The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas S. Kuhn (ED 209A)

This is not light reading. This is one of "The Hundred Most Influential Books Since the Second World War" (by The Times Literary Supplement).

Written in 1962 by a physicist, Kuhn had realized that science is not additive nor cumulative. It's not a process of some people have great ideas and then other people experiment based on those ideas and have their own great ideas, and so on. Instead, there are revolutions. Scientists believe paradigms that they are taught and they expect that their research will confirm and explain that paradigm. Eventually, however, people encounter anomalies. When these anomalies accrue, suddenly the paradigm isn't looking so hot and starts to be reexamined. New paradigms are put forth, and scientists argue and squabble and eventually come around to the best one at the time.

An example? Newtonian vs. Einsteinian physics. They explain the same phenomena in very different ways. For Einstein to be right, Newton had to be wrong. He didn't learn more about physics - he shifted the whole concept of physics.

So, why on earth did I read it for an education policy course? That's the question everybody loves to ask him. Me, I got more faith in him - he's da man, my advisor. One reason, the explication and description of paradigms - fantastic. Another, applications to social sciences such as education. Another reason, Kuhn is cited all the damn time and it's good to know him and this book.