Book Description
For the past fifty years, science and technology—supported with billions of dollars from the U.S. government—have advanced at a rate that would once have seemed miraculous, while society's problems have grown more intractable, complex, and diverse. Yet scientists and politicians alike continue to prescribe more science and more technology to cure such afflictions as global climate change, natural resource depletion, overpopulation, inadequate health care, weapons proliferation, and economic inequality.
Daniel Sarewitz scrutinizes the fundamental myths that have guided the formulation of science policy for half a century—myths that serve the professional and political interests of the scientific community, but often fail to advance the interests of society as a whole. His analysis ultimately demonstrates that stronger linkages between progress in science and progress in society will require research agendas that emerge not from the intellectual momentum of science, but from the needs and goals of society.
Customer Reviews:
Best Starting Point for Skeptics.......2005-10-19
This is the best starting points for skeptics who wonder if science is all it is cracked up to be, or for cheerleaders of science too prone to claim science will solve all our problems.
It does not, however, provide a complete picture. Three other books are helpful:
Science, Money, and Politics by Daniel Greenberg is the best over-all review, has a strong ethical component, and shows how the competition for money, rather than scientific progress, is diverting scarce resources and frustrating needed advances.
The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney is the book that is the most compelling on the perversions of the extremist Republicans (I am a moderate Republican). Read this first or last, depending on your disposition.
Finally, Investing in Innovation, edited by Lewis Bramscomb and James Keller, brings together a range of views crossing the environment within which scientific research takes place, evaluationg specific programs and policy tools, and making recommendations (all of which have been ignored by the current Bush Administration).
I take three bottom lines from these four books together:
1) We are spending too much on military science & research.
2) Neither Congress nor the Executive have a serious strategy for prioritizing problems, finding private sector partners, and providing seed money for innovative solutions.
3) Both Congress and the Executive, as well as the public and the media, are incredibly ignorant about what science can and cannot do, and where all the money is going to generally poor effect.
4) This is all so important that Science, like Intelligence, needs its own Supreme Court. I am persuaded we need a new form of hybid public agency that is fully independent of the Executive, receiving a percentage of the total disposable budget (say 3%) and hence not subject to Congression pressures.
I want to stress that this book is an off-set, but should not be read alone. It raises some very important ethical and common sense political prioritization issues, but viewed alone, is too negative. If you buy only one book, buy Greenberg's.
Important book for democratizing science.......2004-07-10
The author states in the preface "I here baldly and unapologetically state that I recognize the scientific method to be a valid technique for approaching what I am pleased to term an objective understanding of the physical and natural world. 'This belief, however, offers no apriory comfort to anyone who would try to answer such questions as What types of scientific knowledge should society choose to pursue? How should such choices be made and by whom? How should society apply this knowledge, once gained? How can "progress" in science and technology be defined and measured in the context of broader social and political goals? And indeed, it is precisely these sorts of question that underlie and motivate this book".
Although I do not agree that there is such a thing as THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD (but a variety of scientific methods) and although I do not agree that specific kinds of methods garantees truth and objectivity, I understand the author's need to distinguish such narrow methodological issues from the broader issues concerning the relations between science and society. These last questions are important in democratic societies, why libraries, masse communication and other institutions, which are supposted to support democracy should make an effort to dissiminate this kind of literature.
Insightful and challenging work on science and policy.......1998-11-19
Not for the thin-skinned! This is a thoughtful and convincing set of arguments as to how and why the U.S. scientific research system often fails to serve the public interest. We'd all be better off if researchers and policy-makers absorbed the lessons in this work.
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Frontiers of Illusion: Science, Technology and the Politics of Progress.: An article from: American Scientist
Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B00097KD92
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This practical book serves as a comprehensive guide to quantitative portfolio optimization, asset allocation, and risk management. Providing an accessible yet rigorous approach to investment management, it gradually introduces ever more advanced quantitative tools for these areas. Using extensive examples, this book guides the reader from basic return and risk analysis, all the way through to portfolio optimization and risk characterization, and finally on to fully fledged quantitative asset allocation and risk management. It employs such tools as enhanced modern portfolio theory using Monte Carlo simulation and advanced return distribution analysis, analysis of marginal contributions to absolute and active portfolio risk, Value-at-Risk and Extreme Value Theory.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive and Lucid.......2005-11-15
It is seldom that a book of this nature covers the terrain in such a lucid and erudite fashion, which can be appreciated by a broader audience. There are weaknesses though. I have a Ph.D on the topic, namely portfolio optimisation and this book, although published just prior to my final thesis, seemed to miss my radar, which is unfortunate. There is a wealth of information contained in the book, although referencing is a little thin, for example the monte carlo technique used to resample data inputs has been patented by Michaud, of which there is substantial referral. This makes the implementation of such a technique impossible without paying the ridiculous royalties for a fairly straightforward mathematical process. Furthermore, more could have been said about investment time horisons and mean reversion characteristics. The shorter the investment time horison the more volatile the returns, which tends to push the monte carlo portfolio towards a naive portfolio. This technique is more stable the longer the investment horison, and is recommended by me. Furthermore the technique is computationally laborious, and perhaps the number of iterations could be increased, to reduce computational tediousness, thereby reducing the number of outliers which may not have as large an impact on resultant portfolios. In other words there could be an inverse relationship between assets and iterations. Anyway let me not get ahead of myself. The book is expensive, perhaps not a good buy for a layperson. Anybody seriously considering quantitative investment management should add the book to their collection. The other would be "Efficient Asset Management" by Richard Michaud.
Highly recommended.......2003-06-29
If you are looking for a comprehensive book that explains and analyses quantitative portfolio optimisation and asset allocation, then this is probably the one for you. The author has clearly taken a lot of time to lay out the subject in a logical and easily understandable way, despite the fact that the subject matter is very complex. Having read this book, you'll be able to apply quantitative portfolio analysis and optimisation techniques yourself, and the book's final part on risk management - which includes chapters on active risk management, monte carlo simulations and extreme value thery - is a must for anyone in need of more adcanced risk management skills. Only draw back is its somewhat technical nature, but since the most technical stuff is in the appendices, the reader can skip it without major problems. An excellent and very accesible book.
Great practical guide.......2003-06-29
Whenever I buy a book I try to look for ones that have a strong practical aim. This is definitely such a book. It starts off with a fair amount of theory, which is required to fully appreciate it, but then moves into very practical territory with lots of real life problems and situations. This book is one of those A-Z books that ties all the treads together, but spiced up with practical applications in almost every chapter. Definitely worth reading if you need to understand the mechanics of quantitative portfolio optimisation and risk management.
Book Description
The casebook provides detailed information on federal income taxation. It includes selected cases designed to illustrate the development of a body of law on a particular subject. Text and explanatory materials designed for law study accompany the cases.
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Federal income taxation;: Fundamental questions, problems, and cases
Charles J Gaa
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0007DUNUW |
Book Description
Genetic Engineering: Principles and Methods, published by Springer since 1979, presents state-of-the-art discussions in modern genetics and genetic engineering. This focus affirms a commitment to publish important reviews of the broadest interest to geneticists and their colleagues in affiliated disciplines.
Recent volumes have covered gene therapy research, genetic mapping, plant science and technology, transport protein biochemistry, and viral vectors in gene therapy, among other topics.
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Genetic Engineering (Genetic Engineering: Principles and Methods)
Jane K. Setlow
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 0306407299 |
Book Description
Aspects of genetic engineering research emphasized in this volume are applications to plants (crop plants and grass, both important for human needs) and new methodologies, such as Tar cloning, which make it much easier to isolate specific regions from complex genomes. Another subject discussed is linear DNA replication of prokaryotes.
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Transgenesis Techniques: Principles and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)
Manufacturer: Humana Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
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ASIN: 0896032450 |
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Transgenesis Techniques: Principles and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)
Manufacturer: Humana Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0896036960 |
Book Description
This revised and updated edition of a much-acclaimed classic presents a collection of readily reproducible techniques for the generation and analysis of transgenic animals, with emphasis on the manipulation of the mammalian genome. It concentrates on the creation and maintenance of genetically modified murine strains, providing access to the germline by both conventional pronuclear injection, and by retroviral and adenoviral infection. Extensive coverage is also given to the generation, maintenance, and manipulation of embryonic stem cell lineages, with protocols for both constitutive and conditional (Cre-lox or the Flp-frt systems) gene targeting. Additional chapters provide cutting-edge techniques for the cryopreservation of both male and female germlines, for the generation of transgenic sheep by nuclear transfer, and for the basic analysis of transgenic organisms.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome!.......2003-09-26
This book offers a thrilling, roller-coaster ride from start to finish - I couldn't put it down! Essential!!!
JB
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- Global Productions: Labor in the Making of the "Information Society" (The Hampton Press Communication Series)
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- How to Get Organized When You Don't Have the Time
- Human Dynamics : A New Framework for Understanding People and Realizing the Potential in Our Organizations
- Idle Hands: The Experience of Unemployment, 1790-1990 (Modern British History)
- If Your Life Were a Business, Would You Invest In It?: The 13-Step Program for Managing Your Life Like the Best CEO's Manage Their Companies
- International Employment Ranking 2000
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