Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future
Climate change, the energy crisis, nuclear proliferation—many of the most urgent problems of the twenty-first century require scientific solutions, yet America is paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than one minute is devoted to science, and the number of newspapers with science sections has shrunk from ninety-five to thirty-three in the last twenty years. In Unscientific America, journalist and best-selling author Chris Mooney and scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum explain this dangerous state of affairs, proposing a broad array of initiatives that could reverse the current trend.

An impassioned call to arms, Unscientific America exhorts Americans to reintegrate science into public discourse—before it is too late.

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Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future
Climate change, the energy crisis, nuclear proliferation—many of the most urgent problems of the twenty-first century require scientific solutions, yet America is paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than one minute is devoted to science, and the number of newspapers with science sections has shrunk from ninety-five to thirty-three in the last twenty years. In Unscientific America, journalist and best-selling author Chris Mooney and scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum explain this dangerous state of affairs, proposing a broad array of initiatives that could reverse the current trend.

An impassioned call to arms, Unscientific America exhorts Americans to reintegrate science into public discourse—before it is too late.

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Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future

Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future

Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future

Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future

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Overview

Climate change, the energy crisis, nuclear proliferation—many of the most urgent problems of the twenty-first century require scientific solutions, yet America is paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than one minute is devoted to science, and the number of newspapers with science sections has shrunk from ninety-five to thirty-three in the last twenty years. In Unscientific America, journalist and best-selling author Chris Mooney and scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum explain this dangerous state of affairs, proposing a broad array of initiatives that could reverse the current trend.

An impassioned call to arms, Unscientific America exhorts Americans to reintegrate science into public discourse—before it is too late.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780786744558
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 07/14/2009
Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format: eBook
Pages: 224
Sales rank: 379,733
File size: 327 KB
Age Range: 13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Chris Mooney is the author of The Republican War on Science and Storm World. A Knight fellow in science journalism at MIT, he contributes to many publications, including Mother Jones, Wired, the Boston Globe, and Slate. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sheril Kirshenbaum is Associate in Research for Ocean and Coastal Policy at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

From a Scientist and a Writer xvii

1 Why Pluto Matters 1

2 Rethinking the Problem of Scientific Illiteracy 13

Part I The Rise and Cultural Decline of American Science

3 From Sputnik to Sagan 25

4 Third Culture, or Nerd Culture? 41

Part II Different Rifts, Still Divided

5 Science Escape 2008 53

6 Unpopular Science 67

7 Hollywood and the Mad Scientists 81

8 Bruising Their Religion 95

Part III The Future in our Bones

9 The Bloggers Cannot Save Us 109

10 Is Our Scientists Learning? 117

Conclusion: A New Mission for American Science 127

Notes 133

Index 199

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