Abstract
THE reviewer's first task is to state the nature of the book and the purpose of its author. Here this task is very difficult. “Action” is the key word of the title; and on his first page, Dr. George tells us that he takes it “as basic that scientific research is a form of human action”. But he has just said that “by definition speaking, writing or manipulation … are forms of action but thinking, believing or feeling are not.” Re search then, for Dr. George, is an activity in which thought and belief play no part. This is sufficiently puzzling; but it becomes more puzzling when most of the book is found to be concerned with things that are indubitably thought or believed and not done, laws, theories, propositions in general, and so forth.
The Scientist in Action:
a Scientific Study of his Methods. By Dr. William H. George. Pp. 355. (London: Williams and Norgate, Ltd., 1936.) 10s. 6d. net.
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CAMPBELL, N. The Scientist in Action. Nature 138, 381–382 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138381a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138381a0
