The travels and adventures of serendipity
- Typus Andere
- Verlag PRINCETON
- Schriftsteller Barber, Elinor / Merton, Robert K.
- ISBN13 9780691117546
- ISBN10 0691117543
- Buchseiten 313
- Jahr der Ausgabe 2004
The travels and adventures of serendipity
The story of serendipity is fascinating; that of The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity, equally so. Written in the 1950s by already-eminent sociologist Robert Merton and Elinor Barber, the book -- though occasionally and most tantalizingly cited -- was intentionally never published. This is all the more curious because it so remarkably anticipated subsequent battles over research and funding -- many of which centered on the role of serendipity in science. Finally, shortly after his ninety-first birthday following Barber's death and preceding his own by but a little, Merton agreed to expand and publish this major work. Beautifully written, the book is permeated by the prodigious intellectual curiosity and generosity that characterized Merton's influential On the Shoulders of Giants. Absolutely entertaining as the history of a word, the book is also tremendously important to all who value the miracle of intellectual discovery. It represents Merton's lifelong protest against that rhetoric of science that defines discovery as anything other than a messy blend of inspiration, perspiration, error, and happy chance -- anything other than serendipity.
- Typus Andere
- Verlag PRINCETON
- Schriftsteller Barber, Elinor / Merton, Robert K.
- ISBN13 9780691117546
- ISBN10 0691117543
- Buchseiten 313
- Jahr der Ausgabe 2004