Watch for this to be mooted and bruited in school board meetings to come. And score points for Dawkins, who does a fine job...
A resounding denunciation of the enemies of science—namely, magical and supernatural thinking.
Dawkins has long been a noted evolutionary biologist—and atheist—who has made his cases in a succession of influential books: The Selfish Gene, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The God Delusion, etc. His argument here takes unaccustomed form: namely, a book seemingly addressed to readers of middle- and high-school age, and illustrated with skillfully rendered cartoons by noted comic artist McKean (Coraline, Wizard and Glass, etc.). Dawkins can sound a little forced when removing his Oxbridge gown to speak to these novices, as when he writes of the supercontinent of 150 million years ago, “They were all one big land mass called Gondwana (well, it wasn’t called Gondwana then—the dinosaurs who lived there didn’t call anything anything, but we call it Gondwana today).” Tetchy or not, Dawkins gamely jumps into his main subject, which is to consider the universe in all its glory, magical without creator or deity in the sky. He approaches this directly and indirectly: Here he considers why bad things happen to good people (call it randomness—and, Dawkins stresses, the real question is, “Why does anything happen?”), there the belief of some people in past lives, alien abductions and original sin. Dawkins will certainly win no friends among the set of folks inclined to get their science from the Creation Museum, for whom he would seem to have little patience in turn.
Watch for this to be mooted and bruited in school board meetings to come. And score points for Dawkins, who does a fine job of explaining earthquakes and rainbows in the midst of baiting the pious.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4391-9281-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
A fertile physics funhouse for the highly curious and motivated lay reader.
Bender examines string theory and stirs up some interesting notions.
The author, a well-versed amateur theoretical physicist, is an enthusiastic guide to the complex world of string theory, a world full of caveats–conflicting and alternative theories abound, and defining equations have yet to be written because experimentation is beyond human capacity. But that doesn’t mean the journey isn’t intriguing, and Bender embarks with all the eagerness–if not the ringing clarity–of Brian Greene. Initially drawn to string theory because of seeming incompatibilities between quantum mechanics and relativity, the author examines the realm of gravitationally isolated regions of spacetime, and how to overcome violations in our laws of inertia and mass so as to move through spacetime at unimaginable speeds without the time penalties of increased velocity (as time stays constant). He also explores the theoretical possibilities of a gravity-wave generator to power a vehicle within the isolated region. Such a ship would prove useful if the second of Bender’s proposals should bear out: the membrane theory of gravity. This theory suggests that gravity is created by vibrating strings stretching the membrane–the sheets formed by the interaction of the strings–to which they are attached. A collision of these membranes may have given rise to our universe, and it’s possible that there is another side to the membrane into which we could travel–a concept similar to that of traveling through a wormhole. The author also offers a hypothesis for the end of the universe. Despite his love for string theory–and the infinite possibilities inherent in the subject–some of Bender’s theories could be fleshed out a bit more, and augmented with a meatier bibliography (two entries are culled from Wikipedia).
A fertile physics funhouse for the highly curious and motivated lay reader.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2006
ISBN: 0-595-40822-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A leading critic of artificial intelligence research returns to the attack, attempting to lay the groundwork for an analysis of the true nature of intelligence. Building on his arguments in The Emperor's New Mind (not reviewed), Penrose (Mathematics/Oxford) begins by refuting the assertion that true intelligence can be attained—or even adequately simulated—by the strictly computational means to which current computers are ultimately limited. Much of his argument depends closely on the application of Gîdel's Undecidability Theorem to Turing machines—deep waters for laypeople, although the fundamentals of his argument are accessible to readers without sophisticated mathematical training. Having disposed of the central tenets of current AI research, Penrose then turns to an even more fundamental question: the actual foundations in modern physics (i.e., relativity and quantum theory) of the phenomenon of consciousness. Here much of his summary depends on fairly complex mathematical reasoning, although the key points are summarized for the general reader who has been willing to follow him so far. Penrose feels that a new physical synthesis, reconciling the paradoxes of quantum theory and bringing them into harmony with Einstein's gravitational theories, is ultimately necessary to explain the noncomputational elements of consciousness and intelligence. He speculates on the possible role of cellular structures called microtubules in creating a quantum phenomenon on a macroscopic scale within the brain, but grants that more research is needed to establish any connection between physical and mental phenomena. His conclusion steps back to a philosophical overview of the subject, paying homage to Plato, among others. A challenging examination of a central problem of modern philosophy, with no final answers but plenty of food for thought. (76 line drawings) (First printing of 50,000; $50,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-19-853978-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
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