6. Expecting the Improbable

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Foreword vii
4. Acknowledgments xi
5. Introduction 1
6. 1. A Walk in the Park 7
7. 2. What Is Science? 16
8. 3. A Sense of Scale 29
9. Interlude 1 46
10. 4. Discoveries on the Back of an Envelope 54
11. 5. Insights in Lines and Dots 74
12. Interlude 2 123
13. 6. Expecting the Improbable 130
14. 7. Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics 152
15. 8. Correlation, Causation . . . Confusion and Clarity 171
16. 9. Definitional Features of Science 183
17. 10. Applying Scientific Habits of Mind to Earth’s Future 205
18. 11. What Isn’t Science 243
19. 12. The Triumph of Misinformation; The Perils of Ignorance 259
20. 13. The Unfinished Cathedral 269
21. Appendix 279
22. Notes 293
23. Index 309