The God Hypothesis: Discovering Design in Our Just Right Goldilocks Universe

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: If you like Denton, you'll love Michael Corey. This is the most fascinating, and compelling book I have come across on the topic of design. My local library had a hard time getting it back from me. Corey is level headed, unbiased, and lets the evidence speak for itself. I can't praise this work enough. Treat you mind to this wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, accessible
Review: The subject of Corey's book is a controversial one: the anthropic principle, or whether the beautiful complexity of our universe is evidence of its creator. While not everyone will come away convinced that this "just right" world indicates the presence of God, Corey musters some fascinating ideas from contemporary science that may just open even the tightest-closed mind.

Rating:
Summary: Not very original
Review: There are many books on the market advocating intelligent design, and it seems that Mr. Corey has read most of them. He quotes liberally from them, as well as many recent popular science books. However, there is little original thought in his book. He does not present any new ideas, but merely rewords already established ones to create his story about the "Goldilocks Universe".

One could argue then that his book is a review of one particular view on intelligent design. However, since his arguments are mainly drawn from popular science works, and not so much from serious publications, they fail to impress the discerning reader.

To back up his theory, he names many scientists from the past several hundred years who believed in a "personal creator". While this is fine, it does not serve as a valid argument today. A lot of very smart people used to believe that the earth is flat; this fact does not make those people any less smart, and does not make the earth any flatter.

He argues that because many of the fundamental constants of the universe have to be precisely a certain value for the universe to be stable enough to support life, then it must be intelligently designed. But there could have been countless Big Bangs that we don't know about that did not have these parameters just right, and the fact that we live in one that does, does not demonstrate anything but the fact that we exist. If we did not exist, we would not be here arguing about it. This is a lot like being amazed that one's legs are precisely long enough to reach down to the ground.

Although he continues to present different material throughout the book, the ideas he presents repeat themselves endlessly, and by the middle of the book one becomes bored with the repetition. Also, from the beginning of the book, he makes the assumption that a "personal creator" exists. He does not gradually build a case for his theory and then present the conclusion. This results in a book where one is presented with "astounding" observations that miraculously support the already foregone conclusion, leading to the assertion that God is Great.

Mr. Corey is preaching a sermon to the choir, and anyone who is a member of the choir will likely think the book is marvelous, while someone who is not is likely to be left wanting.