The Trouble with Science

The 'trouble' with science began in 1632, when Galileo demolished the belief that the earth is the centre of the universe. Yet despite the bewildering success of the scientific revolution, many continue to hanker after the cosy certainties of a man-centred universe, and young people increasingly turn away from science. In The Trouble with Science, Professor Robin Dunbar launches a vigorous counter-blast. Drawing on studies of traditional societies and animal behaviour, his argument ranges from Charles Darwin to Nigerian Fulani herdsman, from lab rats to the mathematicians of ancient Babylonia. Along the way, he asks whether science really is unique to western culture - even to mankind - and suggests that our 'trouble with science' may lie in the fact that evolution has left our minds better able to cope with day-to-day social interaction than with the complexities of the external world.

Robin Dunbar is currently Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His principal research interest is the evolution of sociality. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1998. His books include The Trouble with Science, 'an eloquent riposte to the anti-science lobby' (Sunday Times), and Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language. The Human Story was described as 'fizzing with recent research and new theories' in the Sunday Times and 'punchy and provocative' by the New Scientist. How Many Friends Does One Person Need?: Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks was published in 2010.