Gregory N. Derry's Books

What Science Is and How It Works

By: Gregory N. Derry

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What Science Is and How It Works

By: Gregory N. Derry

How does a scientist go about solving problems? How do scientific discoveries happen? Why are cold fusion and parapsychology different from mainstream science? What is a scientific worldview? In this lively and wide-ranging book, Gregory Derry talks about these and other questions as he introduces the reader to the process of scientific thinking. From the discovery of X rays and semiconductors to the argument for continental drift to the invention of the smallpox vaccine, scientific work has proceeded through honest observation, critical reasoning, and sometimes just plain luck. Derry starts out with historical examples, leading readers through the events, experiments, blind alleys, and thoughts of scientists in the midst of discovery and invention. Readers at all levels will come away with an enriched appreciation of how science operates and how it connects with our daily lives. An especially valuable feature of this book is the actual demonstration of scientific reasoning. Derry shows how scientists use a small number of powerful yet simple methods--symmetry, scaling, linearity, and feedback, for example--to construct realistic models that describe a number of diverse real-life problems, such as drug uptake in the body, the inner workings of atoms, and the laws of heredity. Science involves a particular way of thinking about the world, and Derry shows the reader that a scientific viewpoint can benefit most personal philosophies and fields of study. With an eye to both the power and limits of science, he explores the relationships between science and topics such as religion, ethics, and philosophy. By tackling the subject of science from all angles, including the nuts and bolts of the trade as well as its place in the overall scheme of life, the book provides a perfect place to start thinking like a scientist.

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Page Count

324

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400823110

ISBN 13

9781400823116

What Science Is and How It Works

By: Gregory N. Derry

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What Science Is and How It Works

By: Gregory N. Derry

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324

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400823110

ISBN 13

9781400823116

Troubled Geographies

A Spatial History of Religion and Society in Ireland

By: Ian N. Gregory,Niall A. Cunningham,C. D. Lloyd,Ian G. Shuttleworth,Paul S. Ell

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Troubled Geographies

A Spatial History of Religion and Society in Ireland

By: Ian N. Gregory,Niall A. Cunningham,C. D. Lloyd,Ian G. Shuttleworth,Paul S. Ell

“Tap[s] the power of new geospatial technologies . . . explore[s] the intersection of geography, religion, politics, and identity in Irish history.”—International Social Science Review Ireland’s landscape is marked by fault lines of religious, ethnic, and political identity that have shaped its troubled history. Troubled Geographies maps this history by detailing the patterns of change in Ireland from 16th century attempts to “plant” areas of Ireland with loyal English Protestants to defend against threats posed by indigenous Catholics, through the violence of the latter part of the 20th century and the rise of the “Celtic Tiger.” The book is concerned with how a geography laid down in the 16th and 17th centuries led to an amalgam based on religious belief, ethnic/national identity, and political conviction that continues to shape the geographies of modern Ireland. Troubled Geographies shows how changes in religious affiliation, identity, and territoriality have impacted Irish society during this period. It explores the response of society in general and religion in particular to major cultural shocks such as the Famine and to long term processes such as urbanization. “Makes a strong case for a greater consideration of spatial information in historical analysis―a message that is obviously appealing for geographers.”—Journal of Interdisciplinary History “A book like this is useful as a reminder of the struggles and the sacrifices of generations of unrest and conflict, albeit that, on a global scale, the Irish troubles are just one of a myriad of disputes, each with their own history and localized geography.”—Journal of Historical Geography

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263

Publisher

Indiana University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0253009790

ISBN 13

9780253009791

The Only Sacred Ground

Scientific Materialism and a Sacred View of Nature Within the Framework of Complementarity

By: Gregory Neil Derry

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The Only Sacred Ground

Scientific Materialism and a Sacred View of Nature Within the Framework of Complementarity

By: Gregory Neil Derry

For the past several centuries, science has been offering us a powerful new way to understand nature, but the accompanying rise of materialistic philosophy threatens to drain the meaning and sacred quality of our experience of nature. The resulting tension represents a fractured and incoherent apprehension of nature on both a personal and a cultural level. In this book, Gregory N. Derry explores this problem and suggests a solution based on complementarity, a logical framework that demonstrates the compatibility of apparently contradictory propositions by showing them to be grounded in mutually exclusive domains of knowledge. Complementarity was famously employed by Niels Bohr in his quest to interpret quantum mechanics. Here, Prof. Derry extends and generalizes Bohr's epistemological approach so that it becomes applicable to problems beyond the scope of empirical science, and he uses this generalization of Bohr's complementarity to argue that the truth of scientific materialism in no way implies that nature has no sacred and spiritual dimensions, i.e., nature is both sacred and mundane. Gregory N. Derry is Professor of Physics and former Chair of the Physics Department at Loyola University Maryland. He teaches at all levels and maintains active research programs in experimental ultrahigh vacuum surface physics, nonlinear dynamics of physiological systems, and epistemological studies of science/religion boundary issues. In addition to his scientific research publications, he has also written a book on the nature of scientific inquiry, What Science Is and How It Works (Princeton University Press, 1999).

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Page Count

300

Published Date

ISBN 10

1627200207

ISBN 13

9781627200202

Book's by Gregory N. Derry

What Science Is and How It Works

What Science Is and How It Works

What Science Is and How It Works

What Science Is and How It Works

Troubled Geographies

Troubled Geographies

The Only Sacred Ground

The Only Sacred Ground

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