At Amazon: The Lectures on Natural Theology were not included in the ten-volume Edinburgh Edition of Reid’s collected works. Moreover, while two earlier editions of these lectures exist, both contain serious mistakes of transcription and annotation. For these reasons, this carefully revised edition of this important text fills an important gap in the literature.
Books of interest
A fond remembrance of the 2005 book, “On Bullsh*t”
Gunderman: As discourse moves from television to Twitter, it can be further degraded into mere flamboyance. What matters is no longer speaking the truth but simply attracting and holding attention. Getting it right gives way to getting noticed.
Forrest Mims honored in dedication of new electronics book
Readers may recall that Forrest M. Mims III, despite his gifts in electronics and citizen science, was denied a column in Scientific American because he was not a Darwinist or a supporter of live baby dismemberment.
Michael Flannery’s book on Alfred Russel Wallace has been revised and updated
Wallace, as Darwin’s co-theorist, disappeared because he was not useful to the cause of naturalism. We’ll try to help make sure he doesn’t disappear again.
New ID book: From Darwin to Eden
Blurb: Collier has condensed the critical details of Polanyi and the Intelligent Design movement into a single volume that informs without being overly simplistic, but is also engaging and fun.
Excerpt from new ID book: Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell
Anderson: To my surprise, Dawkins responded rather glibly that we have a pretty good idea how life started. Yes, there are some challenges, he acknowledged, but…
Sean McDowell interviews Steve Meyer on his new book
There is no escape via pure naturalist atheism from the conundrums science sets before us.
Terry Scambray: A review of Mike Flannery’s book, Nature’s Prophet, on Alfred Russel Wallace
(Wallace, Darwin-s co-theorist, was a working-class stiff whom Darwin’s set elbowed out. He was not a materialist (naturalist) and he thought evolution could be consistent with meaning and spirituality. Darwin abhorred such ideas. This review was originally published at New Oxford Review.)
Straw in the wind? Get a load of the insightful review of a string theorist’s Big Book at Nature
In sharp contrast with the classic slobbering review at Time of string theorist Brian Greene’s new book, Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe (Penguin 2020), , which resurrects mid-twentieth century attempts to undermine traditional religions via schlock science religion, the Nature reviewer is not impressed. (Kiddos, that was back when Time Magazine mattered, as did newsprint in general.) By contrast, Philip Ball at nature appears appropriately skeptical.
String theorist’s philosophy of life – Time’s reviewer laps it up
Some reviewers almost make us forget that string theory was supposed to be science, not religion. Get a load of this review of string theorist Brian Greene’s new book, Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe (Penguin 2020)
Reformers of evolutionary biology publish book of essays, exploring views, disagreements
It’s encouraging that the reformers are allowed to disagree on some matters. That makes biology seem more like a discipline and less like a fanatical religion. Which brings us to the “more traditionalist camp in evolutionary biology” (the heirs of Darwin). It would be remarkable indeed if, as reviewer Svensson hopes, they could acknowledge disagreements candidly. Wouldn’t they end up having to try to get each others’ publishers to reject journal articles and cancel book contracts?
At Nature: Worries aired about “truth decay”, Rob Sheldon responds
Sheldon: What is really evident in this essay, is not the “truth decay” of today’s scientists (a separate issue) but the political weaponization of what should be neutral scientific models.
Sale!: Douglas Axe’s book, Undeniable, available on Kindle for $1.99
We checked; it’s Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed (Harper One, 2016). But these sales don’t last.
David Bentley Hart offers an honest assessment of Richard Dawkins’s new book
The book is Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide. Hart thinks Dawkins has finally found his authorial voice but you had better read the rest.
Stock up on Darwin for the holidays! Okay, well…
Contrary to the reviewer’s complaint, the author is quite right to portray Darwin’s human evolution theme this way. The underlying assumption that evolution proved the right people to be superior has created a key difficulty in getting any serious criticism of Darwinism accepted. It made a thesis that seemed highly plausible to many Europeans irresistible. Put another way, the highly evolved human never seemed to look like Evander Holyfield, fitness notwithstanding.