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George Johnson's book, Fire In the Mind, combines explanation and introspection in a poetically rich package. It has been compared to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

 

However, because it covers almost the entire range of modern science, some readers might need help with the background. This program equips those readers with a map of the terrain.  In Johnson's terms,  it is a collection of compressions.

 

Ideas are presented in descending layers of abstraction. Each level of the program provides a framework for the level below that.  

 

Be aware that the program maps ideas rather than specific chapters or text.  None of Johnson's words are quoted.

 

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Move the cursor over an image to find "hot spots". (You'll recognize a hot spot when the tip "CLICK" appears.) Click on the hot spots to drill down to the next level of detail.  If you get confused, move back up to a more general level so that you can put the detail into context.

 

An alternative way of navigating the program is to use the  Topic Map - which has a link at the top of each page.

About "Fire In the Mind"  

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Fire in the Mind was written by George Johnson and published by Vintage Press in 1995.

 

The title refers to our urge for patterns, symmetries, explanations - to the human need to bring order out of chaos.  

 

Johnson says the need is built into us.  The trait was passed on because hunter-gathers that understood the world had better survival rates and managed to reproduce more often.  

 

Both religion and science grew out of our impulse for order.

 

Fire in the Mind deals with this quest on three levels.

 

On one level, itis a history of modern science. In metaphorically rich, clear language, Johnson explains the issues that have driven scientific inquiries for the past two hundred years. He examines theories of the cosmos, theories of the atom and how the theories do (or don't) match up.

 

On another, deeper level,  Johnson looks at the nature of  the scientific quest.  He points out how strange and abstract ideas become as we push outward to the edge of the cosmos and inward to fundamental particles which underlie it all. He wonders if we are finding true order or if we are imposing the limitations of our earth-bound nervous system on the universe.  

 

At the third level, Johnson intersperses discussions of science with descriptions of religions that are practiced in the region of New Mexico where some of the latest scientific ideas are being developed.  

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Contact stobz@possumgolightly.com

 

Copyright © 2006 Tom Weathers.  Prototype - 011306