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Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: July 08 2008,15:56   

Quote (Albatrossity2 @ July 08 2008,11:12)
I'm about one-third of the way through Robert Richards' biography of Ernst Haeckel, "A Tragic Sense of Life". I looked in the Acknowledgments to see if the author thanked Paul Nelson for his contributions, but didn't find it there.

Interesting that Richard Weikart, 2004 "From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany" (New York: Palgrave/MacMillian) uses Haeckel as the secret conduit that injected “Darwinism” into Germany thus causing the Nazis and the Holocaust. I guess Weikart never heard of Martin Luther, or Arthur Comte de Gobineau's The inequality of Human Races (1853-1855).  I suspected that I would need to read Richards’s book whether it was good or not. I am glad to learn you have enjoyed it.

I finished “The Genesis Debate” (David Hagopian editor, 2001 Crux Press) this morning. In the introduction written by Norman Geisler, I learned that the important thing to remember was that the real enemy of the Christian Church is evolutionism, and “Our foe is Liberalism” and that evangelicals must “turn their cannons on naturalists.”  The best part of the book was getting to read YECs be as dishonest and arrogant toward their fellow conservative fundys as they are toward scientists.

I have stalled ~ ½ way through on “Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution.” I bought it following Dembski’s glowing recommendation.

Two books arrived this afternoon “Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization” by A. Leo Opperheim (2nd edition 1977, University of Chicago Press), and “The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity 1919-1945” by Richard Steigmann-Gall (2003 Cambridge Uni Press).  I think I’ll read Steigmann-Gall before Saul Friedlander,  2007 Nazi Germany and the Jews, The Years of Extermination, 1939-1945 (New York:HarperCollins).  I don’t know how Friedlander writes so fast, it is only ten years since Nazi Germany and the Jews, The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939.

Niel Shubin’s book, “Your Inner Fish” was great fun, and a fairly quick read. I was less happy with Gordy Slack’s Dover book.  I liked Ken Miller’s new “Only a Theory,” but like others I was not convinced by his Christian apologetics. (The fishing was off last week and I only went on Friday.)

I stalled at page 22 of “Explore Evolution.” I have underlined errors on every page of text starting with the preface. I will finish it before Nelson publishes his “ontogenic depth” paper, and before (probably) I finish writing “Dembski: Hammered and Screwed.” (The latter is too long, 20+ pages not counting bibliography.)

--------------
"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."

L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"

   
Albatrossity2



Posts: 2780
Joined: Mar. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: July 13 2008,11:15   

Rather than reproduce it here, I'll just link to my Amazon.com review of Robert J. Richards A Tragic View of Life.

Short review if you don't want to read the longer version - an excellent and thorough biography, as well as a window into both a tortured soul and a different scientific era. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of evolutionary science and philosophy.

--------------
Flesh of the sky, child of the sky, the mind
Has been obligated from the beginning
To create an ordered universe
As the only possible proof of its own inheritance.
                        - Pattiann Rogers

   
drew91



Posts: 32
Joined: Jan. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: July 16 2008,12:49   

I just finished The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals which I found quite good.  

A friend suggested Real Food: What To Eat and Why as a good follow up.  The author is a self described "recovering vegan", so I'm interested to hear her thoughts on diet.

The other book I'm slowly churning through is Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers.  Quite interesting.  Especially so considering I receive at least an email a week about the collapse of our "Christian Nation" from some of my more right leaning friends. :)

  
Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: July 16 2008,17:26   

"The Tragic Sense of Life" was delivered today along with "The Flood."  The latter, originally published the same year as I was, in 1951), was written by Alfred Rehwinkel, a Lutheran.  He gives a profuse acknowledgement to Seventh Day Adventist "Dr." George McCready Price, whom he called "a noted geologist." Price completed a single year course in "education" which was the sum total of his "scientific" training.  So I look forward to mainline creatotard.

I will be particularly interested in comparing this with the classic, "The Genesis Flood."

--------------
"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."

L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"

   
carlsonjok



Posts: 3326
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: July 16 2008,18:22   

I am trying to read Akhil Reed Amar's "America's Constition: A Biography" but am not making much headway.  But, I got a delivery today, as well. Shubin's "Your Inner Fish" along with a Milton's "Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained."  My guess is Amar is going back on the shelf for a time, while I read those books in the aforementioned order.

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It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it.  We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

  
drew91



Posts: 32
Joined: Jan. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: July 16 2008,18:58   

Shubin's book won't take you very long.  It's excellent, but very short. (~200 pages)

  
Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: July 16 2008,19:04   

Quote (drew91 @ July 16 2008,16:58)
Shubin's book won't take you very long.  It's excellent, but very short. (~200 pages)

Yeah, I really enjoyed it too.

--------------
"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."

L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"

   
Wesley R. Elsberry



Posts: 4991
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: July 18 2008,08:54   

"Darwin Researcher" didn't like Lauri Lebo's "The Devil in Dover". I wasn't much taken with his Amazon review.

--------------
"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker

    
Wesley R. Elsberry



Posts: 4991
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: July 18 2008,15:58   

Thanks to the dozen or so of you who have gone to Amazon and added your votes on the "helpful" nature of the review posted by "Darwin Researcher".

--------------
"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker

    
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: July 18 2008,16:46   

I've read many of the highlights of the bible but frankly I'm not going to read all 35,000 pages. I do want a good working knowledge of the stories, because western lit is rife with references to them. So a theology grad student friend I bumped into at the coffeeshop yesterday recommended this:

The Manga Bible

   
Erasmus, FCD



Posts: 6349
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: July 21 2008,11:42   

what about this'un?

Critique of Intelligent Design: Materialism versus Creationism from Antiquity to the Present (Hardcover)
by John Bellamy Foster (Author), Brett Clark (Author), Richard York (Author)

I greatly enjoyed John Bellamy Foster's extension of dialectical materialism and historical marxism to biology and ecology.  Can't remember the title but it was a very interesting read.

Anyone know anything about this book?

--------------
You're obviously illiterate as hell. Peach, bro.-FtK

Finding something hard to believe based on the evidence, is science.-JoeG

the odds of getting some loathsome taint are low-- Gordon E Mullings Manjack Heights Montserrat

I work on molecular systems with pathway charts and such.-Giggles

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 28 2008,10:58   

I'm finishing Sean Carroll's Making of the Fittest, and starting The Good Soldier Svejk, by Jaroslav Hasek (tr. by Cecil Parrott), and The Wild Trees, by Richad Preston.

--------------
I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
dnmlthr



Posts: 565
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 28 2008,12:56   

Just finished Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. There are a few irritating stylistic choices (the overly dramatic plant for one) but overall it's an interesting take on the early 20th century race for cross atlantic wireless communication, among other things.

Good for a few lazy summer afternoons.

--------------
Guess what? I don't give a flying f*ck how "science works" - Ftk

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: July 28 2008,18:49   

We neither take exception to your review of Thunderstruck, or to your enjoyment of your lazy summer afternoons...

We do, however, object to your limitation of the latter to a "few."

--Society for More Lazy Summer Afternoons

  
dnmlthr



Posts: 565
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 29 2008,13:57   

Quote (Steviepinhead @ July 29 2008,00:49)
We neither take exception to your review of Thunderstruck, or to your enjoyment of your lazy summer afternoons...

We do, however, object to your limitation of the latter to a "few."

--Society for More Lazy Summer Afternoons

Then you'll need a couple of books more. You see, Thunderstruck isn't that thick. By which I mean it doesn't contain an awful lot of pages.

--------------
Guess what? I don't give a flying f*ck how "science works" - Ftk

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: July 29 2008,20:37   

Odd.  Steviepinhead is quuite thick, but contains no pages at all.

He's more of a sci-fi/fantasy fan, though, and has mo' than enough of that genre laid by to loll away many mo' lazy summer afternoons.

In between bouts with The Evolution of the Insects.

  
Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: July 29 2008,23:30   

"Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich" by Doris L. Bergen (1996, University of N. Carolina Press) arrived today. I am getting tired of reading about Nazi Christians, and this should be more than enough to finish my review/refutation of Weikart. My German is slowly coming back, so all was not wasted.

--------------
"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."

L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"

   
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: July 30 2008,08:59   

I'd gotten busy with college stuff and had to set aside Here, Eyeball This by Heddle, but am restarting, and also reading-for-review The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability by Mirriam Kaufman, Cory Silverberg, and Fran Odette.  (Review for and review copy provided by Elizabeth Wood of Sex in the Public Square.)

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 31 2008,13:27   

Quote (Lou FCD @ July 30 2008,09:59)
I'd gotten busy with college stuff and had to set aside Here, Eyeball This by Heddle, but am restarting, and also reading-for-review The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability by Mirriam Kaufman, Cory Silverberg, and Fran Odette.  (Review for and review copy provided by Elizabeth Wood of Sex in the Public Square.)

Is being imaginary a disability?

--------------
I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
dheddle



Posts: 545
Joined: Sep. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: July 31 2008,13:39   

Quote (Lou FCD @ July 30 2008,08:59)
I'd gotten busy with college stuff and had to set aside Here, Eyeball This by Heddle, but am restarting, and also reading-for-review The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability by Mirriam Kaufman, Cory Silverberg, and Fran Odette.  (Review for and review copy provided by Elizabeth Wood of Sex in the Public Square.)

In case there is any doubt, Here, Eyeball This! is not intended as a companion volume to Sex in the Public Square.

Although if it helps sales... (I just got a royalty check for about 35 dollars, Canadian. The villa in Normandy is on hold.)

--------------
Mysticism is a rational enterprise. Religion is not. The mystic has recognized something about the nature of consciousness prior to thought, and this recognition is susceptible to rational discussion. The mystic has reason for what he believes, and these reasons are empirical. --Sam Harris

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: July 31 2008,15:36   

Just spent 30 mins in a used book store without finding anything interesting. I went there looking for this

http://www.clivebarker.com/html/visions/bib/book/books/galilee.htm

but would have settled for some Wodehouse. Didn't find either.

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,15:00   

It's boring out here in BFE Florida. Went to pet the cows in the nearby field. Turns out moo cows don't like strangers. Oh well. We'll see what kind of fungi are nearby ;-)

Seriously, though, I'm bored. Going to the library today and loading up on stuff:

Tristram Shandy
Right Ho, Jeeves
The Confusion (maybe)
MacBeth or The Tempest (I can't decide)
Some books about the local foliage
God is Not Great
and about a million back issues of Harpers, the Atlantic, GQ, Vanity Fair, etc.

   
Arden Chatfield



Posts: 6657
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,15:51   

Quote (stevestory @ Aug. 18 2008,13:00)
It's boring out here in BFE Florida. Went to pet the cows in the nearby field. Turns out moo cows don't like strangers. Oh well. We'll see what kind of fungi are nearby ;-)

Seriously, though, I'm bored.

Here's some sound advice, Steve.

And here is some advice more specifically for Louis.

--------------
"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

  
Louis



Posts: 6436
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,17:01   

Quote (Arden Chatfield @ Aug. 18 2008,21:51)
Quote (stevestory @ Aug. 18 2008,13:00)
It's boring out here in BFE Florida. Went to pet the cows in the nearby field. Turns out moo cows don't like strangers. Oh well. We'll see what kind of fungi are nearby ;-)

Seriously, though, I'm bored.

Here's some sound advice, Steve.

And here is some advice more specifically for Louis.

Since that is my favourite movie of all time, I'm taking it as a compliment. Although I'm more Bluto than Flounder.....

Louis

--------------
Bye.

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,17:34   

Accidentally moved Louis to the BW. Here was his comment:
Quote

Quote (stevestory @ Aug. 18 2008,21:00)
It's boring out here in BFE Florida. Went to pet the cows in the nearby field. Turns out moo cows don't like strangers. Oh well. We'll see what kind of fungi are nearby ;-)

[SNIP]

[Bill Hicks] Mushrooms grow on cow turds! Heaven is in a cow's butt! [/Bill Hicks]

I suggest buying a playstation 3 and GTA4. You'll get no work done and put on 50lbs, but you won't be bored.

Louis

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,17:35   

Quote
I suggest buying a playstation 3 and GTA4. You'll get no work done and put on 50lbs, but you won't be bored.

Louis


My gf would not be Teh H4PP1 with that. She's kind of waiting on me to lose the other 20.

   
Louis



Posts: 6436
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,17:40   

Quote (stevestory @ Aug. 18 2008,23:34)
Accidentally moved Louis to the BW. Here was his comment:
Quote

Quote (stevestory @ Aug. 18 2008,21:00)
It's boring out here in BFE Florida. Went to pet the cows in the nearby field. Turns out moo cows don't like strangers. Oh well. We'll see what kind of fungi are nearby ;-)

[SNIP]

[Bill Hicks] Mushrooms grow on cow turds! Heaven is in a cow's butt! [/Bill Hicks]

I suggest buying a playstation 3 and GTA4. You'll get no work done and put on 50lbs, but you won't be bored.

Louis

"Accidentally"?

Tis a CONSPIRACEH! Persecution!!!1one111one!!!! Help, help I'm being repressed! Come and see the violence inherent in the system.

But enough of that....

Surely if you AND the Mrs are present then there are things you can do TOGETHER* to alleviate boredom?

Louis

*That would be mushrooms and cow tipping.

--------------
Bye.

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,18:02   

I'm only seeing the missus on weekends at the moment.  :(

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 18 2008,18:04   

Quote (Louis @ Aug. 18 2008,18:40)
*That would be mushrooms and cow tipping.

Actually haven't done shrooms since i lived here 12 years ago. Don't even remember what to look for. I'm just more of a booze and cigarettes guy.

   
skeptic



Posts: 1163
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 19 2008,16:35   

Do we have a review of "Decoding the Universe" by Seife?  Just picked it up today and I was curious what I was jumping into.

  
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