Rock, Bone, and Ruin

Rock, Bone, and Ruin
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
Total Pages : 384
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780262037266
ISBN-13 : 0262037262
Rating : 4/5 (66 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Rock, Bone, and Ruin by : Adrian Currie

Download or read book Rock, Bone, and Ruin written by Adrian Currie and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-02-16 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of “methodologically omnivorous” geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover truths about the deep past. The “historical sciences”—geology, paleontology, and archaeology—have made extraordinary progress in advancing our understanding of the deep past. How has this been possible, given that the evidence they have to work with offers mere traces of the past? In Rock, Bone, and Ruin, Adrian Currie explains that these scientists are “methodological omnivores,” with a variety of strategies and techniques at their disposal, and that this gives us every reason to be optimistic about their capacity to uncover truths about prehistory. Creative and opportunistic paleontologists, for example, discovered and described a new species of prehistoric duck-billed platypus from a single fossilized tooth. Examining the complex reasoning processes of historical science, Currie also considers philosophical and scientific reflection on the relationship between past and present, the nature of evidence, contingency, and scientific progress. Currie draws on varied examples from across the historical sciences, from Mayan ritual sacrifice to giant Mesozoic fleas to Mars's mysterious watery past, to develop an account of the nature of, and resources available to, historical science. He presents two major case studies: the emerging explanation of sauropod size, and the “snowball earth” hypothesis that accounts for signs of glaciation in Neoproterozoic tropics. He develops the Ripple Model of Evidence to analyze “unlucky circumstances” in scientific investigation; examines and refutes arguments for pessimism about the capacity of the historical sciences, defending the role of analogy and arguing that simulations have an experiment-like function. Currie argues for a creative, open-ended approach, “empirically grounded” speculation.


Rock, Bone, and Ruin Related Books

Rock, Bone, and Ruin
Language: en
Pages: 384
Authors: Adrian Currie
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-02-16 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of “methodologically omnivorous” geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover trut
Rock, Bone, and Ruin
Language: en
Pages: 383
Authors: Adrian Currie
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-05-21 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of “methodologically omnivorous” geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover trut
Preparing Dinosaurs
Language: en
Pages: 266
Authors: Caitlin Donahue Wylie
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-08-31 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An investigation of the work and workers in fossil preparation labs reveals the often unacknowledged creativity and problem-solving on which scientists rely. Th
A Court of Wings and Ruin
Language: en
Pages: 739
Authors: Sarah J. Maas
Categories: Young Adult Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-05 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sarah J. Maas hit the New York Times SERIES list at #1 with A Court of Wings and Ruin!
Data-Centric Biology
Language: en
Pages: 282
Authors: Sabina Leonelli
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-11-18 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In recent decades, there has been a major shift in the way researchers process and understand scientific data. Digital access to data has revolutionized ways of