It Could Be Otherwise - by Stuart Firestein (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A profound argument for science that embraces uncertainty and promotes possibility, creativity, and the belief that we can shape, if not determine, our future.

"This wise book challenges everything we take for granted about thinking scientifically." --Annie Duke, bestselling author of Thinking in Bets

The search for certainty is embedded deep in the mythos of science. Science is expected to provide definitive answers based on immutable and universal laws. In It Could Be Otherwise, however, neuroscientist Stuart Firestein challenges this idea, extending the reach of science beyond merely discerning what must be to encompassing what may yet be possible.

The classic view of science, Firestein argues, reduces the world to bland predictability and us to our fates. Instead, modern discoveries of deep uncertainty, even unknowability, in evolution, complexity, physics, and all sciences, show that our actions are not strictly governed--and that science is an agent of freedom.

In our contemporary age, suspicion of science and its certainties runs deep. It Could Be Otherwise argues that science isn't about deciphering what the universe has already determined--instead, science offers possibilities. It invites us not to be prisoners of destiny but navigators of our own futures.

Review Quotes

"A smart treatise ... Making complex philosophical questions accessible, this is a persuasive defense of uncertainty as science's defining feature and greatest gift."--Publishers Weekly

"It Could Be Otherwise feels like a personal conversation with a deep thinker about what science is and how it works. Science, Stuart Firestein explains, is not about discovering universal truth--it's a process to master the inherent uncertainty of things, to build useful knowledge about the world. This and other counterintuitive ideas are made sensible in a sweeping discussion about the practice and value of science."--Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain

"This wise book challenges everything we take for granted about thinking scientifically. Rather than seeing the unknown as a problem to be solved, Stuart Firestein instead invites us to embrace the possibility that dwells in uncertainty."--Annie Duke, bestselling author of Thinking in Bets

"If you love science, you'll read this book with pleasure. And if you are still fairly new to science--still just getting acquainted--you may find yourself falling in love. That is the power of the special kind of sophisticated optimism that Stuart Firestein celebrates here."--Jonathan Weiner, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Beak of the Finch

"In this mind-bending book, Stuart Firestein provides compelling evidence that failure and uncertainty in science should be embraced, laying the foundation for active optimism and a far better future."--Eric Topol, New York Times bestselling author of Super Agers

About the Author

Stuart Firestein is a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University and a member of the Santa Fe Institute. He has published over one hundred scientific papers in journals such as Nature, Science, Cell, and Neuron. He is a Guggenheim fellow, a member of the advisory committee for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Also author of the books Ignorance and Failure, he lives in New York City.