Science News - July 31, 2010

Wisdom: From Philosophy to
Neuroscience

Stephen S. Hall

Of all human attributes, wisdom is perhaps the most vaunted. Yet ask someone to define the trait and the answer will probably echo the test applied to obscenity in 1964: I know it when I see it.

In his latest book, Hall, a science writer, attempts to tackle the question of what defines wisdom and what science has learned to date about this elusive characteristic. What results is a comprehensive and thought-provoking book that examines the difficult topic of wisdom in a fair — even wise — manner.

Hall begins by surveying early attempts to understand wisdom, including biblical stories (think King Solomon) and the musings of ancient philosophers. He then fast-forwards to modern neuroscience’s take on wisdom, where his model breaks wisdom down into eight major parts. These “neural pillars of wisdom,” as Hall calls them, range from emotional regulation — essentially coping

Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in
the Third Great Age of Discovery

Stephen J. Pyne

What with Mars rovers that tweet and
space telescopes with Facebook fan
pages, one might think space explora-
tion today is just another part of mod-
ern life. In this new book, however,
environmental scholar Pyne reminds
readers of the rich cultural history that
underlies human-
kind’s exploration
of the cosmos.

To frame his story
Pyne chooses the
twin Voyager mis-
sions, launched in
1977 to study Jupiter
and Saturn but
later extended for a “Grand Tour” that
also took in Uranus and Neptune. The
probes, he argues, symbolize a Third
Age of exploration — the first being the
15th century ocean voyages pioneered

ability — and moral reasoning to altruism and compassion.

Interviews with leading neuroscien-
tists describe experiments that attempt
to reveal the inner brain workings
behind these pillars. Researchers have
examined, for instance, the brain activ-
ity of a Tibetan monk practicing medi-
tation and the cognitive processes of
volunteers deciding
between receiving a
smaller gift certifi-
cate now or a larger
one later.

The overarching
goal of this research
is to explore broader
questions such
as whether wisdom is innate, learn-
able or a bit of both, and if wisdom is
a uniquely human trait. There are no
easy answers, Hall notes. Science may
one day succeed in taking wisdom apart
to study its pieces, but some mystery
will remain about how these elements
coalesce to make a person wise in an
often foolish world. — Rachel Zelkowitz

Alfred A. Knopf, 2010, 333 p., $27.95.

by the Portuguese and the second the land-based exploration of the 18th century, driven in large part by rivalry between England and France.

Planetary exploration, Pyne says, was a natural successor, stimulated in the 1950s by technological advances and by the space race of the Cold War. His narrative is a remarkable intermingling of the story of the Voyager probes — their birth at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, their long slow cruise through interplanetary space — with a historian’s take on how space exploration sprang from timeless yearnings to push frontiers.

Today both Voyagers are still in operation and are passing beyond the edge of the solar system, serving as distant ambassadors for humankind. In this book, Pyne puts that quest in grand perspective. — Alexandra Witze

Bursts: The Hidden
Pattern Behind
Everything We Do
Albert-László Barabási
Mining digital data
reveals patterns in
seemingly spontane-
ous human behavior. Dutton, 2010,
310 p., $26.95.

Professor Stewart’s
Hoard of Mathemati-
cal Treasures

Ian Stewart

The math professor
returns with more
brain teasers, puzzles
and facts designed to reveal the fun
side of the subject. Basic Books,
2010, 339 p., $16.95.

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality Manjit Kumar

The story of quantum
mechanics and the
decades-long argument about how to
interpret it. W. W. Norton & Co., 2010,
448 p., $27.95.

Dogs: Domestication
and the Development
of a Social Bond
Darcy F. Morey

An anthropologist
describes the evolu-
tion of the dog and
explores how this creature became
man’s best friend. Cambridge Univ.
Press, 2010, 356 p., $45.