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Rating: Summary: Wow! A real mind-opener. Review: I can't recall ever reading another book quite like this one. Most of the books about science and religion I've seen fall into one of two categories. They either try to make the case that scientists are secretly religious people, or else they try to argue that science leaves no room for faith. Powell takes the discussion in a very different, more subtle direction, one that reminds me of some of Daniel Dennett's ideas. In essence, Powell argues that spirituality is an integral component of the way humans process information about the world--even if the people doing the processing are cosmologists who openly describe themselves as atheists. That perspective puts a whole new spin on Albert Einstein's often-puzzling use of the word "God" as something interchangeable with the laws of physics. It also explains why, in his later years, Einstein was so committed to the idea of a cosmic religion. Alas, Einstein was an idealist and I'm afraid Powell may be too. His dream that science can reform religion of its more destructive impulses looks just like that--a dream. Religion seems to be doing just fine in the Middle East, not to mention in Mel Gibson's bank account. But Powell's analysis of how the scientific process works is both original and eye-opening. I also really enjoyed his sweeping history of cosmology, full of clear explanations and surprising details. The section on the early history of the big bang, in particular, covers territory that I've never head about before. (The father of the big bang was an obscure Russian meteorologist--who knew?) This book does an amazing job explaining what we know about the universe and how we know it. If it also helps advance Einstein's pacifist agenda, so much the better. Truly inspirational.
Rating: Summary: a provocative mix of science and philosophy Review: It's hard to get much bigger than the themes in this book: how did the universe begin, how will it end, and is there any way to find spiritual satisfaction through science? Amazingly, this writer pulls it off. The first part of the book covers historical ideas about the universe, bringing people like Galileo and Newton to life as complex, passionate thinkers. The later chapters get into modern cosmology, covering the big bang and some of the current far-out ideas about "dark energy" and other universes.
Rating: Summary: a provocative mix of science and philosophy Review: That would be the cosmological constant that Einstein referred to as "the biggest mistake of my life"? Not that he in any way intended it to be considered as an intelligent agent, as the author here would seem to wish us to believe. Personally I'd recommend reading something that isn't completely duplicitous instead, but maybe that's just my preference not to be misled, deceived or manipulated when I read a book.
Rating: Summary: Hawking's Too Hard; This is Comprehensible Cosmology Review: The editorial review above notwithstanding, this book essentially mischaracterizes Einstein's own declared statements on the God issue: " . . . I am, and have always been, an atheist." How, therefore, can Einstein be seen as a prophet of a new form of religion? If we confront his own statements honestly, we must realize that he can't in any traditional sense of "prophet," because Einstein was a self-announced non-theist. But there is historical precedent for the non-theist being later defined otherwise: Gauthama, the original Buddha, reached what he called enlightenment as a form of realization that priests had no actual divine authority because there was no "divine authorizor." But his own statements were increasingly ignored as he became deified by his followers, who progressively redefined him. Einstein is simply being redefined, in this book, as something other than he declared himself to be. But since he is no longer around to defend his view, he may indeed be installed by others as some form of prophet of a religious philosophy. I rated this book as a three instead of a one because, though it fundamentally misrepresents a key issue, it is nonetheless well organized, engagingly presented and thought-stimulating.
Rating: Summary: A Distorted View of History Review: With his invention of sci/religion, Powell appears to have abandoned historical reality for a mystical journey of misinterpretation of relativity and the reason Einstein originally thought it necessary to invent the cosmological constant. In my judgement, this book is neither good physics, accurate reporting nor good writing.
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