Mission to Abisko

the long version

In May 1997, science author John Casti led a dozen writers to a remote Swedish village called Abisko, far above the Arctic Circle, to discuss the nature of scientific truth. Their discussions and debates focused on one major question: How do the stories that scientists tell each other, and the public, affect the way they do their science? This book is the outcome of that lively meeting of minds. Each chapter is by a noted scientist who writes, or science fiction writer who practices science. In this fascinating look behind the scenes of science, eleven of the world's top scientist-authors examine the phenomenon of science as storytelling. As these authors demonstrate, the tales scientists tell each other are often even more mysterious or fanciful than those they tell the public. Many of these tales are called "thought experiments," and their purpose is to focus and encapsulate large amounts of knowledge into short, pithy pictures that capture the essence - and the shortcomings - of a scientific theory.