Serendipity : fortune and the prepared mind /

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Description:xi, 152 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Language:English
Series:The Darwin College lectures ; 22
Darwin College lectures.
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8164374
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Rond, Mark de
Morley, Iain, 1975-
ISBN:9780521181815 (pbk.)
052118181X (pbk.)
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"Since 1986 Darwin College, Cambridge has organised a series of annual public lectures built around a single theme approached in a multi-disciplinary way. These essays were developed from the 2008 lectures, which explored the idea of serendipity - the relationship between good fortune and the preparation of the mind to spot and exploit it. Serendipity is an appealing concept, and one which has been surprisingly influential in a great number of areas of human discovery. The essays collected in this volume provide insightful and entertaining accounts of the relationship between serendipity and knowledge, in the human and natural sciences. Written by some of the most eminent thinkers of this generation, Serendipity explores a variety of subjects, including disease, politics, scientific invention and the art of writing. This collection will fascinate and inspire a wide range of readers, highlighting the multifaceted nature of the popular, but elusive, concept of serendipity"--
"Serendipity - the relationship between good fortune and the prepared mind - is an appealing concept, and one which has been surprisingly influential in a great number of areas of human discovery. The essays collected in this volume provide insightful and entertaining accounts of the relationship between serendipity and knowledge in the human and natural sciences. Written by some of the most eminent thinkers of this generation, Serendipity explores a variety of subjects, including disease, politics, scientific invention and the art of writing. This collection will fascinate and inspire a wide range of readers, highlighting the multifaceted nature of the popular, but elusive, concept of serendipity"--
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Fortune and the prepared mind
  • 1. The stratigraphy of serendipity
  • 2. Understanding humans - serendipity and anthropology
  • 3. HIV and the naked ape
  • 4. Cosmological serendipity
  • 5. Serendipity in astronomy
  • 6. Serendipity in physics
  • 7. Liberalism and uncertainty
  • 8. The unanticipated pleasures of the writing life