One of the many ways
memes of
scientific knowledge and new discoveries may be disseminated in to the
popular psyche.
Since
science isn’t only about about
innovation and finding ways to make life easier/more fulfilling, but also about increasing our
understanding of
the world around us (
pure science) the popularisation of scientific theories through books like
James Gliek’s
Chaos (
Mathematics/
Physics),
Oliver Sacks’
The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (
Cognitive Science/
Psychology), Simon Singh’s
Fermat’s Enigma (
Mathematics) or John Maddox’s
What Remains to be Discovered (Many Topics) is a critical step in science fulfilling one of its more neglected purposes: educating the population at large.
Unfortunately, in order to make ideas accessible to
laymen readers pop-science books Frequently
water down the original concepts to the point where the central idea behind them is lost or they sensationalise an idea so the popular understanding becomes
critically flawed. This is why it is a miraculous achievement when and
author is able to convey important scientific ideas in language that almost anyone can read.