Cover art for Prove It
Published
La Trobe University Press, August 2025
ISBN
9781760642716
Format
Softcover, 320 pages
Dimensions
0.1cm × 0.1cm × 0.1cm

Prove It A Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era

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Due August 12, 2025.
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A compelling journey through science's big breakthroughs, by an award-winning Australian science writer

Humans developed the scientific method over centuries. Its departure from what came before was that theories should be fuelled by data, not opinion. Today, the institutions that underpin democracy - the law, academia, government, journalism - all rely on its central idea- seeking facts and interrogating them through robust discussion and real-world testing. Yet in the post-truth era, public conversations can feel far from scientific.

In Prove It, Elizabeth Finkel describes how the scientific method plays out in a series of controversies, from proving the existence of Einstein's gravitational waves to identifying the origins of Covid-19, from understanding human origins to defining consciousness. Through these tales of dispute and discovery, she breaks down the key elements of scientific thinking.

Full of politics, prejudice, obsession, heroism and eccentricity, Prove It captures the drama and excitement of scientific discovery and debate and argues compellingly that its lessons are more crucial now than ever.

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