The Truth of Science: Physical Theories and Reality - Hardcover

It is, of course, useful for scientists to be reminded that others often have very different views of science and that they should be prepared to talk to them. However, such discussions are often surprisingly difficult, and this book should help scientists to have a reasonable public debate...The author says that his book is intended for anyone with some scientific education...not for professional philosophers or sociologists of science. However, I think it would be useful for both groups. It would help the former to widen their horizons and provide the latter with some professional guidance in language that is not too technical...[One] philosopher who specializes in the history of quantum theory...intends to buy the book--and I hope others like her will do so too.--Douglas Morrison "Physics World "

The very notion of scientific truth is in question. This book aims to offer a constructive response to those who contend that there is no such thing as verifiable objective truth - without which there could be no scientific authority. The reader is given a guided tour of the intellectual structure of physical science and the understanding of reality engendered by modern physics, the most theoretically advanced of the sciences. It explores models, facts, theories, intuition and imagintion, the use of analogies and metaphors, the importance of mathematics and the "virtual" reality of the physics of micro-particles.