Edge.org is the online science forum sometimes described as the world’s smartest website with not only science people, but philosophers, psychologists, artists, musicians, economists, historians and writers of all stripes among its contributors. Every year its founder, John Brockman, issues an Annual Question and for 2017 it was “What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known?” This book collects together 205 of the resulting short essays.
    Broadly speaking these are grouped together into themes. For example, one series, about the value of understanding very simple mathematics, explores our ability (or lack of it) to assess risk competently, particularly financial risk, to hold credible political opinions, to understand the daily news and avoid being conned in general. The book covers a lot of ground—other essay headings include: The Illusion of Explanatory Depth, Intellectual Honesty, Relative Deprivation, Deliberate Ignorance, Emotion Contagion and Humility.
    Overall it’s a bit of a mixed bag. There are some that sound as if they’re aimed more at the other contributors here, rather than us readers—as if their authors were trying to outdo one another (e.g. using highly specialised terminology with no explanation whatsoever). But equally there are others which I really did find thought-provoking—Anthony Aguirre’s essay about information theory and the nature of reality in particular. ( )

No matter who you are or where you're coming from, this should be a must-read.

It doesn't require much in the way of any scientific background, prior knowledge level, or anything. BUT it does highlight, in a long series of short essays, the most important thinking we've probably glossed over or never looked carefully at.

As a whole, this non-fiction builds one hell of a glorious picture. Just from core ideas explained clearly, these numerous essays range from something as simple as the need for us all to remember how to COUNT, or knowing Numerical Significance, all the way to the concept of Epigenetics, Semiotics, or an honest plethora of other awesome ideas.

The point here is not to dive deep into any, but at least understand what they are so as to more richly inform ourselves so we might apply THESE SAME IDEAS across all fields.

For me, this is the essence of creativity and righteous thinking. We need to cross-pollinate ideas. Every field grows richer with new thinking. And that includes all us laymen or writers or just plain thinkers.

I enjoyed this book immensely for that reason. :) I think I might need to subscribe to the Edge to get more of this stuff. :) ( )

This is not the sort of book one reads straight through, so I may have missed a good bit, but what I did read was enjoyable and instructive. ( )

Science begins and ends with humility.

Or at least the 2018 collection of scientific essays called “This Idea Is Brilliant” does. The book, edited by John Brockman, includes scores of short responses to The Edge Question of 2017: "What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known?"

The replies to that question are many and varied, yet the second essay in the book, by psychologist Adam Waytz suggests The Illusion of Explanatory Depth. Basically this means the less we know the more we think we know. Waytz concludes, "Only through gaining expertise in a topic do people recognize its complexity and calibrate their confidence accordingly." The IOED, as he calls it, "provides us with much-needed humility."

The book's last essay returns to that theme, and in fact is called Humility. Barnaby Marsh, an evolutionary dynamics scholar, argues that even the most brilliant scientific ideas are usually replaced, or at least amended, at some point in the future by some other brilliant scientific ideas. Brilliant ideas are less conclusions than steps along the way.

Within that framework we read 500 pages full of amazing ideas, most of which pass over the heads of laymen like myself. Take Parallel Universes of Quantum Mechanics or Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking, for example. Yet researcher Peter Norwig argues for Counting as a scientific concept worth greater emphasis. Too many people, both in science and out, simply aren't doing the math, he says.

On the topic of Premature Optimization, writer Kevin Kelly argues that "the greatest source of failure is prior success." You don't need a degree in science to understand that. Once you've reached the top, it's all downhill. Unless you are Tom Brady, of course.

Journalism professor Charles Seife makes a case for The Texas Sharpshooter. This is a reference to the story about the Texan who shot holes in the side of his barn, then drew a bullseye around each one. Similarly, some researchers seem to have a talent for adjusting their objectives to fit their findings.

So there is much to appreciate in Brockman's book. If you don't understand one brief essay, just stay humble, admit it and go on to the next. ( )