"First published as a Liveright paperback 2021"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the knowledge machine -- The great method debate. Unearthing the scientific method -- Human frailty -- The essential subjectivity of science -- How science works. The iron rule of explanation -- Baconian convergence -- Explanatory ore -- The drive for objectivity -- The supremacy of observation -- Why science took so long. Science's strategic irrationality -- The war against beauty -- The advent of science -- Science now. Building the scientific mind -- Science and humanism -- Care and maintenance of the knowledge machine.

"In this "stunningly illuminating" (Rebecca Newberger Goldstein) investigation of science, Michael Strevens asks two fundamental questions: 1. Why is science so powerful? 2. Why did it take so long for the human race to start using science to learn the secrets of nature? 'The Knowledge Machine''s radical answer is that science, by nature, calls on its practitioners to do the irrational. By willfully ignoring religion, theoretical beauty, and even philosophy, scientists embrace an unnaturally narrow method of inquiry, channeling unprecedented energy into observation and experimentation. In this way, they are able to overcome individual prejudices and lead humanity closer to the secrets of nature. Rich with vivid historical examples - from Newton's elucidation of the laws of gravity to Murray Gell-Mann's discovery of the quark - and delightfully quirky illustrations, 'The Knowledge Machine' overturns many of our most basic assumptions about scientific discovery." -- Back cover