The Secret Life of Science: How It Really Works and Why It Matters

"World's 2018 Books of the Year" "[A] solid, coherent and thoughtful study. . . . Baumberg clarifies the dynamics of publishing, conferences, media, translation to industry and careers, and provides a broad summary of influence."---Jonathan Adams, Nature "A lover of science and a scientist himself, Baumberg cautiously advocates on behalf of what he sees as an ecosystem under too much pressure. The very success of science, he argues, may pose the gravest threat to its continued effectiveness as intense competition for everything from jobs, funding, publication space (notably, in this journal), and conference slots results in too much bandwagon science and not enough diversity of ideas."---Sarah Dry, Science "We need to read this book - not to find ways to make science a better servant of the economy but to consider how to preserve its central meaning in the face of political and economic pressure."---Harry Collins, Times Higher Education "[The Secret Life of Science is] a timely warning that the scientific endeavour that has brought our societies astonishingly greater prosperity and improvements in the quality of life is sclerotic and failing to deliver for the societies funding research."---Diane Coyle, The Enlightened Economist "[The Secret Life of Science] strikes a nice balance between exposing the gears behind the science machine for those unrelated to it, and pushing those caught up in the gears to let go for a moment and look at the bigger picture. . . . I advise all new PhD students to read this book before willingly stepping into the jungle."---Maria Maragkou, Nature Physics "[B]rilliant, original and stimulating study."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer