"Quantum computation specialist Nielsen is an impassioned advocate for open science. In a modern networked world, how can science happen differently? Nielsen successfully communicates his vision in Reinventing Discovery . . . . Nielsen is frank about the challenges to open science, and he offers a plan for action."
"Nielsen likens today's resistance to online tools by scientists to the days of the anagram. The analogy may sound critical of our current scientific culture, but he's also saying that like Galileo and his peers, we're ready for revolutionary change. It's already happening, and Nielsen's book is rich with beautiful and surprising examples."
"One of Financial Times (FT.com) non-fiction favourites in the Science category for 2011"
Nielsen's book is timely and makes the case that scientists have the 'opportunity to change the way knowledge is constructed.' Librarians reading this book will find content that is familiar such as the discussions on open access, open data, and data citation initiatives. The take-away is that Nielsen, as a scientist, is addressing his peers on topics that are also important to librarians. Perhaps Nielsen's Reinventing Discovery: The Era of Networked Science will be the impetus for 'lighting an almighty fire under the scientific community' in creating an open scientific culture.
portal: Libraries and the Academy - Barbara Losoff
Although this book is written in the 'popular science' style, it is not as breathless as many comparable texts and it is written by a practising scientist with a widely cited output in the field of quantum computing. It is recommended reading for any academic pathologists.
Bulletin of the Royal College of Pathologists - Simon Cross
Nielsen's book is an amazing collection of interesting examples, important protagonists and references. It makes illustrative comparisons to open source software development. With his easily readable, well explained and perfectly argued style, Nielsen manages to keep the reader interested in this rather dry philosophical topic throughout the whole book. . . . [T]he book provides a comprehensive overview of developments in open science and is more than worth the reading time for someone interested in the foundations of science.
Lab Times - Florian Fisch
Reinventing Discovery provides an important first sketch of the rapidly emerging networked science and makes it clear that certain fields of discovery can take advantage of an unprecedented acceleration enabled by online networks.
Physics Today - Thomas Vogt
A worthy manifesto for an important cause.
Inside Story - Michael Gilding
This book is suited to a wide audience: those interested in greater detail . . . can view the appendix, bibliographic essay, and references at the end of the book, but Nielsen has written the main text in an engaging narrative style. Suitable for communities served by academic, public, and perhaps secondary school libraries, Nielsen's work is enjoyable and compelling.
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship - Lia Vella
Nielsen's book is a thorough primer on what he calls 'networked science.'. . . We are in the midst of a revolution, Nielsen argues, in which networked science can solve problems at the limit of human understanding—and may even change the world. That claim may sound over the top, but Nielsen makes a compelling case in this self-described manifesto. With friendly, engaging writing, he describes specific approaches and characteristics that can make collaborations truly bloom.
Science News - Rachel Ehrenberg
Reinventing Discovery is an essential read for anyone wanting to take advantage of knowledge and networking available online.
Cosmos magazine - Georgia Leaker
Nielsen has been advocating 'Open Science': the idea that science would progress faster and more efficiently if we took advantage of the internet and social communication to create collaborative projects that would have previously been impossible. In this book he lays out the case, peering into the future to unveil a dramatic new mode of learning about the universe.
Discover Magazine - Sean Carroll
Reinventing Discovery will fire up scholars and scientists to make better use of the internet and join the open science movement. . . . His real contribution, however, is his informed discussion of the social pressures slowing this process of reinvention. . . . Nielsen offers keen insights into how legal, business and academic culture clashes with the pursuit of open science. Our pre-internet thinking is chasing short-term and narrow competitive benefits at the expense of the wider world.
Times Higher Education - Harold Thimbleby
A powerful plea for scientists to work together in new ways, using the full power of the internet and information technology. Nielsen attacks the possessive attitude to data that still pervades some fields of research and shows how much scientists can gain through more open, collaborative working—which may involve members of the public as well as those inside the academic tent.
Financial Times - Clive Cookson
Nielsen asks scientists to reinvent what they do, for the good of science and the good of society. His call to arms is timely and important.
The Guardian - Jack Stilgoe
Michael Nielsen makes the case for the wisdom of very smart crowds in an optimistic argument for the way a wired world can change the way science works. In all sorts of examples, from a Garry Kasparov v the world chess game, to mathematicians and astronomers combining to solve problems he shows how the internet can increase the size and speed of scientific collaboration.
The Australian - Stephen Matchett
Reinventing Discovery is a survey, an analysis, a how-to, and a harbinger of greater things to come. Kudos to the author for picking a timely and relevant subject perhaps just on the edge of social consciousness and making a great story out of it.
New York Journal of Books - Robert Schaefer
In writing this book, Nielsen has created perhaps the most compelling and comprehensive case so far for a new approach to science in the Internet age . . . eloquent, thought-provoking and inspiring to read.
Nature Physics - Timo Hannay
In Reinventing Discovery [Nielsen] has provided the most compelling manifesto yet for the transformative power of networked science.
Financial Times - James Wilsdon
The lone white-coated scientist working late, eye pressed to the eyepiece? That trope is no more. Nowadays impressive science (in mathematics, genetics, astronomy) is being accomplished by crowds using the tools of the Internet. Nielsen believes that mass collaboration is the future of science, and his book may be the most interesting piece of nonfiction I read this year.
Boston Globe - Anthony Doerr
[Nielsen's] easy-to-read and enthusiastic narrative integrates a set of ideas that could, indeed, revolutionize knowledge creation. Nielsen offers a set of fascinating examples to illustrate how rapidly emerging methods for innovation produce important discoveries. He goes further to suggest that these will change our concepts of how science gets done and what it means to be a scientist. However, there are substantial systemic and cultural barriers to fully realizing these new forms of cognition and collaboration. . . . With Reinventing Discovery , Nielsen provides an important foundation for moving forward.
Science - Stephen M. Fiore
[A] thought-provoking call to arms. . . . Reinventing Discovery will frame serious discussion and inspire wild, disruptive ideas for the next decade.
[Reinventing Discovery] opens with a fantastic account of what we can learn about the future of science from explorations such as the Polymath Project and 'the greatest chess game in history,' Kasparov vs. the World. But what really distinguishes it is its nuanced, intelligent descriptions of just how these projects work, noticing what is important about them in a way that few popular summaries do. . . . Highly recommended!
Founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media - O'Reilly
Blog Around the Clock a Zivkovic
All That Matters blog rg Heber
Uncertain Principles blog d Orzel
Reinventing Discovery ] opens with a fantastic account of what we can learn about the future of science from explorations such as the Polymath Project and 'the greatest chess game in history,' Kasparov vs. the World. But what really distinguishes it is its nuanced, intelligent descriptions of just how these projects work, noticing what is important about them in a way that few popular summaries do. . . . Highly recommended!
Founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media O'Reilly
Nielsen's book is an amazing collection of interesting examples, important protagonists and references. It makes illustrative comparisons to open source software development. With his easily readable, well explained and perfectly argued style, Nielsen manages to keep the reader interested in this rather dry philosophical topic throughout the whole book. . . . [T]he book provides a comprehensive overview of developments in open science and is more than worth the reading time for someone interested in the foundations of science.
Reinventing Discovery provides an important first sketch of the rapidly emerging networked science and makes it clear that certain fields of discovery can take advantage of an unprecedented acceleration enabled by online networks.
A worthy manifesto for an important cause.
This book is suited to a wide audience: those interested in greater detail . . . can view the appendix, bibliographic essay, and references at the end of the book, but Nielsen has written the main text in an engaging narrative style. Suitable for communities served by academic, public, and perhaps secondary school libraries, Nielsen's work is enjoyable and compelling.
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
Nielsen's book is a thorough primer on what he calls 'networked science.'. . . We are in the midst of a revolution, Nielsen argues, in which networked science can solve problems at the limit of human understanding—and may even change the world. That claim may sound over the top, but Nielsen makes a compelling case in this self-described manifesto. With friendly, engaging writing, he describes specific approaches and characteristics that can make collaborations truly bloom.
Reinventing Discovery is an essential read for anyone wanting to take advantage of knowledge and networking available online.
Nielsen has been advocating 'Open Science': the idea that science would progress faster and more efficiently if we took advantage of the internet and social communication to create collaborative projects that would have previously been impossible. In this book he lays out the case, peering into the future to unveil a dramatic new mode of learning about the universe.
The lone white-coated scientist working late, eye pressed to the eyepiece? That trope is no more. Nowadays impressive science (in mathematics, genetics, astronomy) is being accomplished by crowds using the tools of the Internet. Nielsen believes that mass collaboration is the future of science, and his book may be the most interesting piece of nonfiction I read this year.
Reinventing Discovery will fire up scholars and scientists to make better use of the internet and join the open science movement. . . . His real contribution, however, is his informed discussion of the social pressures slowing this process of reinvention. . . . Nielsen offers keen insights into how legal, business and academic culture clashes with the pursuit of open science. Our pre-internet thinking is chasing short-term and narrow competitive benefits at the expense of the wider world.
Nielsen asks scientists to reinvent what they do, for the good of science and the good of society. His call to arms is timely and important.
Michael Nielsen makes the case for the wisdom of very smart crowds in an optimistic argument for the way a wired world can change the way science works. In all sorts of examples, from a Garry Kasparov v the world chess game, to mathematicians and astronomers combining to solve problems he shows how the internet can increase the size and speed of scientific collaboration.
A powerful plea for scientists to work together in new ways, using the full power of the internet and information technology. Nielsen attacks the possessive attitude to data that still pervades some fields of research and shows how much scientists can gain through more open, collaborative working—which may involve members of the public as well as those inside the academic tent.
Reinventing Discovery is a survey, an analysis, a how-to, and a harbinger of greater things to come. Kudos to the author for picking a timely and relevant subject perhaps just on the edge of social consciousness and making a great story out of it.
New York Journal of Books
In writing this book, Nielsen has created perhaps the most compelling and comprehensive case so far for a new approach to science in the Internet age . . . eloquent, thought-provoking and inspiring to read.
[Nielsen's] easy-to-read and enthusiastic narrative integrates a set of ideas that could, indeed, revolutionize knowledge creation. Nielsen offers a set of fascinating examples to illustrate how rapidly emerging methods for innovation produce important discoveries. He goes further to suggest that these will change our concepts of how science gets done and what it means to be a scientist. However, there are substantial systemic and cultural barriers to fully realizing these new forms of cognition and collaboration. . . . With Reinventing Discovery , Nielsen provides an important foundation for moving forward.
[A] thought-provoking call to arms. . . . Reinventing Discovery will frame serious discussion and inspire wild, disruptive ideas for the next decade.
Reinventing Discovery is an essential read for anyone wanting to take advantage of knowledge and networking available online.
Presenting complex ideas clearly, Nielson explores in his first book how online collaborative tools, networked science, and open data policies are revolutionizing the process of discovery. He presents a clear vision of science's future and challenges us to bring it to fruition. The author divides the book into two parts. In the first, he explores how specific design principles allow online tools to amplify collective intelligence. Throughout, he uses examples from collaborative chess matches, the open-source movement, large-scale collaborative mathematics, and more to make abstract design principles easy to understand. In the second section, he explains how those tools benefit science, details the challenges the scientific community must overcome to make full use of them, and argues convincingly for a more open science. VERDICT Both captivating and enlightening, this book is recommended for general readers or specialists interested in how online collaboration tools, open data policies, and networked science might benefit the future of science and humanity.—Jonathan Bodnar, Emory Univ. Lib., Atlanta
