A faith-based examination that tries to square Genesis with astrophysics, with mixed results.
An eager inquiry into how time works, invoking Christian theology to braid together diverse strands of theoretical science, including cosmology, evolutionary biology and quantum mechanics.
Predicated on the reasoning that God’s influence is unavoidable, the author’s theory on the origin of time winds back to when God created the universe and, with it, “universal time.” (Humans, on the other hand, define “relative time” with clocks, calendars, histories and timelines.) Driver describes the three states of time (past, present and future) and connects faith to the nature of time, observing that humans rely on the supposition that the future will happen in a certain way. “The expected future is based upon collective information on the aging process of many who have gone before us,” he says. “These are life expectations due to time.” Driver delves into astrophysics and illustrates some working theories with memorable metaphors. To describe how cosmologists have observed the expansion of the universe, he explains that the universe is like a curtain, its unfolding accelerating so that it expands faster than the speed of light; the hand pulling the curtain, according to Driver, is God. Even further, Driver argues that the Big Bang theory, the operating assumption most astrophysicists use for the creation of the universe, relies on a supernatural force that defies the laws of physics, which, in Driver’s mind, makes it as equally plausible an explanation as a divine creator forming the universe. Driver uses this explanation to set up a theory that God uses science to reveal his ways to humans, one discovery at a time. One of his pivotal points describes God as an intelligent creator, setting forth the material for the creation of the universe and the laws that correspond to how it will behave and then letting the universe develop on its own. He points to evidence supporting evolution as the workings of a divine creator rather than a theory drawn from natural observations: “Darwin, in his limited theology, did not understand that nature is another name for God.” To prove God’s presence in creation, Driver delineates biblical evidence for later scientific discoveries. Yet the argument’s reasoning gets murky when taken to its logical extremes. For Driver, at the beginning and end of time, there exist two realms—spiritual and temporal—and God’s omnipotent governing of the universe is greater than time itself. But the conversational tone treats scientific theory with broad sweeps of generalization, as with his explanation for quantum physics: “Subatomic particles that make up the atom are broken down to lower elementary particles….According to the Scripture, the universe is all made of that which is not seen, elementary particles.” Often switching to the collective “we,” Driver attempts to speak for humanity in reasoning that only Christianity provides a comprehensive explanation for the universe’s existence—a notion with which some readers might disagree.
A faith-based examination that tries to square Genesis with astrophysics, with mixed results.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-1622952571
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Tate Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A wonderful page-turner written with humility, immediacy, and great style. Nothing came cheap and easy to McCandless, nor...
The excruciating story of a young man on a quest for knowledge and experience, a search that eventually cooked his goose, told with the flair of a seasoned investigative reporter by Outside magazine contributing editor Krakauer (Eiger Dreams, 1990).
Chris McCandless loved the road, the unadorned life, the Tolstoyan call to asceticism. After graduating college, he took off on another of his long destinationless journeys, this time cutting all contact with his family and changing his name to Alex Supertramp. He was a gent of strong opinions, and he shared them with those he met: "You must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life''; "be nomadic.'' Ultimately, in 1992, his terms got him into mortal trouble when he ran up against something—the Alaskan wild—that didn't give a hoot about Supertramp's worldview; his decomposed corpse was found 16 weeks after he entered the bush. Many people felt McCandless was just a hubris-laden jerk with a death wish (he had discarded his map before going into the wild and brought no food but a bag of rice). Krakauer thought not. Admitting an interest that bordered on obsession, he dug deep into McCandless's life. He found a willful, reckless, moody boyhood; an ugly little secret that sundered the relationship between father and son; a moral absolutism that agitated the young man's soul and drove him to extremes; but he was no more a nutcase than other pilgrims. Writing in supple, electric prose, Krakauer tries to make sense of McCandless (while scrupulously avoiding off-the-rack psychoanalysis): his risky behavior and the rites associated with it, his asceticism, his love of wide open spaces, the flights of his soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-42850-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995
SEEN & HEARD
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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