Seeing Further

Seeing Further is a beautiful, lavishly illustrated book telling the story of science and the Royal Society from 1660 to the present and looking ahead at what the next 50 years will bring. It is edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Martin Rees, Richard Fortey, Steve Jones, James Gleick and Neal Stephenson amongst many others.

Seeing Further is available at Amazon and all good bookshops.

Chapters

1. Introduction by Bill Bryson
2. At the beginning: more things in heaven and earth by James Gleick
3. Of the madness of mad scientists: Jonathan Swift’s Grand Academy by Margaret Atwood
4. Lost in space: the spiritual crisis of Newtonian Cosmology by Margaret Wertheim
5. Atoms of cognition: metaphysics in the Royal Society by Neal Stephenson
6. What’s in a name? Rivalries and the birth of modern science by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
7. Charged Atmospheres: Promethean science and the Royal Society by Simon Schaffer
8. A new age of flight: Richard Banks goes ballooning by Richard Holmes
9. Archives of life: science and collections by Richard Fortey
10. Darwin’s five bridges: the way to natural selection by Richard Dawkins
11. Images of progress: conferences of engineers by Henry Petroski
12. X-ray visions: structural biologists and social action in the twentieth century by Georgina Ferry
13. Ten thousand wedges: biodiversity, natural selection and random change by Steve Jones
14. Making stuff: from Bacon to Bakelite by Philip Ball
15. Just typical: our changing place in the universe by Paul Davies
16. Behind the scenes: the hidden mathematics that rules our world by Ian Stewart
17. Simple, really: from simplicity to complexity – and back again by John D. Barrow
18. Globe and sphere, cycles and flows: how to see the world by Oliver Morton
19. Beyond ending: looking into the void by Maggie Gee
20. Confidence, consensus and the undertainty cops: tackling risk management in climate change by Stephen H. Schneider
21. Time: the winged chariot by Gregory Benford
22. Conclusion: looking fifty years ahead by Martin Rees

“provocative, admirable
and highly readable”
The Sunday Times, January 24th 2010

“Today [the Royal Society] is the longest-lived scientific society in the world and this superb collection of essays, extensively illustrated, is a fitting tribute”
The Independent, January 22nd 2010

“a book of cerebral riches, heavy with history, to be consumed at leisure” The Guardian, January 24th 2010

“a handsome book – it is beautifully illustrated – containing thoughtful insights, eloquently expressed. As a celebration of 350 years of modern science, it is a worthy tribute.”
The Economist, January 21st 2010