The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

By: Thomas S. Kuhn

Narrated by: Dennis Holland

A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were - and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. Fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach.

With The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn challenged long-standing linear notions of scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don't arise from the day-to-day, gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation but that the revolutions in science, those breakthrough moments that disrupt accepted thinking and offer unanticipated ideas, occur outside of "normal science", as he called it. Though Kuhn was writing when physics ruled the sciences, his ideas on how scientific revolutions bring order to the anomalies that amass over time in research experiments are still instructive in our biotech age.

Note: This new edition of Kuhn's essential work in the history of science includes an insightful introduction by Ian Hacking, which clarifies terms popularized by Kuhn, including paradigm and incommensurability, and applies Kuhn's ideas to the science of today.

©1996 The University of Chicago (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A landmark in intellectual history which has attracted attention far beyond its own immediate field." ( Science)

"Perhaps the best explanation of [the] process of discovery." ( New York Times Book Review)

Good Book Not Just for Science Fans

The book is very interesting from a scientific standpoint but I found it very interesting that you can apply the principals of the paradigm and paradigm shifts to things other than science. Whether from business, to religion or sociology similar analogies can be applied to the progression of ideas and technologies with paradigms shifts.

The only negative thing about this audio book is that some of the ideas and statements made in a particular sentence or paragraph can be quite profound and with a book, you can put it down and think about it. With the audio book the narrator keeps going and sometimes I wouldn't be listening because I was thinking about the impact of a point from a previous paragraph.

Required reading for scientists.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes. This book provides an insight into the scientific process and how scientific ideas evolve over time. It's a nice reminder to the public and to those in scientific fields that 'fact' can be dictated by politics and social pressures of the day. Nothing is fixed and science is a dynamic field that makes mistakes, evolves, and changes.

Listen at 1.25 speed!

The reader reads very slowly with many mid-sentence pauses. (Listen to the audio sample to know what I mean.) This was probably intended for clarity, but I found it difficult to listen to. Until, that is, I switched the playback to 1.25 speed. The book went from nearly unlistenable to perfect, just like that!

As for the book itself, it is absolutely fascinating. If you are a scientist then you will find the description of (the social institution of) science familiar. But the reasons Kuhn posits for why science seems to work as well as it does might give you something to think about. This was my reaction, at least.

Well articulated, but dry

This book covers the topic indicated by it's title very thoroughly. The result is simultaneously fascinating and boring. The arguments are well articulated and compelling, but the text lacks literary flavor. The content is so dense that it was, at times, difficult to stay attuned to what I was reading.

Outstanding book

A rare book that provides insight into a technical area, but does it with clear and direct language that both laymen and trained scientists can follow. He makes a persuasive case, replete with examples, that the progress of scientific discovery has proceeded through "revolutions" rather than a straight cumulative advance in knowledge. That is, scientific progress proceeds around an accepted theory until it runs into "anomalies" inconsistent with the theory that call forth a new theory. Scientific progress resumes then around the new theory. Thus we have a "zig-zag" history of scientific discovery, moving in "jumps" from time to time. Well worth the read.