The Bible beats Darwin as a guide to biological origins, according to this creationist manifesto.
Ebifegha, a schoolteacher with a doctorate in physics and author of The Death of Evolution: God’s Creation Patent and Seal (2007), presents a readable but disorganized and repetitive rehash of familiar anti-evolution arguments, one that harps on gaps in the neo-Darwinian account of natural history. Evolutionary theorists, he notes, have no good explanation of how living cells first arose from inanimate matter and posit a “bacteria-to-human” evolutionary trajectory that can’t be verified through reproducible experiments. The idea of random mutations adding ordered complexity to organisms, he contends, defies both information theory and the second law of thermodynamics. Then there’s the paucity of intermediate forms in the fossil record; most species appear suddenly and persist largely unchanged, a pattern that clashes with the Darwinian paradigm of gradual small adaptations that add up to large disparities. While random mutation and natural selection may explain minor variations within species, the author argues, only a divine intelligence could design and generate the startling disparities in structure and complexity that we see in living organisms. Ebifegha cites an eclectic group of critics of Darwinism while fencing with its defenders—especially the “petulant and childish” Richard Dawkins—but his treatment sheds more heat than light. His biased critique seizes on unsolved riddles of “evolutionism”—and sidesteps its many successes—in order to paint it as an unscientific delusion that amounts to an atheistic secular religion. Against it, Ebifegha elaborates an unconvincing version of creationism based on a literal reading of Bible verses, which he regards as iron-clad historical evidences, in which God affirms his creation of the world in six days. While scoring points against the inadequacies of evolutionary doctrine, Ebifegha’s attempt to discredit the theory lapses into a far more unscientific dogmatism. A one-sided attack on Darwinism that cloaks religious beliefs in the rhetoric of science.
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463403843
Page Count: 328
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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