Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True

By Robert Ehrlich

AIDS is not caused by HIV. Coal and oil are not fossil fuels. Radiation exposure is good for you. Distributing more guns reduces crime. These ideas make headlines, but most educated people scoff at them. Yet some of science's most important concepts-from gravity to evolution-have surfaced from the pool of crazy ideas. In fact, a good part of science is distinguishing between useful crazy ideas and those that are just plain nutty. In this book, a well-known physicist with an affinity for odd ideas applies his open mind to nine controversial propositions on topical subjects. Some, it turns out, are considerably lower on the cuckoo scale than others.


Robert Ehrlich evaluates, for the general reader or student, nine seemingly far-out propositions culled from physics, biology, and social science. In the process, he demonstrates in easy-to-understand terms how to weigh an argument, judge someone's use of statistics, identify underlying assumptions, and ferret out secret agendas. His conclusions are sometimes surprising. For instance, he finds that while HIV does cause AIDS and the universe almost certainly started with a big bang, our solar system could have two suns, faster-than-light particles might exist, and time travel can't be ruled out as mere science fiction.


Anyone interested in unorthodox ideas will get a kick out of this book. And, as a fun way of learning how to think like a scientist, it has enormous educational value. Of course, only time will tell whether any of these nine ideas will be the next continental drift--the now orthodox account of the Earth's geology that was for years just a crazy idea.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Release date: Jun 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9780691187839

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Reviews for Nine Crazy Ideas in Science

[abvr_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ehrlich, a physicist, rounds up nine ideas from the fringes of science and evaluates them. They range from sociology (more guns = less crime) to medicine (HIV is not the cause of AIDS) to geology (oil and gas are not formed by decomposed organic matter) to physics (time travel is possible; faster-than-light particles exist). His goal is not (just) to be entertaining, but to explain how science works and how to critically evaluate scientific ideas.Ehrlich's explanations are remarkably clear, but they're not easy reading. He takes his role as a thoughtful critic seriously, and before you're very far into any of the nine chapters you're fairly deep in elementary statistics, philosophy of science, and other weighty matters. This is most definitely *not* Carl Sagan or Martin Gardner wittily shooting fish in a pseudoscientific barrel, and partly for that reason it's likely to be a disappointment for readers looking solely for a "good read." The effect is a little like a college-level course in critical thinking taught by an erudite but demanding professor . . . it's not always easy, but if you stay with it you can learn a lot from the experience.

[hcubic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the goals of a course I teach in our Honors College is to provide non-science majors with the tools they need to differentiate authentic science from material that has merely been provided a "scientific" dressing. Physicist Robert Ehrlich has provided nine case studies that are ideal for this purpose. Do more guns in the hands of citizens decrease crime? Is AIDS really caused by HIV? Is sun exposure harmful or beneficial? Are low doses of (nuclear) radiation beneficial? Does our solar system have two suns? Do "fossil" fuels really come from abiogenic origins? Is time travel possible? Is the Big Bang a myth? Are there faster-than-light particles? Ehrlich takes a serious and analytical look at each of these questions, and (unfortunately, I think) states his answer at the end of each chapter. The important thing is, of course, not the conclusion but the quest for it.