Paradigms Lost: Images of Man in the Mirror of Science

Johy Casti's Paradigms Lost is an intelligent and well-written review of modern (circa 1989) scientific controversies — e.g., nature vs nurture, the origins of life on earth, AI/machine learning, and the origins of human language. Casti structures each chapter in the form of a jury question, with a summary of the evidence supporting both sides of the argument, followed by Casti's own verdict. This structure can sometimes lead Casti to exaggerate the conflicting nature of the evidence, but this is otherwise a very good overview (especially for high school or college age readers) of current scientific questions.