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| Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge | 
| Authors: Edward O. Wilson, Edward Osborne Wilson
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $1.80
You Save: $14.15 (89%)
New (45) Collectible (2) from $7.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  149 reviews
Sales Rank: 12382
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 067976867X
Dewey Decimal Number: 121
EAN: 9780679768678
ASIN: 067976867X
Publication Date: March 30, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Item is in acceptable condition. Has writing throughout 15 or more pages (book is still 100% readable). We ship fast!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Iconoclastic Scientism November 14, 2005
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is too big an attempt by the famed Harvard biology professor to try to cover "everything". If we compare Mr. Wilson's "total map" with Mr. Ken Wilber's attempt on the same kind of synthesis. It will become obvious that Mr. Wilson fell short because he puts an "Environmental Policy" category where a "Spirits/Psychology" one is more appropriate. How can any integration attempt misses such important inner subjects?! I guess Mr. Wilson decided that he will stick to his iconoclastic scientism view rather than being open-minded. We, as readers, should be aware of his bias. There was a Newsweek bookreview article titled: "Why Wilson is Wrong" published in 1999.
 good info - tough read October 9, 2005
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book has great information but it is a tough read, I feel. It is worth reading if you have the time.
Rambling September 24, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I don't understand why many of the reviewers here seem to think this is an "important" book. What is so important or revolutionary about the notion that science should be done in a multidisciplinary way, incorporating any methods or information that may be useful? Dr. Wilson is obviously a prodigious intellect. His apparent knowledge in so many diverse areas was at times breathtaking. His writing is very elegant. But still, I have to say even though I agree with much of what the author said I found the book to be curiously irritating. At times it felt like the doctor was sort of just showing off. Quite often he just seemed to be rambling on for the sake of impressing us with his knowledge of some obscure topic. Ok, we got it, scientists should think outside the box of their narrow specialty. That point could be made in about 10 pages, without an extended demonstration of the authors own ability to learn something about a lot of other specialties.
 Abdication September 16, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
For too long and too often, whole spheres of thinking have been rooted in folk psychology, at best, or transcendental, untestable "givens."
Consilience argues we should apply the rational precepts of science to fields of inquiry long held apart. The study of art, religion, ethics, and political science, to name a few, would be far richer if the the term "testable hypothesis" was accepted into the room.
Elegantly written and worth reading.
Self-Important book presenting self-evident truths in insufficient depth August 28, 2005
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book doesn't present any new ideas--it simply presents old ideas in a slightly more attractive way. The author accepts a traditional reductionist approach, seeing the world as essentially deterministic.
But the world isn't deterministic: real world events and processes can be deterministic, random, chaotic, or they can be driven by large-scale properties that emerge from complex systems. Cutting-edge scientists in areas as diverse as physics, economics, ecology, and computer science are struggling to show how these different forces interact with each other. Does the book address these questions? Not at all.
While I agree with the author's main point that human knowledge is becoming more unified after a period of going off in different directions, and while I agree that many of the interesting advances are to be made by drawing connections between different academic disciplines, I don't think the author has a realistic view on how these connections will be made and how this unification will play out.
I enjoyed the first chapter of the book, but by the end, I was unsatisfied. As the book progresses, it starts to ramble, and there is an insufferable arrogance to it that makes it difficult to accept. The most frustrating aspect of all to the book is that it ends without any clear sense of direction; the author never ties up any loose ends or addresses any possible objections to the way he presents his material. The net effect is a weak book that is compelling at first but will not teach you anything new and may even leave you feeling quite frustrated.
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