The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date

Authors: Arbesman, Samuel
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
BISAC/Subject: MAT003000, MAT029000, PHI004000
ISBN: 9781101595299, Related ISBNs: 1101595299, 159184472X, 159184651X, 9781101595299, 9781591844723
Classification: Non-Fiction
Number of pages: 256,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: New insights from the science of science
 
Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing.
 
Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives.
 
He takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries.
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