Science and Method

"[T]he untrammeled reflections of a broad and cultivated mind upon the procedure and the postulates of scientific discovery." - Bertrand Russell
Henri Poincare's "Science and Method "(1908) was one of the most talked-about books in turn-of-the-century France, and it remains a fine example of the author's philosophical scholarship. Starting from first principles and written in Poincare's unique and inimitable style, the book encompasses a wide variety of methodological topics in science. It also contains Poincare's personal views on much-discussed contemporary issues such as the theory of relativity, the applicability of the calculus of probability in physics, and the foundations of mathematics. Few would disagree that it is the clarity of the exposition that makes Poincare's writing so compelling and impressive, as it conveys even the most complex idea in a down-to-earth and unaffected manner.