Sign-In
Cart
Prove It: A Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era
Paperback
History & Philosophy of Science
Publisher Price: $24.99
ISBN13: 9781760642716
Publisher: La Trobe University Press
Published: Aug 12 2025
Pages: 322
Weight: 0.98
Height: 0.72 Width: 6.02 Depth: 9.25
Language: English
Humans developed the scientific method over centuries. Its departure from what came before was that theories should be fuelled by data, not opinion. Today, the institutions that underpin democracy - the law, academia, government, journalism - all rely on its central idea: seeking facts and interrogating them through robust discussion and real-world testing. Yet in the post-truth era, public conversations can feel far from scientific.
In Prove It, Elizabeth Finkel describes how the scientific method plays out in a series of controversies, from proving the existence of Einstein's gravitational waves to identifying the origins of Covid-19, from understanding human origins to defining consciousness. Through these tales of dispute and discovery, she breaks down the key elements of scientific thinking.
Full of politics, prejudice, obsession, heroism and eccentricity, Prove It captures the drama and excitement of scientific discovery and debate and argues compellingly that its lessons are more crucial now than ever.
'From DNA to consciousness, blackholes to randomised trials, Elizabeth Finkel brings science to life. Brimming with insights, this book is a rallying cry for reason. Evidence and data have shaped our world for the better, and we ignore them at our peril.' - Andrew Leigh, member of Australian Parliament and author of The Shortest History of Economics
'An immensely powerful read, Prove It reminds us that human progress is anchored in frank and fearless debate in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. This book is for anyone who believes in an evidence-based, expert-informed approach to life.' - Professor Katie Allen, University of Melbourne
'Prove It is brilliantly argued, vivaciously written and deeply thought through. If you want to know how science works, what philosophers say about how science works, and what the two have to do with each other, this book is for you.' - Michael Strevens, author of The Knowledge Machine
Also from
Finkel, Elizabeth
Also in
History & Philosophy of Science
My Einstein: Essays by Twenty-Four of the World's Leading Thinkers on the Man, His Work, and His Legacy
Brockman, John
Paperback
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows . . .: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life
Pinker, Steven
Hardcover
What Sheep Think about the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say
Thomas, Amelia
Paperback
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
Do Aliens Speak Physics?: And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality
Warner, Andy
Whiteson, Daniel
Hardcover
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Munroe, Randall
Hardcover
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
Sands, Matthew
Feynman, Richard P.
Leighton, Robert B.
Paperback
Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being
Theise, Neil
Paperback
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
Smil, Vaclav
Paperback
The Ghost Lab: How Bigfoot Hunters, Mediums, and Alien Enthusiasts Are Wrecking Science
Hongoltz-Hetling, Matthew
Hardcover
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right
Kaplan, Matt
Hardcover
The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.
Hardcover
Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin
Comfort, Ray
Paperback
Forgotten Landscapes: How Native Americans Created Pre-Columbian North America and What We Can Learn from It
Rice, Stanley A.
Hardcover
Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
Oakley, Barbara
Paperback
Aristotle's Revenge: The Metaphysical Foundations of Physical and Biological Science
Feser, Edward
Paperback
2084 and the AI Revolution, Updated and Expanded Edition: How Artificial Intelligence Informs Our Future
Lennox, John C.
Paperback
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Paperback
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
Feynman, Richard P.
Paperback
The Science of Last Things: Essays on Deep Time and the Boundaries of the Self
Wayland-Smith, Ellen
Paperback
The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Hardcover
War on Ivermectin: The Medicine That Saved Millions and Could Have Ended the Pandemic
Kory, Pierre
McCarthy, Jenna
Hardcover
There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World
Rovelli, Carlo
Paperback
The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
Farahany, Nita A.
Paperback
Misguided: Where Misinformation Starts, How It Spreads, and What to Do about It
Facciani, Matthew
Paperback
Building a God: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Control It
Dicarlo, Christopher
Hardcover
The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes--And Its Implications
Deutsch, David
Paperback
The Random Universe: How Models and Probability Help Us Make Sense of the Cosmos
Jaffe, Andrew H.
Hardcover
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Sagan, Sasha
Paperback
The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life
Eklöf, Johan
Paperback
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change
Oreskes, Naomi
Conway, Erik M.
Paperback
Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution
Miller, Kenneth R.
Paperback
The Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science
Schneider, Michael S.
Paperback
Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
Ritchie, Stuart
Paperback
The Art of Physics: How Science Explains the Chaos, Contradictions, and Unpredictability of Life
Bharmal, Zahaan
Hardcover
Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean
Strassler, Matt
Hardcover
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
Novella, Steven
Paperback
Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Hardcover
God According to God: A Scientist Discovers We've Been Wrong about God All Along
Schroeder, Gerald
Paperback
Unreliable: Bias, Fraud, and the Reproducibility Crisis in Biomedical Research
Szabo, Csaba
Paperback
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Hardcover
The Passing of the Great Race: The Racial Basis of European History (With Original 1916 Illustrations in Full Color)
Grant, Madison
Hardcover
Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning
Barad, Karen
Paperback
The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One
Paul-Choudhury, Sumit
Hardcover
At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Climate Crises and Other Emergencies
Hine, Dougald
Paperback
Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
Greene, Brian
Paperback
The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
Strobel, Lee
Paperback
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
Smil, Vaclav
Hardcover
How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, Ufos, Time, Belief, and Everything Else
Kripal, Jeffrey J.
Hardcover
The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality
Lanza, Robert
Pavsic, Matej
Berman, Bob
Paperback
The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience
Thompson, Evan
Frank, Adam
Gleiser, Marcelo
Paperback
Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work, and World
Metzl, Jamie
Paperback
The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos
Green, Jaime
Paperback
Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health
Sheldrake, Rupert
Paperback
A Christian Field Guide to Technology for Engineers and Designers
Vanderleest, Steven H.
Brue, Ethan J.
Schuurman, Derek C.
Paperback
Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False
Nagel, Thomas
Hardcover
The Wormwood Prophecy: Nasa, Donald Trump, and a Cosmic Cover-Up of End-Time Proportions
Horn, Thomas
Paperback
Womanist Bioethics: Social Justice, Spirituality, and Black Women's Health
Wilson, Wylin D.
Paperback
Strange Stability: How Cold War Scientists Set Out to Control the Arms Race and Ended Up Serving the Military-Industrial Complex
Wilson, Benjamin
Hardcover