Book Description
This newly revised and updated Ninth Edition of HORIZONS shows students their place in the universe ? not just their location, but also their role as planet dwellers in an evolving universe. Fascinating and engaging, the book illustrates how science works, and how scientists depend on evidence to test hypotheses. Students will learn to focus on the scientific method through the strong central questioning themes of "What are we?" and "How do we know?" Students are also provided with an assessment tool, AceAstronomy, to help test their knowledge of the concepts through assessment, tutorials, and post-tests.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Introductory Text.......2007-02-21
All beginning astronomy books have to cover about the same material. You know what they are: the Big Band, the Time-Line of the Universe, the Sun, the Solar System, the stars -- and that's just what this book covers.
So why would I recommend this book over others?
1. It's updated frequently. This gives Dr. Seeds frequent opportunities to update it with the latest theories (i.e. Pluto, Planet No More), and even more important the latest pictures, which seem to be coming at us with ever increasing speed.
2. It's about the right length. At 516 pages it seems like a bit much for an introductory course. But that's before you consider how profusely illustrated the book. Were it reduced to just text, like the first course I took oh so many years ago, it would probably be about a hundred and fifty pages.
3. It has a student centered approach. It's not just a dry lecture on what's happening to the Cosmos, it's a 'where are we,' 'how do we know that,' 'where are we going' approach that (hopefully) the student can see to relate herself to a bigger world.
4. Beyond just astronomy, this book teaches the whole scientific approach: peer review of articles, use of theories to predict discoveries, etc. This is a subject sadly lacking in today's education.
This book could be used as a course taught at either a first year background course for science/physics/astronomy majors, or would be good for a non-science major science course.
mediocre.......2005-12-08
I adopted this text for my first try at teaching intro astronomy. It has lots of pretty pictures but I was not impressed with the content. This includes the text, the organization and the question/problem sets. If this text is better than most of its competitors, I am in real trouble. =-)
So, so..........2005-07-05
The delivery time was very quick, that was good, and the price was great. The condition of the book was very used and they said it was like new. Other then that I guess it was O.K.
Superb textbook - beautifully illustrated, clearly written!.......2004-02-01
This is the Eighth Edition of a truly superb textbook for an introductory astronomy course, or for anyone (amateur astronomers?)who is looking for a great and beautifully illustrated general reference source on astronomy. I've been teaching intro astronomy for many years and keep my eye on all the textbooks. Aimed primarily at non-science majors, Seeds' book is a hum-dinger and really the best I see out there at this time.
The author has a very clear and quite intertaining writing style, and each edition of the book is even more beautifully illustrated than the last. The artwork especially in the last two editions is simply super, and clearly illustrate many phenomena that students often have trouble with. This textbook covers every topic needed in a survey course from the nature of light, a bit of astronomy history and telescopes, properties and formation of stars and galaxies, the planets, and very current data on cosmology, dark matter, life in the universe and so on. Very up to date!
Mike Seeds' book goes fairly easy on the math (although all important concepts are covered)compared to some other "intro astronomy" books. Overall, I find this book ideally suited to a survey course for non-science majors. For science majors or a textbook that might also be useful in somewhat higher level astronomy courses, I would recommend Kaufmann/Freeman's "Universe" as an excellent choice.
Seeds' book is comprehensive and about 500 pages in length - similar to almost all intro astronomy textbooks. To a great extent, literally all these 500 page textbooks are way too lengthy for a one semester survey course. It is difficult to get students to read this much for each class. I keep hoping that Mike Seeds, and excellent author, will produce a 250-300 page (maximum) version of Horizons specifically for one semester courses. Until someone creates a shorter version of the same high quality, I'll keep recommending this textbook.
Can a good thing get better?.......2000-10-03
As a freshman in college (majoring in Astronomy) I had to use Horizons 4e for an Intro Astronomy course, and fell in love with it. I loved it so much that I bought Horizons 6e! I think this great book just keeps getting better! The art and photos are fantastic, and tie in well with the text, which is an easy read, great for majors and non-majors alike. In summary, Horizons 6e is a great text, well worth the money.
Book Description
A vibrant collection of essays on the cosmos from the nation's best-known astrophysicist.
Loyal readers of the monthly "Universe" essays in Natural History magazine have long recognized Neil deGrasse Tyson's talent for guiding them through the mysteries of the cosmos with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. The title essay introduces readers to the physics of black holes by explaining the gory details of what would happen to your body if you fell into one. "Holy Wars" examines the needless friction between science and religion in the context of historical conflicts. "The Search for Life in the Universe" explores astral life from the frontiers of astrobiology. And "Hollywood Nights" assails the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right.
Known for his ability to blend content, accessibility, and humor, Tyson is a natural teacher who simplifies some of the most complex concepts in astrophysics while simultaneously sharing his infectious excitement about our universe.
Customer Reviews:
Educational and entertaining.......2007-10-02
I have long known Tyson to be an excellent speaker and purveyor of scientific ideas with a Saganesque ability to convey the excitement of scientific findings with a bit more hipness and swagger to his talks than Sagan. This book is an excellent read through and through. I couldn't beat the feeling as I sat on the roof of a 14 story building in Curitiba, Brazil watching the sunset alone on the summer solstice (their winter solstice) while reading the section on Stick-In-The-Mud-Science and watching the long shadows creep across the sky and have Tyson explain to me all the celestial happenings around me (this really happened). Quite a magical read. The author presents complex scientific ideas in short, readable, cohesively-themed articles. Each article is on a topic familiar to us, upon which he expands towards scientific ideas which may be unfamiliar to us. There is enough overlap in the independent sections that the read feels like one is being 'taught' rather than just reading information. And Tyson is first and foremost a great educator. Although I did find myself trying to remember something from a previous chapter and flipping back through, I feel like I have learned a great deal about astrophysics from a book that was downright entertaining.
An enjoyable read for those with an interest in science and astronomy.......2007-09-27
The qualities that make Neil deGrasse Tyson so annoying on Nova Science Now are absolute positives when it comes to the written word. He is an intelligent and entertaining writer with an uncanny ability to reduce complex scientific concepts to bite sized chunks even I could (mostly) understand.
Death by Black Hole by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.......2007-09-19
An astrophysicist for the American Museum of Natural History, director of the world famous Hayden Planetarium, and columnist for Natural History magazine, Neil DeGrasse Tyson brings to the non-scientific world the ideal book for those fascinated with space, the cosmos, black holes, and all the questions and wonders therein. Death by Black Hole is the perfect book for the reader who wants answers to questions about the universe in a simple and clearly defined way so that even if they know next to nothing about science and it's jargon, Tyson makes it easily understandable.
While I was hoping for something a little more in depth in the style of Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos or Lee Smolin's The Trouble With Physics, Death by Black Hole nevertheless provides quick and simple answers to many questions everyday readers without a science background have about physics, the universe, space, and most matters dealing with the cosmos. The book is a selection of his columns in Natural History that are organized in a somewhat textbook fashion. Tyson starts with the idea of science and nature in its basic form, how humanity views Earth, the solar system, the universe. Along with this discussion, Tyson also gives minor history lessons on the development of different ideas in physics and astronomy, what people came up with what big ideas and how the progression led to the development of the big theories of our current time with string theory and relativity. Going on from here, Death by Black Hole address the crucial steps that led to the formation of the universe and its development over the many billions and billions of years, again explaining how it is that scientists know what they do and what instruments were used, as well as the history of who invented and used said instruments.
It is then that Tyson finally turns to the subject matter of the title of the book in the section "When the Universe Turns Bad: All the Ways the Cosmos Wants to Kill Us." Here he addresses the complex and still relatively unknown subjects of chaos theory, dark matter (which constitutes over 90% of all matter in the universe, while we still know next to nothing about it), and finally black holes. Tyson takes the reader on a hypothetical journey with what would happen if one were to be sucked into a black hole and how as they approached the event horizon, they would become stretched until the elasticity point of their skin was surpassed and the body would be torn into thousands then millions of little pieces.
With many questions now answered, in the next section Tyson discusses how science is viewed by the media, Hollywood, and people around the world in general. The final section addresses the concept of science and religion, again taking the reader on a historic journey through the development of first religion, then science, and the struggle that has ensued for centuries. It is the perfect end to a book on science, as Tyson lectures the importance of supporting fact and reality in a time when there are many who believe more in faith, even when all the evidence is to the contrary.
For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com
Conversational Cosmology 101 - Superb!.......2007-09-19
New York Planetarium director and astrophysicist Tyson has been writing a column for "Natural History" magazine for some 11 years - that makes about 132 short essays. Tyson says this monthly chore is "one of the most exhausting and exhilarating things I do." Forty-two of these essays appear in this volume, "mildly edited for continuity and to reflect emergent trends in science."
He divides these essays into seven sections:
1. THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE - The challenges of knowing what is knowable in the universe.
2. THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE - The challenges of discovering the contents of the cosmos.
3. WAYS AND MEANS OF NATURE - How nature presents herself to the inquiring mind.
4. THE MEANING OF LIFE - The challenges and triumphs of knowing how we got here.
5. WHEN THE UNIVERSE TURNS BAD - All the ways the cosmos wants to kill us.
6. SCIENCE AND CULTURE - The ruffled interface between cosmic discovery and the public's reaction to it.
7. SCIENCE AND GOD - When ways of knowing collide.
"Natural History" is the same magazine Stephen J. Gould wrote 300 essays for, overlapping with Tyson for seven years. In both cases, the authors excelled in making their respective fields (evolutionary biology and cosmology) easily readable for the general public, adding to their already impressive credentials.
From page 33: "This universality of physical laws tells us that if we land on another planet with a thriving alien civilization, they will be running on the same laws that we have discovered and tested here on Earth - even if the aliens harbor different social and political beliefs. Furthermore, if you wanted to talk to the aliens, you can bet they don't speak English or French or even Mandarin Chinese. You don't even know whether shaking their hands - if indeed they have hands to shake - would be considered an act of war or of peace. Your best hope is to find a way to communicate using the language of science."
The format provides for benign redundancy as the Big Bang, formation of galaxies, creation of the chemicals in the periodic chart, and predictable physics versus chaos of interactions are looked at over and over from differing perspectives. This book is highly entertaining and I recommend it for anyone who wants to buff up their knowledge of astronomy (cosmology, astrophysics...) or for the confirmed science nut like me. First rate!
Heavy & light reading all in one.......2007-09-14
Anything by this author is worth reading. I like the way he starts off explaining things in a very simple way and winds up getting deep into the end result. "A professional con job with very educational results".
Book Description
On the 10th anniversary of his death, brilliant astrophysisist and Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sagan's prescient exploration of the relationship between religion and science and his personal search for God.
Carl Sagan is considered one of the greatest scientific minds of our time. His remarkable ability to explain science in terms easily understandable to the layman in bestselling books such as Cosmos, The Dragons of Eden, and The Demon-Haunted World won him a Pulitzer Prize and placed him firmly next to Isaac Asimov, Stephen Jay Gould, and Oliver Sachs as one of the most important and enduring communicators of science. In December 2006 it will be the tenth anniversary of Sagan's death, and Ann Druyan, his widow and longtime collaborator, will mark the occasion by releasing Sagan's famous "Gifford Lectures in Natural Theology," The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God.
The chance to give the Gifford Lectures is an honor reserved for the most distinguished scientists and philosophers of our civilization. In 1985, on the grand occasion of the centennial of the lectureship, Carl Sagan was invited to give them. He took the opportunity to set down in detail his thoughts on the relationship between religion and science as well as to describe his own personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience, edited, updated and with an introduction by Ann Druyan, is a bit like eavesdropping on a delightfully intimate conversation with the late great astronomer and astrophysicist. In his charmingly down-to-earth voice, Sagan easily discusses his views on topics ranging from manic depression and the possibly chemical nature of transcendance to creationism and so-called intelligent design to the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets to the likelihood of nuclear annihilation of our own to a new concept of science as "informed worship." Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, he illuminates his explanations with examples from cosmology, physics, philosophy, literature, psychology, cultural anthropology, mythology, theology, and more. Sagan's humorous, wise, and at times stunningly prophetic observations on some of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos have the invigorating effect of stimulating the intellect, exciting the imagination, and reawakening us to the grandeur of life in the cosmos.
Customer Reviews:
Carl keeps it real.......2007-08-06
This is great piece of literature from a brilliant man. You do not need a scientific background to appreciate and understand the points of view Carl Sagan puts forth in his explanations of the universe and his personal search for God. Highly recommended.
Cosmicly Awesome.......2007-08-04
Carl Sagan was undeniably one of the great minds of our time. This series of lectures, given as the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland, continuously awes one. Even when the material is stuff you already know, he brings a freshness, a joyfulness, a playfulness to it that puts a new spin on the ideas.
No matter how much astronomy you've read, no matter how much physics you've read, this book will toy with your mind, put a sparkle in your eye, and give you new reasons to look to the heavens of a night.
Classic Sagan.......2007-08-01
I was captivated by the title, the play on the original wording. In these lectures, Sagan discusses and compares religion and science, differences, expectations, areas of agreement and disagreement and finally the notion of scientific evidence for a supernatural creator. I would hope that Sagan, were he still alive, would reject the anti-religious crusades by high-profile scientists like Dawkins, Smith & Dennett. He always sought compromise (in the spirit of his friend the late great Stephen Gould) and persuasion as opposed to the near evangelical proselytizing of those obsessed with the subject. Vivir y dejar vivir!
Carl was a rationalist, a wonderer, an unbeliever who put the "I" in intellectual, a genius plain and simple. One can forgive some of the material - it was 1985 and Sagan, with other "progressive" scientists, were in a massive anti-Reagan campaign to keep US nukes out of Europe. Anyhoo, the weapons were stationed, the USSR immediately disintegrated and the incident passed into history. Sagan, like the rest of us, is victim to his own prejudices and opinions. In his case it was his deep belief in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence over the almost unanimous disbelief of biologists. (His book, CONTACT, is still one of my favorites- as is the stunning movie.)
We went so far as to publicly lobby for SETI funds yet 22 years later we have yet to find a single signal despite tens of millions of searches. This is not surprising to many since the unique conditions for the rise of intelligence on Earth depended on a path of millions of tiny steps, all of which led to our present juncture. Four of these were global catastrophes after which the structure of life began anew. He asks if life evolved on Earth or came from space. He then discusses the UFO craze (seriously) and concludes that (1) Earth has never been visited by aliens and (2) no UFO sighting was authentic. The old Fermi question, "If they exist where are they?" is still apropos with the most obvious answer being the most plausible - we are the first and only, at least in this galaxy. A recent explanation opines that all civilization eventually discard biological bodies in favor of virtual ones. More to the point, would civilizations millions of years more advanced use radio waves? (New search techniques have since been included.)
He tells the story of how humanity was dethroned from our position of uniqueness. Earth is not the center of the Universe, the sun is just a star, we evolved from other species, all life on Earth had a common ancestor. He asks why an omniscent being would wait 4.5 billion years to bring about sentience or what is the purpose of creating millions of species only to have them go extinct? He suggests that civilization extinction could be the reason for the cosmic silence. The book is filled with beautiful illustrations and the speeches are the model of clarity. Carl, we miss you.
Elegant & Eloquent.......2007-07-16
The late Carl Sagan's Gifford lectures are reproduced in this short volume. Despite its brevity, Sagan reminds us of the beauty and wonder of the Universe as revealed by science, the connections to all living things that Darwin's discoveries about evolution gave us, the healthy skepticism that we should all maintain when others make extraordinary claims (they require extraordinary proofs). As a layperson, I find Sagan's explanations understandable and as an avid reader, I find his eloquence amazing.
Inside the Mind of Sagan.......2007-06-27
...incredibly personal, informative and entertaining.
This is one of those MUST READ books. And to think it was almost lost...
Thank you, Ann for this most wonderful work.
Book Description
People have long gazed in wonder at the universe and asked, Why are we here? Until recently, the answer has been the province of priests and philosophers, but now scientists are starting to weigh in with ideas that are both surprising and deeply controversial. In his new book, physicist Paul Davies shows how recent scientific discoveries point to a perplexing fact: many basic features of the physical universe— from the speed of light to the most humble carbon atom—seem tailor-made to produce life. A radical new theory says it’s because our universe is just one of an infinite number of universes, each one slightly different. Our universe is bio-friendly by accident; we just happened to win the cosmic jackpot. While this multiverse theory is compelling, it has bizarre implications, from infinite copies of each of us to Matrix-like simulated universes. Davies believes there’s a more satisfying solution to the question of existence: the observations we make today could help shape the nature of reality in the remote past. If this is true, then life and, ultimately, consciousness aren’t just incidental byproducts of nature, but central players in the formation of the universe.
Customer Reviews:
Reading Jackpot.......2007-10-02
Very interesting reading, captivating topics, most definitely a great source of reflection. Without diminishing the fascination of the big bang and inflation theories, I enjoyed more the second half, related to the fundamental questions about Universe and Existence. I found out for the first time about a possible Self-Explaining and Self-Determined Universe, where our existence could have a special and privileged meaning. Some parts of the book seemed a bit inclined towards dry classifications as opposed to elaborate dissertations "Elegant Universe" style.
A good exposition of physical theories for the uninitiated.......2007-10-02
Having read his scientific arguments in the rest of the book, I was somewhat surprised (although he says his inclinations "will be clear") by the author's concluding section (p.267), where he states, "I do take life, mind, and purpose seriously, and I concede that the universe at least appears[italicized word] to be designed with a high level of ingenuity".
Elsewhere (p.196) he contrastingly says, "If there is a designer, then this being is clearly not micromanaging the process very well", and alleges some "design flaws". Interestingly, he also writes (p.192) that biological organisms "look nothing short of miraculous. The many and diverse components function together in a coherent and amazingly orchestrated manner", and that the living cell contains "exquisite examples of nanotechnology", and so forth.
To add to these conflicting observations, the author downgrades the Intelligent Design movement, an American defense of the idea that organisms have an intelligent designer. Perhaps he does so because he is British, since other Brits have that attitude, but what seems truly unfortunate is that the Intelligent Design group is the only one he denigrates with name-calling. He speaks of their being "political" (p.284n.8), their "propaganda" (p.196), not to mention "confusions".
Not to be misunderstood, I love Americans and Brits equally (I am of middle-European Jewish birth), but I consider the Intelligent Design group just as honorable and intelligent as others, though I hold, like other cases, its arguments deficient. Presently, my concentration is on the author discussed, and I find numerous weaknesses in his argumentation.
He puts special emphasis on the concept of explanation. To him every fact must be explained; otherwise it must be "taken on faith" (p.217). He illustrates this on that page and the preceding one with humorous pictures in which the Earth is "explained by a deeper reality" of resting on an elephant, the elephant explained by resting on a turtle, which rests on another turtle, and, to "avoid infinite regress", last is "a levitating super-turtle, which is self-explaining and self-supporting".
The trouble is that the author is unclear about what he means by "explanation", by a "reason", and why some is always necessary. There exist various "reasons". A most common one is giving a cause for an event. Another one is giving a proof for a logical or mathematical proposition. All these have the purpose of satisfying some desire for resulting knowledge. But much of knowledge is gained directly, without explanation, by for instance any immediate perception of something. Laws pertaining to things are likewise often learned from experience, without need of further explanation, unless an underlying broader law might be helpful. The point is that once certain facts are learned, they become objects of knowledge, whether or not one learns more about them. If accordingly the existence of God, considered as a "super-turtle", is the question, it is beside the point whether or not "God exists reasonlessly" (p.219).
Returning to the first-mentioned last section (p.267), the author disputes there a like "exist reasonlessly", but this time appears to connote an additional sense of "a reason", namely "a purpose". He evidently means that, with the universe "a package of marvels", he takes "life [and] mind...seriously" as resulting by some "purpose", saying, "It seems to me that there is a genuine scheme of things--the universe is 'about' something". However, in Darwinian fashion he says, "I do not believe Homo sapiens to be more than an accidental by-product of haphazard natural processes". Here goes inconsistency again; he believes in both, life (and mind) as purposeful and as accidental.
Let me observe for one again that mind, consciousness, is the medium by which all reality is known. One is reminded of Berkeley's dictum, "To be is to be perceived" (Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues (Oxford World's Classics)). It is hard to explain how a world can be certain to exist if unperceived, that is without live beings like us perceiving it. As regards life itself, in that last section the reviewed author wonders about a "life principle", and one can indeed speak of life in terms of purpose, as I have tried to convey in reviews before and especially, among other issues concerning knowledge, in my book On Proof for Existence of God, and Other Reflective Inquiries. Unlike held by scientists for whom, as the author notes in that section, "any suggestion of a teleological (purposive) trend...is anathema", purpose in life is so glaringly staring us in the face that it may be for that reason this purpose is completely overlooked: All of life is characterized by its unceasing purpose of action toward self-preservation.
It is satisfying to me that the author considers at least this "half-glimpsed life principle". He, as indicated, is besides lucidly informative of contemporary theories, even if I personally question the correctness of a number of them. I accordingly gladly recommend the book for its educational worth.
Almost there!.......2007-09-19
This is the first popular cosmology book I have read in years. (They were getting a bit samey - big bang, quantum theory, multiverse etc etc.) But this book is an interesting addition to the genre. Anyone reading this, whether a born-again Christian or a convinced MWI atheist, will have his thoughts well and truly provoked.
I get the feeling that we are almost there. Just one little brainwave away from linking consciousness and the universe to explain the whole shebang. If it comes to me, I'll let you know.
A summary of the cutting edge ideas.......2007-09-01
This book talks about everything that is known about cosmology as of 2007. The author argues with an anthropic bias, the theories of the origin of the universe. He tries to make sense of the many questions, like why we are here, why the universe is as we see it, what is it that breaths fire into the equations etc. In the light of all theories about the universe, the author attempts a synopsis of which one makes more sense than the other. Again his main criterion is which theory gives life, mind and consciousness a priority and tries to incorporate them as a fundamental thing in universe. He also argues for the Goldilocks universe, that is everything in this universe looks too right for life to evolve, saying that any theory that talks about the origin of the universe must explain these anthropic conditions. Theory of Multiverse is just a Platonic scapegoat to all these questions. This book teaches you not to indulge into too much of mathematics, but to pause and ponder where are we heading and also what are we doing, and ask oneself the question whether it all makes sense or not.
broad.......2007-08-31
Very good in all respect. Broad and up to date view of the universe and a deep discussion of the problem (or solution) of God. Religions, long time ago, tried to explain the creation of the world and science took this task afterwards. The bigbang and a single universe extremely biofriendly (why?)seems almost an probabilistic absurd (without God). Than (using strig theories) science invented (or discovery)a multiverse, whith an infinity number of diferent universes, and ours is one of them. Whith an infinity number, some should be biofriendly. But this also is problematic because send the problem a step backward. The solution (up to now) is a loop, a self creating universe cosmos/life/mind/cosmos ...
Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, the renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that physics—the basis for all other science—has lost its way. The problem is string theory, an ambitious attempt to formulate "a theory of everything" that explains all the forces and particles of nature and how the universe came to be. With its exotic new particles and parallel universes, string theory has captured the public"s imagination and seduced many physicists. But as Smolin reveals, there"s a deep flaw in the theory: no part of it has been proven, and no one knows how to prove it. As a scientific theory, it has been a colossal failure. And because it has soaked up the lion's share of funding, attracted some of the best minds, and penalized young physicists for pursuing other avenues, it is dragging the rest of physics down with it. With clarity, passion, and authority, Smolin charts the rise and fall of string theory and takes a fascinating look at what will replace it. A group of young theorists has begun to develop exciting new ideas that are, unlike string theory, testable. Smolin tells us who and what to watch for in the coming years and how we can find the next Einstein. This is a wake-up call, and Lee Smolin—a former string theorist himself— is the perfect person to deliver it.
Customer Reviews:
Scientific progress is never cut and dried.......2007-10-08
Lee Smolin presents a harsh critique of the last 30 years in theoretical physics, written by one of its practitioners. He makes the excellent point that science is a human activity like anything else. Progress is always hard to predict; scientists can and do get caught up in dead ends. Smolin thinks string theory is one such dead end, and makes a good case for it.
I think that, if anything, Smolin is a little too gentle on the field. The development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs left a tremendous impression that big money put into physics would bring big results. In recent years that hasn't happened. There are so many unanswered questions out there in science, so many important fields where solutions are desperately needed. When I consider the construction and operation of particle accelerators and other high-tech equipment, I can't help but think of the huge cost. The same amount of cash invested elsewhere might have brought much more in the way of useful results.
I am the mother of a 10-year-old boy attending public school. His instruction sometimes seems to me like a mishmash of well-meaning educational reforms that have been implemented with little or no testing to see if they worked or not. I am frankly disgusted by the quality of most research in the area of education--sample sizes too small, no proper controls, subjects followed for too short a time, etc. The cost of operating a single particle accelerator for six weeks probably exceeds all the funding for educational research around the world for the entire year. Yet which has the most potential for making major progress? Maybe it's time to back off on funding big physics projects for a while.
I would also like to point out that the building and use of instrumentation for high-energy physics is highly dependent on cheap fossil fuels. The future supply of such fuels is by no means guaranteed. The peak oil problem appears to be largely ignored by high-energy physicists today, but has the potential to significantly affect their ability to conduct experiments.
I really enjoyed Smolin's chapters on looking for seers rather than technicians in science. I especially liked his description of how unconventional scientists have built a career without a university job. Smolin points out that a typical professor spends a majority of his week on teaching, grant proposals, administrative tasks, and the like, leaving a surprisingly small amount of time available for actual research. Having a day job outside the field is not as big a hurdle as it might seem.
I tend to agree with Smolin that the big advances of the future are likely to come from completely unexpected directions. I can't wait to see what they are.
physics from many angles.......2007-10-05
This book provided several discussions pf physics and quantum theory. its good because the author speaks of the history the the originators of physics theory and the current champions of thought.
A mixed bag.......2007-10-04
At the moment, string theory appears to have many (possibly an infinite number) of "metastable vacua", each of which would allow for a universe with its own laws of physics. (For a brief, comic, yet essentially correct summary of the history of this idea, see Peter Shor's review here. For those who don't know, Shor is a celebrated quantum-information theorist.) According to the (far from established) inflationary model of cosmology, there is a vast collection of universes (the "multiverse") with diverse laws of physics. Which universe we find ourselves in is a matter of random selection, but of course we must be in a "biofriendly" universe, one whose laws of physics allow for the appearance of intelligent life.
The core argument of this book is presented on page 164-165 (US hardcover edition), where Smolin writes, "when it comes to the biofriendliness of our universe, we have at least three possibilities:
"1. Ours is one of a vast collection of universes with random laws.
"2. There was an intelligent designer.
"3. There is a so-far-unknown mechanism that will both explain the biofriendliness of our universe and make testable predictions by which it can be confirmed or falsified.
"Given that the first two possibilities are untestable in principle, it is most rational to hold out for the third possibility. Indeed, that is the only possibility we should consider as scientists, because accepting either of the first two would mean the end of our field."
I find this to be an astonishing argument. First of all, I don't know what "most rational" is supposed to mean. More importantly, to reject a scientific hypothesis for purely personal reasons (it "would mean the end of our field") is at best novel, and at worst absurd.
Very few string theorists are happy that #1 seems, at this point, to be the most likely outcome of string theory, and many hope that #3 will somehow eventually emerge. But to throw out the whole framework, simply because we don't like the result, cannot be said to be a scientific attitude.
One thing you won't learn in this book (unless you read it very carefully, and between the lines) is that the other approaches to quantum gravity advocated by Smolin have not come any closer to predicting specific experimental results than string theory has. Smolin talks about possible violations of special relativity, but these are not (as he admits on page 237) a definite prediction of loop quantum gravity. He has said (on Peter Woit's blog) that any quantum field theory in any number of dimensions is compatible with loop quantum gravity. If true, this would make loop quantum gravity even less capable than string theory of picking out our particular laws of physics.
Smolin also discusses issues of sociology in physics. On page 335-336, he asserts that the all the truly negative characterizations of job candidates that he has ever heard have had a component of racism and/or sexism. I am on the faculty of the physics department of a research university, and I can only say that my experience has been entirely different. I have simply never heard a racist or sexist denigration of one scientist by another, nor have I ever felt that anyone was being evaluated by criteria other than merit. I think that there are definitely issues of culture and how we can construct scientific communities that have broader appeal, and that there are physicists who are not as sensitive to these issues as they might be, but I cannot accept Smolin's claim that the relatively small percentage of women and blacks in physics is due to "blatant prejudice".
Finally, Smolin discusses the issues of "seers" vs "craftspeople" in science, and argues that we should be supporting more "seers". Among the existing seers, he lists some (such as Roger Penrose and Gerard 't Hooft) who made their reputations primarily as craftspeople ('t Hooft received the Nobel Prize for his work on the renormalization of gauge theories, and Penrose did celebrated work on the singularity theorems of general relativity). Their record as seers has been less successful; none of their recent ideas on modifications of quantum mechanics have panned out as yet. Smolin laments the fact that more attention is not paid to these forays into alternatives to quantum mechanics. But 't Hooft and Penrose do not agree on what modifications are needed. Other seers identified by Smolin propose violations of special relativity, rather than (or in addition to) violations of quantum mechanics. Perhaps this is all deep thought, but there is little to decide, at this point, which if any of these avenues should be pursued. Most physicists have therefore sensibly adopted a "wait and see" attitude.
Even if we accept Smolin's argument that we need new seers, how are we to find them? Smolin writes (page 353) that in order to discover "the visionaries who ignore the mainstream and follow their own ambitious programs", we should "find at least one accomplished person in the candidate's field who is deeply excited about what the candidate is trying to do". So, the candidate's program had better not be *too* far off the mainstream; there has to be at least one "accomplished person" who is "deeply excited" about it. But if one deeply excited professional is good, wouldn't more be better? Wouldn't that up the odds that the program was, indeed, worthwhile? Oh wait, that would be just what we have now ... a system where there is constant debate, emergent consensus on the most promising approaches, and distribution of research funds primarily (but by no means exclusively!) to those approaches that appear, in the consensus view, to be most promising. To paraphrase Winston Churchill on democracy, this system for distributing funds for science may be the worst ever devised, except for all the others.
So, should you buy the book? I feel that it gives a distorted picture, by emphasizing the weak points of string theory while ignoring the (many more, in my view) weak points of the alternatives. It seems to me that the essence of the book's argument against string theory is captured by the excerpts above, and by Shor's review. Then there is a lot of discussion of groupthink in scientific culture. For me, it doesn't add up to an appealing package, but your mileage may vary.
The Endless Quest Continues .......2007-10-04
I like Lee Smolin and this is a good exposition of the current quandary in Physics. When the mathematicians "hijacked" physics in the 1920's, they created ever-so elegant formulas and abstraction upon abstraction upon abstraction. "Just give me a formula!" was their mantra, and what it all really "means" was not their concern. This is the essence of Bohr's position (no pun intended), and Einstein was not able to answer, even though he knew something was missing.
String theory has many intriguing ideas, and it's supporters should not be easily dismissed. Again and again, we come back to the basic question...particle or wave? Wavicle? Partiwave? String?
Outstanding piece of writing, A must-read for any science enthusiast........2007-09-22
I found this book to be superbly written and full of fascinating insights. I really loved reading it. Many of the longer reviews here do a great job of reviewing the content of the book, so I'll stick to offering my opinion.
I will no doubt read this book again in the future as much of the content was way over my head. However, as with any great book on any subject, this did not prevent me from thoroughly enjoying it and learning a lot. What makes it so great is that each time I read it I will learn more.
I want to thank Lee Smolin for putting the current state of his field in some perspective. I highly, highly recommend this book!
Customer Reviews:
"Universe" Astronomy Textbook.......2007-09-30
It was very easy to order and the price was the same as my bookstore at school. The only thing that made it more expensive was the shipping and then it took about 5 days to get to me. When I received it it was in a very solidly sealed box that I couldn't open without a knife. When I finally opened it, the back cover of my "soft" textbook had poke holes all over it from where I tried to open the box on the back seam.
The book itself is well written with great pictures of the cosmos.
Great introduction to astronomy with well thought out steps.......2006-11-05
This textbook is well written with well thought out sequence of topics and its bundled softwares are superb. It expounds the items of astronomical subject in clear unambiguous words arranged in logical order requiring only a modest mathematical skill, well suited for a freshman student for science requirement as well as an intelligent and curious lay reader. The content is quite up-to-date; more remarkable for its online companion for prompt updating for currency. For instance, in barely 2 months after new definition excluded Pluto as a planet, the webpage supplement already informs its reader of it. Included exercises and problems are thorough and complete, and thus allowing students to critically refine their grasp of the preceding topics. There are a few minor errors which are easy to be discovered by a reader, and how to access additional websites and CDs are not clear enough in the preface to the student. I base my review only on the first 5 chapters that was covered in my first academic quarter of study. However. browsing the subsequent chapters to the end lend me confidence that the quality has been maintained.
Descriptive Astronomy for the Astronomy Student.......2006-06-11
Most introductory astronomy texts take the descriptive approach and subject the student to very little mathematics. Such tomes assume that the student is taking the course to fulfill a core science requirement or to satiate non-technical interest. This text is a rare exception to this rule.
Throughout the book simple explanations of the scientific phenomena discussed are detailed using algebra and trigonometry. Basic formulas are illustrated and ample problems are given to drive home the mathematical nature of astronomy. This text is perfect for the freshman or sophomore science major who requires a deeper knowledge of astronomy than a non-mathematical text could provide.
Make no mistake, the text can be used easily in a general astronomy class that requires no math prerequisites. However, for the physics or astronomy major who is just starting her study of the subject, this text is the perfect blend of description and mathematics. It would also make a fine introductory graduate text for elementary and high-school teachers who wish to pursue a master's degree.
The software on the enclosed CD-ROM disks makes visualizing the concepts presented within the text much easier. If one's physics department doesn't have access to a planetarium the software offered remedies the problem quite nicely.
Quality of the delivered product........2006-02-21
While the reason for buying the book was met (required text book for university study) the condition of the delivered item was very substandard. When the book arrived it was bent and creased and the front cover had been "pushed" in such a way that it was starting to come away from the spine. The book was not secure in its packaging and was able to slide around inside the box scuffing both front and back covers. I would not be happy if this happened to a $20 book let alone a book that cost me AUS $135.
I will seriously consider next time I need a book whether I will get it from Amazon.com . The amount of money I saved was not worth the damage that occured to the item.
Not Happy!!!!
Fabulous In-Depth Intro to Astronomy.......2005-10-12
I'm an amateur astronomy nut, and have read several dozen books on astronomy, cosmology, etc. This is probably the most clear, in-depth, understandable treatment of astronomical issues that I have ever read. Be it stellar evolution, stellar death, theory of relativity, black holes, galactic evolution -- you name it -- this book presents the research clearly, and explains tough to explain issues in terms I can understand. Bravo! My only complaint is that it's a bit heavy on Solar System research (first half of the book); I found the last half more to my interest.
Book Description
Stephen Hawking’s worldwide bestseller, A Brief History of Time, has been a landmark volume in scientific writing. Its author’s engaging voice is one reason, and the compelling subjects he addresses is another: the nature of space and time, the role of God in creation, the history and future of the universe. But it is also true that in the years since its publication, readers have repeatedly told Professor Hawking of their great difficulty in understanding some of the book’s most important concepts.
This is the origin of and the reason for A Briefer History of Time: its author’s wish to make its content more accessible to readers –as well as to bring it up-to-date with the latest scientific observations and findings.
Although this book is literally somewhat “briefer,” it actually expands on the great subjects of the original. Purely technical concepts, such as the mathematics of chaotic boundary conditions, are gone. Conversely, subjects of wide interest that were difficult to follow because they were interspersed throughout the book have now been given entire chapters of their own, including relativity, curved space, and quantum theory.
This reorganization has allowed the authors to expand areas of special interest and recent progress, from the latest developments in string theory to exciting developments in the search for a complete unified theory of all the forces of physics. Like prior editions of the book–but even more so–A Briefer History of Time will guide nonscientists everywhere in the ongoing search for the tantalizing secrets at the heart of time and space.
***
Stephen Hawking will be lecturing at the following locations:
11/7/05:
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 408 Alamden Blvd., San Jose, CA, 95110, (408) 277-5277
11/10/05:
Paramount Theater of the Arts, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, (510) 465-6400
11/16/05:
The Paramount Theater, 911 Pine Street, Seattle, WA, 98101, (206) 467-5510
Tickets for "The Origins of the Universe with Dr.Stephen Hawking" are available through Ticketmaster.
Customer Reviews:
Half confused, half amazed.......2007-09-20
For as simple as Hawking was supposed to present the complicated theoretical physics concepts, at times I still found myself as confused as Adam on Mother's Day. Dr. Hawking's work is caught between a rock and a hard place in "A Brief History of Time" and the subsequent "The Universe in a Nutshell"; he provides neither the technical language to satisfy the experienced readers, nor the sufficiently simplified rhetoric to appeal to the uninitiated. Not to worry as the theories and supporting arguments in both books can still satisfy the curiosity of the inexperienced, and his celebrity status in the world of physics keeps the experienced audience engaged.
There is one update to this book not mentioned, and that is, Hawking eventually admits that he was wrong about his theory of loss of information in black holes. This idea of his had put him at odds with many theoretical physicists. Instead, he puts forth the unproven theory that information in a black hole is transferred to a parallel universe. Unfortunately, time may not permit Hawking to complete his work on the proof or supporting evidence of this important theory. His terminal illness appears to be finally catching up to him. I wish him well and thank him for his important contributions to the science of understanding the universe.
Despite its shortcomings, A Brief History of Time succeeds in shedding light on the mysteries of the creation of the universe at the point of singularity, what happened subsequently, and what may or may not transpire in the future. Hawking discusses in length Einstein's general theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and the attempt to combine these into a grand unified theory, a lofty goal that has eluded theoretical physicists to date.
Fascinating.......2007-09-17
Quite accessible for a book on the beginning of the universe. It doesn't explain how it got here, but begins at 1 second post big bang. It has a good explanation of the work of Isaac Newton and why it was important and also the work of Einstein. I understood the physics, at least I did when I was reading it. The explanations were good enough to let me wrap my mind around them. It is interesting that the idea of ether is coming back up for consideration again. Not sure I believe in string theory though. Why not just say everything is made of energy?
Hawking :a master writer.......2007-09-02
Hawking's new book "The Briefest History of Time" should be read by all intelligent Americans. Every book of this quality and with a similar contents may help to stop the tide of idiocy proposed by supporters of creationism in America.Only by spreading real science we will escape becoming the richest but also the most primitive intellectually nation in the world. We need a heavy counterweight to the evangelic snake oil peddlers who can gather tousands sing along automata and preach bible which offenses every educated and intelligent mind. Hawking's book can help to be such a counterbalance.
Great Renewed Introduction on our Time.......2007-08-21
This book explains the physical concepts in very understandable fashion. It can be understood by any person. You do not have to be a scientist or physicists to read the book. There are also wonderful examples explaining the scientific phenomenon underlying our universe and black hole or other galaxies.
customer.......2007-06-27
Book arrived in timely fashion, excellent condition, well packaged to protect it during shipment. I'd read it in the library and thought it excellent. I'm a logical person but not a physicist or a mathematician yet the material was understandable, well presented and the illustrations very helpful. The absence of long proofs/equations not only shortened the book but made the descriptions and illustrations easier to follow and not so intimidating. The large print version was especially helpful even though my eye sight is good. I'll read it a number of times and I'm sure my understanding will increase with each reading.
Amazon.com
If Albert Einstein were alive, he would have a copy of The Road to Reality on his bookshelf. So would Isaac Newton. This may be the most complete mathematical explanation of the universe yet published, and Roger Penrose richly deserves the accolades he will receive for it. That said, let us be perfectly clear: this is not an easy book to read. The number of people in the world who can understand everything in it could probably take a taxi together to Penrose's next lecture. Still, math-friendly readers looking for a substantial and possibly even thrillingly difficult intellectual experience should pick up a copy (carefully--it's over a thousand pages long and weighs nearly 4 pounds) and start at the beginning, where Penrose sets out his purpose: to describe "the search for the underlying principles that govern the behavior of our universe." Beginning with the deceptively simple geometry of Pythagoras and the Greeks, Penrose guides readers through the fundamentals--the incontrovertible bricks that hold up the fanciful mathematical structures of later chapters. From such theoretical delights as complex-number calculus, Riemann surfaces, and Clifford bundles, the tour takes us quickly on to the nature of spacetime. The bulk of the book is then devoted to quantum physics, cosmological theories (including Penrose's favored ideas about string theory and universal inflation), and what we know about how the universe is held together. For physicists, mathematicians, and advanced students, The Road to Reality is an essential field guide to the universe. For enthusiastic amateurs, the book is a project to tackle a bit at a time, one with unimaginable intellectual rewards. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Roger Penrose, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, presents the only comprehensive and comprehensible account of the physics of the universe. From the very first attempts by the Greeks to grapple with the complexities of our known world to the latest application of infinity in physics, The Road to Reality carefully explores the movement of the smallest atomic particles and reaches into the vastness of intergalactic space. Here, Penrose examines the mathematical foundations of the physical universe, exposing the underlying beauty of physics and giving us one the most important works in modern science writing.
Customer Reviews:
Really good!.......2007-09-19
If you are mad about science that a book you MUST have. I am an electrical engineer and at least 60% of the book had new contents for me so.... READ IT!
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.......2007-09-04
This is a book over one 1000 pages! My daughter asked me: Is the road to reality indeed so long? We both laught...and after a while I braged about it: With Roger Penrose help, the 1000 pages road to reality may be the shortest! However, I found out later on, that it may indeed be the shortest, but only if you have your own five stars shining above you...
Great to read, recommended to re-read.......2007-08-26
This is an excellent book, if you take the time to understand the material. In my opinion it is well worth the time reading every page.
Sir Roger is as Confused as the Rest of Us.......2007-08-15
Roger Penrose feels comfortable in his Platonic mathematical world and he recognizes how useful complex analysis is to quantum theory. But, like everyone else, he is at a loss to explain things just when they become interesting.
He cannot explain to his own satisfaction how that the universe came to be so specially ordered at the moment of the big bang. He cannot explain in a mathematically elegant way how or why that the wave function collapses upon an observation being made, with a new wave function being thus created. He seems mystified by complex numbers in a way that is reminds one of Pythagoras. He speaks in a gushy way about how "magical" they are. Nevertheless, he cannot even be sure that perfect circles or pi or straight lines exist in reality. He is Platonic, despite modern philosophy's rejection of Plato's theory of forms. He gingerly avoids any metaphysics and/or religion. And, he feels that one can learn about our universe by studying pristine mathematical models, despite the fact that R. Feynman and others have said that the only road to truth (the real road to reality) is through experimentation. Feynman wisely stated that he could calculate things very precisely, but he could not explain things in common sense, everyday terms. Are we really going to do better than him?
Perhaps things are as one physicist said " ..not only strange, but stranger than we can contemplate". We are physically not equipped to explain things.
A book with a message.......2007-07-11
Other reviews focus on whether the book is easy to understand or not, or wheter it is too big or not. And it would seem that
the only purpose of the book is to put all togheter the physical laws mankind knows.
But this is a book with a message. A message that takes very long to transmit and Penrose chose to start from the very begining.
A significant part of the physics as it is known today is exposed in a long (900 pages) preamble, but Penrose wants to tell
us that he believes that the road to the Theory of Everything that is standard in today's physics leads nowhere.
If you have read "The Emperor's new mind" you know that Penrose's ideas are not mainstream in today's physics. But if you are
interested in cutting edge physics you'll also know that there is a growing number of physicists that believe that the field is on crisis. Let me sumarize Penrose views:
- The standard interpretations of quantum mechanics are wrong. Even the decoherence approach.
- Infactionary cosmology cannot be right.
- Superstring theory is just a beautiful mathematical construction with no connection to the physical world. His point of view is similar to Smolin's ("The trouble with physics").
I'm not at all an expert on the field, although I studied quantum mechanics in the University, and I'd say that at least Penrose has a very strong point. He is not able to provide but hints of alternative theories but this does not lower the merit of the book.
He also explains standard areas of mathematics and physics such as complex number calculus, Maxwell fields or group theory in a non-conventional but brilliant way. For example, it includes a beautiful demonstration of Pythagoream theorem. The chapter about the standard model of particle physics is particularly helpful; nowhere else can be found a concise and understable explanation of it.
And yes, the book is difficult, but if you don't understand the mathematics, just keep reading.
Amazon.com
Are Christianity and science incompatible? If there is a God, is he only an impersonal starter force? An introductory high school biology class first propelled Lee Strobel toward a life of atheism. God and science, he reasoned, were mutually exclusive. When the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune converted to Christianity, he decided to investigate the science he had once accepted as truth. Did science point toward or away from God? As Strobel interviews a variety of scientists on everything from debunking evolutionary icons to the implications of the Big Bang to the existence of the human soul, he builds his case: scientific evidence points toward Intelligent Design.
Although the discussion often veers into the academic, Strobel works hard to make it accessible to those without scientific training. Throughout the book, he salts interview transcript information with interesting personal stories of his own spiritual and scientific quest for knowledge, as well as sometimes over-detailed descriptions of the actual interviews (right down to the type of beverages consumed). Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading on particular issues of science and faith.
Strobel concludes that, when correctly interpreted, science and biblical teaching support each other. He quotes physicist Paul Davies, "…science offers a surer path to God than religion." Open-minded readers will find that this book, and its questions for reflection and group study, invites conversation and investigation.--Cindy Crosby
Book Description
Lee Strobel investigates the latest scientific discoveries to see whether they form a solid basis for believing in God.
Customer Reviews:
Solid Introduction to Scientific Evidences For God.......2007-09-23
This is a solid introduction to the scientific evidences for the existence of God.
It contains numerous arguments from various disciplines inluding physics, astronomy, cosmology, and biochemistry. The author does a masterful job of poking holes in evolutionary theory and naturalistic explanations of the origins of the universe, life, etc. This is summed up by former Texas A&M University professor Walter Bradley, who said: 'I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there's an Intelligent Designer.' The truth of this becomes abundantly clear throughout the text of this book.
Although this is basically a general introduction to the topic, Lee Strobel has made a strong case for those who are open minded enough to consider it. It is certainly a reinforcer for those who already believe that God exists and is the Creator. It is a good starting point for open minded skeptics. For those who are steeped in the religiosity of Darwinism and naturalistic beginnings, it may help open their eyes a bit. I recommend it.
Pared down version.......2007-09-21
Stroebel makes some really good points in this book and changed some of my thinking about evolution, and it was a quick read, so I wasn't dissatisfied with it until I saw the non-student version at a book store. Maybe I should have done some more research on the differences between editions, but I really think anyone high school age or above could handle the 300-some pages of the "adult" version, which must contain a lot more information. So I'd recommend this particular version only to younger students or to someone who really just wants a small taste of the evidence.
Good Introductory Material.......2007-09-19
Lee Strobel has made another accessible and fascinating introductory apologetics book. By interviewing leading Christian scholars, including William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, and Michael Behe, Strobel lays a solid foundation for belief in a Creator of the universe.
Due to the nature of the material, this book is more technical than "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith." Nevertheless, Strobel makes the book enjoyable and easy to read with his excellent writing style.
This book covers a large scope of issues, mostly dealing with scientific evidence for the existence of God. Craig gives a great defense of the Cosmological Argument while Robin Collins provides an excellent defense of the Teleological Argument (also known as the Design Argument)- including a brilliant refutation of the so-called "multi-verse" theory. Stephen Meyer demonstrates that the origin of life is strong evidence for a Creator, and J.P. Moreland shows that philosophical reasoning and scientific studies support the idea of a soul, which is inconsistent with the materialist philosophy espoused by almost all atheists.
As with all the other books in the "Case" series, Strobel offers some excellent recommended further reading at the end of each chapter for those who wish to pursue the issues further.
The only problem I had with the book was that I felt it focused too much on the issue of evolution. In many cases it seemed that Strobel was equating "Darwinism" and atheism- concepts which are certainly not interchangeable. By implying that evolution entails atheism, Strobel puts an unnecessary stumbling block in front of any person who believes that there is strong evidence for evolutionary theory, yet who could still be convinced on the basis of other evidence that God exists. I think it is unwise to spread the notion that Christianity and evolution are directly incompatible.
Despite this flaw, The Case for a Creator is an excellent resource and a recommended read for everyone.
An eye opening book.......2007-08-31
I would recommend this book for everyone. It deals with the creationism vs. evolution/science debate in a new and fascinating way. He uses science to discredit many of its own theories. Lee Strobel never falls into the trap many creationists do - start with the Bible, and build a scientific theory around it. Instead he uses science, discredits many of the assumptions used today, and shows how science actually supports Biblical principles. I am still excited about this book even though I finished reading it over a month ago.
Repels Reason.......2007-08-29
I have read a number of the prior reviews and agree with many of them so I will not restate their good points. I would only like to say that (having also sat in sermons by Lee Strobel) I found the author's smug approach (he does not realize that the standards of science are vastly more rigorous than either journalism or law) to the subject insufferably frustrating. Instead of approaching the subject humbly and seeking out a balanced set of arguments, he instead relies exclusively (with one exception who's biological irreducibility claims has been discredited in other books such as, Finding Darwin's God, a book written by an actual biologist) on either his close friends or representatives of the Discovery Institute-a known PAC (I encourage you to look up the Discovery Institute on Wikipedia).
I have been a high tech engineer for more than 15 years and I would not recommend this book if you are someone who is sincerely seeking God in truth. I would instead recommend that you first read Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller. Lee Strobel's book only convinced me that most of the people who believe in intelligent design are either ignorant fools or are seeking power for themselves over others.
Product Description
Is Earth merely an insignificant speck in a vast and meaningless universe? On the contrary: The Privileged Planet shows that this cherished assumption of materialism is dead wrong. In this provocative book, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards present a staggering array of evidence that exposes the hollowness of this modern dogma. They demonstrate that our planet is exquisitely fit not only to support life, but also to give us the best view of the universe, as if Earth were designed both for life and for scientific discovery. Readers are taken on a scientific odyssey from a history of tectonic plates, to the wonders of water and solar eclipses, to our location in the Milky Way, to the laws that govern the universe, and to the beginning of cosmic time. The Privileged Planet contains astounding findings that should lead any individual to reevaluate and even to reconsider our very purpose on what so many have dismissed as nothing more than an accident of cosmic evolution.
Customer Reviews:
A Better Reference Than A Reader.......2007-08-14
I really appreciated the work & thought that went into this book. I was already a proponent of intelligent design & actually got boored by the extensive examples of cosmological features that suggest design. Someone new to the subject & open-minded might find it far more interesting. The issue itself has eternal consequences & is therefore inherently interesting.
I was impressed that these fellows are capable philosophers of science & did well in their presentation of their argument as well as responding to criticisms. My main challenge for the intelligent design camp is to focus it's excellent critical examination skills upon the assumptions that undergird mainstream dating methods for the earth & cosmos. This is a weak link for them, which has been pricked by authos such as Kenneth R. Miller in Finding Darwin's God.
Have they read the book?.......2007-08-12
I do find it interesting to note, from the one star reviews, just how many of these "reviewers" take on the concepts of the book rather than engaging in personal insults and name calling. Seems like this book, and others, strikes a nerve that the secular humanist has a hard time dealing with?
Overall, this is a fabulous book. Written at an appropriate level of technical detail for general readers but chock full of the references to the hard science underlying the ideas. Like the distance from the earth to the moon, the diameter of the earth and the diameter of the moon. This interesting "coincidence" that these few facts present allow us to enjoy a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in large part, allows us to understand what the sun is all about. We can then generalize to other stars in the universe. My what an interesting group of coincidences. These facts sounds like "Christian Science" to me?
Just as Michael Behe and Michael Denton and scores of others are rightfully bringing up questions about "just so" stories in biology relative to how we got here Guillermo Gonzalez and Mr Richards are bringing up many questions relative to just exactly where our earth happens to find itself in the universe.
God in a cheap suit.......2007-08-01
This is not a book about science, this is a book about a myth, written by people who do not understand science.
Worthwhile to look through to see what an "intelligent design" believer will claim.
Sure this book sucks, buuut..........2007-07-30
Sure this book sucks, but it's great for scientists and philosophers to use as a teaching guide for what is not science. There are so many fallacies, straw men and just plain false "facts" that it makes someone who is a scientist sick to his stomach. This kind of propagandistic filth is what holds back science and our youths from advancing. Thanks Gonzalez!
First-rate scholarship.......2007-05-15
On many occasions, I have loaned the DVD summary version of the book, "The Privileged Planet" to my college students to challenge their thinking in the field of Intelligent Design. The results have almost always been favorable. What is especially engaging about both the book and the DVD, is the "non-preaching" format: the research is purely scientific and presented in a manner that a wide range of readership should both understand and appreciate. My only "critical" comment would be this: the authors systematically build a scientific foundation of contingency. Since Jay Richards has a strong background in philosophy, I would have enjoyed an approach to the subject based upon Aristotle and his development of the argument of contingency. But this is a moot point. If you have high school students, read the book together with them and discuss.
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