"Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution can have a powerful impact on our lives. Arbesman takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries. He offers intriguing examples about the face of knowledge: what English majors can learn from a statistical analysis of The Canterbury Tales, why it's so hard to measure a mountain, and why, for years, everyone was taught the wrong number of human chromosomes. The Half-Life of Facts can help us find new ways to measure the world while accepting the limits of how much we can know with certainty."--Back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.