The Edge of the Unknown: 101 Things You Don't Know about Science - and No One Else Does, Either (original 1996; edition 1996)

by James Trefil

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203	4	133,607	(3.24)	5
Offers a look at the most pressing questions in science today including the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence and of a medicinal cure for tumors.

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Member:	ReshW
Title:	The Edge of the Unknown: 101 Things You Don't Know about Science - and No One Else Does, Either
Authors:	James Trefil
Info:	Houghton Mifflin (1996), Edition: 1ST, Hardcover, 355 pages
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The Edge of the Unknown: 101 Things You Don't Know About Science And No One Else Does Either by James Trefil (1996)

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Science blunders about over time, so this edition is hopelessly out of date. Wonderful topics are a bit philosophical at times. Perhaps a 3-star effort in 1996. (

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Sandydog1 | May 3, 2020 |

Really quite good, and fascinating to read twenty years after it was published. (

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jensenmk82 | Oct 28, 2016 |

Nearly all questions I had already considered. (

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hcubic | May 26, 2013 |

Another of those 'just read a few pages at a time' books. Basically this is a book of 101 3-page essays about questions from the borders of science. Even though he was writing this book 15 years ago many of the questions are still current and many remain essentially unanswered. I did enjoy Trefil's very readable book.

hailelib | Sep 13, 2009 |

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Canonical title

The Edge of the Unknown: 101 Things You Don't Know About Science And No One Else Does Either

Original title

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Original publication date

1996

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Epigraph

Dedication

TO MY OLD FRIENDS
JEFF AND VICKI
AND MY NEW FRIENDS
JARED AND SETH

First words

In this book I want to look at the enormously diverse enterprise we call science and tell you about the unanswered questions that will drive it into the next century. (Introduction)

Why is there a universe at all?

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

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Raup, David

Lederman, Leon

Original language

English

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James Trefil

Mariner Books

The Edge of the Unknown

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Offers a look at the most pressing questions in science today including the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence and of a medicinal cure for tumors.

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(From the Publisher)

James Trefil takes the reader on a thrilling tour across the borders of current scientific knowledge. From astronomy to genetics, from information technology to cosmology, he surveys the great contested questions that preoccupy researchers today and will become the headlines of tomorrow. In a series of elegant three-page summations, written with wit and wisdom, Dr. Trefil predicts the course of future breakthroughs over the whole range of the sciences. The Edge of the Unknown asks and answers such questions as: Is there an asteroid in our future? What's the likelihood of discovering proof of extraterrestrial intelligence? Can we reasonably hope to cure brain tumors with an injection? What's the future of "designer drugs" and DNA repair? Will we ever understand consciousness? Are physicists on the verge of discovering the origin of the universe? How worried should we be about killer bees and mutant viruses?

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