The World as We Know It - Peter Dear ***

History professor Peter Dear gives us a detailed and reasoned coverage of the development of science as a concept from its origins as natural philosophy, covering the years from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. inclusive If that sounds a little dry, frankly, it is. But if you don't mind a very academic approach, it is certainly interesting.

Obviously a major theme running through is the move from largely gentleman natural philosophers (with both implications of that word 'gentleman') to professional academic scientists. What started with clubs for relatively well off men with an interest, when universities did not stray far beyond what was included in mathematics (astronomy, for instance), would become a very different beast.

The main scientific subjects that Dear covers are physics and biology - we get, for instance, a lot on the gradual move away from a purely mechanical views of physics - the reason Newton's 'action at a distance' gravity caused such concerns - and on the development of taxonomy and Darwin's work in biology. However, chemistry does get a look in, as does the impact of probability theory. Perhaps most surprising to the non-historian is the importance of the interaction between natural philosophy and theology, and the related distinction between explaining and understanding. As Dear puts it 'a desire to create a picture of what the world is really like - the world as God knows it - rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over phenomena.' (I'm slightly surprised that Kant only comes into the book for his astronomical ideas rather than his 'Ding an sich'.)

I would not really class this as popular science - it's not particularly enjoyable to read, but rather a book that is worth making the effort to get through if you have a particular interest in the subject of how the concept of science has emerged from and evolved from natural philosophy. Although it covers a fair number of scientific developments, it is far more about what is being done and for what reason than it is about what is discovered.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here