According to Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Dr Igor Novak, science is essentially Man’s attempt at understanding nature and the world around him driven, in part, by necessity. Dr Novak’s book ‘Science a Many-splendored Thing’, to be launched on Thursday 11 August, will acquaint non-scientists with science as a wide-ranging human activity. “In the 1955 film Love is a Many-splendored Thing, the director H King explored problems which cultural barriers, driven by irrational adherence to tradition, pose for human emotional relationships,” Dr Novak said. “And yet these many-facetted relationships are the source of endless variety and enrichment for human existence. A similar situation exists in modern science. Advances in science and technology have terrified or alienated many people who are afraid to explore the richness and diversity of nature and of us humans. I hope that this book can allay some of those fears.” Dr Novak is a lecturer in CSU’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences.