A Giant Squid Orbiting Jupiter?.
With the primitive telescope Galileo used to discover it?and with an amateur?s today?the surface of Europa is a smooth, white, glittering mask. But what does that mask tell us?
Besides recounting the remarkable history of research on Europa over the last four decades?the text is clear but technically sophisticated terms, and it is extensively illustrated (including more than 100 NASA images)?Unmasking Europa recounts how "big science" gets done today, and it is not always a pretty story. Greenberg describes how personal agendas (including his own) and political clout (of which he says he had little) determined a lot about the funding, staffing, and even the fundamental direction of the Europa research programs. While he is satisfied that his team?s work will ultimately receive the consideration it deserves, he comes away from his experience feeling that something is fundamentally wrong with the scientific enterprise as a whole because it routinely punishes innovation, risk-taking thought, and a willingness to simply let the evidence lead where it may. In today?s scientific environment with its careerist pressures and peer-reviewd propriety, Greenberg believes, astute scientists quickly realize that it is more rewarding in some very practical ways to stay within the mainstream, and this unfortunate fact is by its nature at odds with the ideals of scientific research and thought?if for no other reason than it stops you from speculating about the existence of that giant squid.
