new places, ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Who Said...

A library is a temple unabridged with priceless treasure...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now