1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787148903321

Autore

Schrempp Gregory Allen <1950->

Titolo

Science, bread, and circuses : folkloristic essays on science for the masses / / Gregory Schrempp

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Boulder, Colorado : , : Utah State University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-87421-970-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (178 p.)

Classificazione

SOC011000

Disciplina

303.48/3

Soggetti

Science in popular culture

Folklore

Legends

Mythology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1. Formulas of Conversion: A Proverbial Approach to Astronomic Magnitudes; Chapter 2. Leonardo and Copernicus at Aspen: How Science Heroes Can Improve Your Bottom Line; Chapter 3. Opening the Two Totes: Mythos and Logos in the Contemporary Agora-sphere; Chapter 4. Taking the Dawkins Challenge: On Fairy Tales, Viruses, and the Dark Side of the Meme; Chapter 5. The Biggest Losers: A Sensible Plan for Controlling Your Cosmic Appetite; Chapter 6. It's a Wonderfully Conflicted Life! : The Survival of Mythology in the Capra-Corn Cosmos

Chapter 7. Departures from Earth I: The Ferris Wheel and the Deep-Space ProbeChapter 8. Departures from Earth II: The Reason(s) for the Tragedy of Space Shuttle Columbia; Chapter 9. "Goodbye Spoony Juney Moon": A Mythological Reading of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers; Chapter 10. Is Lucretius a God? : Epic, Science, and Prescience in De Rerum Natura; References; Filmography; About the Author; Index

Sommario/riassunto

"In Science, Bread, and Circuses, Gregory Schrempp brings a folkloristic slant to the topic of popular science, calling attention to the persistence of folkloric form, idiom, and worldview within the increasingly important dimension of popular consciousness defined by



the impact of science. Schrempp considers specific examples of texts in which science writers employ folkloric tropes--myths, legends, proverbs, or a variety of gestures from religious tradition--to lend authority or credibility to their message. In each essay he explores an instance of science popularization rooted in the quotidian round: variations of folkloric formulae in monumental measurements, invocations of science-heroes like saints or other inspirational figures, the battle of mythos and logo in parenting and academe; how the meme has become embroiled in quasi-religious treatments of the problem of evil, and a range of other tropes of folklore drafted into the service of exposition of scientific topics. Science, Bread, and Circuses places the relationship of science and folklore is at the very center of folkloristic inquiry in an attempt to rephrase and thus domesticate scientific findings and claims in folklorically-imbued popular forms"--