Book reviews and mentions from Thinkers blogs...

The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse
Geoffrey Robertson

"The Case of the Pope" delivers a devastating indictment of the way the Vatican has run a secret legal system that shields paedophile priests from criminal trial around the world. Is the Pope morally or legally responsible for the negligence that has allowed so many terrible crimes to go unpunished? And, should he and his seat of power, the Holy See, continue to enjoy an immunity that places them above the law? Geoffrey Robertson QC, a distinguished human rights lawyer and judge, evinces a de...

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The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse
Geoffrey Robertson

"The Case of the Pope" delivers a devastating indictment of the way the Vatican has run a secret legal system that shields paedophile priests from criminal trial around the world. Is the Pope morally or legally responsible for the negligence that has allowed so many terrible crimes to go unpunished? And, should he and his seat of power, the Holy See, continue to enjoy an immunity that places them above the law? Geoffrey Robertson QC, a distinguished human rights lawyer and judge, evinces a deep respect for the good works of Catholics and their church. But, he argues, unless Pope Benedict XVI can divest himself of the beguilements of statehood and devotion to obsolescent canon law, the Vatican will remain a serious enemy to the advance of human rights.

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To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine
Newt Gingrich

In his blockbuster new book, To Save America, former Speaker of the House and bestselling author Newt Gingrich issues a dire warning for America. By spending more than we can afford, sacrificing conservative values for the sake of easy answers, and electing the most liberal president ever, America is at risk for its very survival. Thanks to President Obama and his cohorts in Congress, we have become a country defined by massive government takeovers, rising debt, and failing national se...

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To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine
Newt Gingrich

In his blockbuster new book, To Save America, former Speaker of the House and bestselling author Newt Gingrich issues a dire warning for America. By spending more than we can afford, sacrificing conservative values for the sake of easy answers, and electing the most liberal president ever, America is at risk for its very survival. Thanks to President Obama and his cohorts in Congress, we have become a country defined by massive government takeovers, rising debt, and failing national security systems. “This is not the nation our Founding Fathers envisioned,” Gingrich says, “America needs saving, and it’s up to us to do it.” In To Save America, Gingrich lays out a bold plan to put the United States back on track. Gingrich shows how Republicans can make a comeback in the 2010 mid-term elections, win the 2012 presidential election, and reveals how readers can help restore our nation to its fundamental values. Gingrich also argues that the big-spending, big-government programs, and bureaucracies of the secular socialist Left are the greatest threat to our nation’s survival since the Civil War. “Our federal government is broken,” Gingrich states, “we must `replace, not reform’ our leaders and our policies, or America will no longer be the `shining city upon a hill.’” Fresh, inspiring, and resolute, To Save America is Gingrich’s most powerful book yet.

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The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (Columbia Classics in Philosophy)
Arthur C. Danto

In this acclaimed work, first published in 1986, world-renowned scholar Arthur C. Danto explored the inextricably linked but often misunderstood relationship between art and philosophy. In light of the book's impact -- especially the essay "The End of Art," which dramatically announced that art ended in the 1960s -- this enhanced edition includes a foreword by Jonathan Gilmore that discusses how scholarship has changed in response to it. Complete with a new bibliography of work on and infl...

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The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (Columbia Classics in Philosophy)
Arthur C. Danto

In this acclaimed work, first published in 1986, world-renowned scholar Arthur C. Danto explored the inextricably linked but often misunderstood relationship between art and philosophy. In light of the book's impact -- especially the essay "The End of Art," which dramatically announced that art ended in the 1960s -- this enhanced edition includes a foreword by Jonathan Gilmore that discusses how scholarship has changed in response to it. Complete with a new bibliography of work on and influenced by Danto's ideas, The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art continues to be of interest to anyone who thinks seriously about art, as well as to philosophers, aestheticians, and art historians.

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The Grand Design
Stephen Hawking

THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT THINKERS—A MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE
 
When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent cr...

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The Grand Design
Stephen Hawking

THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT THINKERS—A MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE
 
When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion—or does science offer another explanation?

The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet—if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the “top-down” approach to cosmology that Hawking and

Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the “multiverse”—the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.

Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a “model-dependent” theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete “theory of everything.” If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason.

A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform—and provoke—like no other.

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What He's Poised to Do: Stories (P.S.)
Ben Greenman

Ben Greenman is a writer of virtuosic range and uncanny emotional insight. As Darin Strauss has noted, "Like Bruno Schulz, George Saunders, Donald Barthelme, and no one else I can think of, Greenman has the power to be whimsical without resorting to whimsy." The stories in this new collection, What He's Poised to Do, showcase his wide range, yet are united by a shared sense of yearning, a concern with connections missed and lost, and a poignant attention to how we try to preserve a...

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What He's Poised to Do: Stories (P.S.)
Ben Greenman

Ben Greenman is a writer of virtuosic range and uncanny emotional insight. As Darin Strauss has noted, "Like Bruno Schulz, George Saunders, Donald Barthelme, and no one else I can think of, Greenman has the power to be whimsical without resorting to whimsy." The stories in this new collection, What He's Poised to Do, showcase his wide range, yet are united by a shared sense of yearning, a concern with connections missed and lost, and a poignant attention to how we try to preserve and maintain those connections through the written word.

From a portrait of an unfaithful man contemplating his own free will to the saga of a young Cuban man's quixotic devotion to a woman he may never have met; and from a nineteenth-century weapons inventor's letter to his young daughter to an aging man's wistful memory of a summer love affair in a law office—each of these stories demonstrates Greenman's maturity as a chronicler of romantic angst both contemporary and timeless, and as an explorer of the ways our yearning for connection informs our selves and our souls.

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Please Step Back
Ben Greenman

The rise and fall of a true American icon: A rock star, inspired by genre-busting musicians of the sixties like Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye.

A swirling sixties saga of the rise and fall of a true American icon: A rock star. But not just any rock star: Rock Foxx is an outrageous showman whose unprecedented mixed-race, mixed-gender band made a new kind of socially conscious music that was infectious and tribal and scaled the heights of sixties rock stardom, all the...

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Please Step Back
Ben Greenman

The rise and fall of a true American icon: A rock star, inspired by genre-busting musicians of the sixties like Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye.

A swirling sixties saga of the rise and fall of a true American icon: A rock star. But not just any rock star: Rock Foxx is an outrageous showman whose unprecedented mixed-race, mixed-gender band made a new kind of socially conscious music that was infectious and tribal and scaled the heights of sixties rock stardom, all the way to Woodstock and beyond. But Foxx seemed to disappear at the height of his fame, his contagious, upbeat music darkening, then ending ubruptly amidst rumors of drugs and violence, as the culture itself exploded into massive riots and assassinations.

In the hands of New Yorker editor Ben Greenman, it's a story that is both highly literary and simply entertaining, a tale about rock and roll and about a complicated but key moment in our history. Exciting, funny, disturbing and uplifting, with some of the most deft and absorbing writing about music ever to appear in American fiction, this pseudo-bio of a fascinating character is an amazing creation in itself, and sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.

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Why We Cooperate (Boston Review Books)
Michael Tomasello

Drop something in front of a two-year-old, and she's likely to pick it up for you. This is not a learned behavior, psychologist Michael Tomasello argues. Through observations of young children in experiments he himself has designed, Tomasello shows that children are naturally—and uniquely—cooperative. Put through similar experiments, for example, apes demonstrate the ability to work together and share, but choose not to.

As children grow, their almost reflexive desire to help—witho...

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Why We Cooperate (Boston Review Books)
Michael Tomasello

Drop something in front of a two-year-old, and she's likely to pick it up for you. This is not a learned behavior, psychologist Michael Tomasello argues. Through observations of young children in experiments he himself has designed, Tomasello shows that children are naturally—and uniquely—cooperative. Put through similar experiments, for example, apes demonstrate the ability to work together and share, but choose not to.

As children grow, their almost reflexive desire to help—without expectation of reward—becomes shaped by culture. They become more aware of being a member of a group. Groups convey mutual expectations, and thus may either encourage or discourage altruism and collaboration. Either way, cooperation emerges as a distinctly human combination of innate and learned behavior.

In Why We Cooperate, Tomasello's studies of young children and great apes help identify the underlying psychological processes that very likely supported humans' earliest forms of complex collaboration and, ultimately, our unique forms of cultural organization, from the evolution of tolerance and trust to the creation of such group-level structures as cultural norms and institutions.

Scholars Carol Dweck, Joan Silk, Brian Skyrms, and Elizabeth Spelke respond to Tomasello's findings and explore the implications.

A Boston Review Book

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HEART THROBS (Fireside Books (Holiday House))
Inc Dc comics

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HEART THROBS (Fireside Books (Holiday House))
Inc Dc comics

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The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Modern Library Classics)
W.M. Thackston Jr.

Both an official chronicle and the highly personal memoir of the emperor Babur (1483–1530), The Baburnama presents a vivid and extraordinarily detailed picture of life in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India during the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries. Babur’s honest and intimate chronicle is the first autobiography in Islamic literature, written at a time when there was no historical precedent for a personal narrative—now in a sparkling new translation by Islamic scholar Wheel...

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The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Modern Library Classics)
W.M. Thackston Jr.

Both an official chronicle and the highly personal memoir of the emperor Babur (1483–1530), The Baburnama presents a vivid and extraordinarily detailed picture of life in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India during the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries. Babur’s honest and intimate chronicle is the first autobiography in Islamic literature, written at a time when there was no historical precedent for a personal narrative—now in a sparkling new translation by Islamic scholar Wheeler Thackston.

This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes notes, indices, maps, and illustrations.

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Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
Bill Buford

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Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
Bill Buford

test

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The End of Food
Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts, the best-selling author of The End of Oil, turns his attention to the modern food economy and finds that the system entrusted to meet our most basic need is failing.
In this carefully researched, vivid narrative, Roberts lays out the stark economic realities behind modern food and shows how our system of making, marketing, and moving what we eat is growing less and less compatible with the billions of consumers that system was built to serve.
At the heart of The End ...

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The End of Food
Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts, the best-selling author of The End of Oil, turns his attention to the modern food economy and finds that the system entrusted to meet our most basic need is failing.
In this carefully researched, vivid narrative, Roberts lays out the stark economic realities behind modern food and shows how our system of making, marketing, and moving what we eat is growing less and less compatible with the billions of consumers that system was built to serve.
At the heart of The End of Food is a grim paradox: the rise of large-scale food production, though it generates more food more cheaply than at any time in history, has reached a point of dangerously diminishing returns. Our high-volume factory systems are creating new risks for food-borne illness, from E. coli to avian flu. Our high-yield crops and livestock generate grain, vegetables, and meat of declining nutritional quality. While nearly one billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, the same number of people—one in every seven of us—can’t get enough to eat. In some of the hardest-hit regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, the lack of a single nutrient, vitamin A, has left more than five million children permanently blind.
Meanwhile, the shift to heavily mechanized, chemically intensive farming has so compromised soil and water that it’s unclear how long such output can be maintained. And just as we’ve begun to understand the limits of our abundance, the burgeoning economies of Asia, with their rising middle classes, are adopting Western-style, meat-heavy diets, putting new demands on global food supplies.
Comprehensive in scope and full of fresh insights, The End of Food presents a lucid, stark vision of the future. It is a call for us to make crucial decisions to help us survive the demise of food production as we know it.

Paul Roberts is the author of The End of Oil, which was a finalist for the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award in 2005. He has written about resource economics and politics for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s Magazine, and Rolling Stone, and lectures frequently on business and environmental issues.

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What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease
Steven V. Joyal

Mention diabetes and what are the first things that leap to mind? Sugar levels, gluclose monitoring, and insulin? According to leading diabetes specialist Dr. Stevan Joyal, to truly combat the diabetes epidemic--both preventing it and improving the quality of life for those who have it--we must start smaller, by focusing on the microscopic yet most critical factors that control your genes and your cells. In WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MAY NOT TELL YOU ABOUT DIABETES, Dr. Joyal tells readers how to p...

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What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease
Steven V. Joyal

Mention diabetes and what are the first things that leap to mind? Sugar levels, gluclose monitoring, and insulin? According to leading diabetes specialist Dr. Stevan Joyal, to truly combat the diabetes epidemic--both preventing it and improving the quality of life for those who have it--we must start smaller, by focusing on the microscopic yet most critical factors that control your genes and your cells. In WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MAY NOT TELL YOU ABOUT DIABETES, Dr. Joyal tells readers how to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes and reverse prediabetes (a condition affecting half of all Americans), by positively influencing the genes and cells in the body that cause the condition--all without the use of special gadgets, or crazy fad diets. In this groundbreaking, integrative treatment plan, you will find:
-the testing procedures that EVERYONE should have to discover their diabetes and prediabetes risk level
-tools to prevent and significantly control minor to serious diabetic complications
-important guidelines on diet, including especially effective "superfoods"
-an individualized, scientifically-proven natural supplement regime
-a manageable and effective exercise program
-lifestyle changes, including stress reduction tips, that can really make a difference
-recommendations on pharmaceuticals when necessary

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The Tree of Meaning: Language, Mind and Ecology
Robert Bringhurst

“Poems, where I come from,” writes Robert Bringhurst, “are spoken to be written and written to be spoken. The Tree of Meaning is a book of critical prose composed in the same way.” Together, these thirteen lectures present a superbly grounded approach to the study of language, focusing on storytelling, mythology, comparative literature, humanity, and the breadth of oral culture. Bringhurst’s commitment to what he calls “ecological linguistics” emerges in his studies of N...

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The Tree of Meaning: Language, Mind and Ecology
Robert Bringhurst

“Poems, where I come from,” writes Robert Bringhurst, “are spoken to be written and written to be spoken. The Tree of Meaning is a book of critical prose composed in the same way.” Together, these thirteen lectures present a superbly grounded approach to the study of language, focusing on storytelling, mythology, comparative literature, humanity, and the breadth of oral culture. Bringhurst’s commitment to what he calls “ecological linguistics” emerges in his studies of Native American art and storytelling, his understanding of poetry, and his championing of a more truly universal conception of what constitutes literature.

This collection features a sustained focus on Haida culture, the process of translation, and the relationship between beings and language. Compiling ten years of work, this book is remarkable not only for the cohesion of its author’s own ideas, but for the synthesis of such wide-ranging perspectives and examples of cultures both human and nonhuman. Applying his trademark enthusiasm and ecologically conscious, humanitarian approach, Bringhurst produces a highly personalized and active study of Native American art and literature, world languages, philosophy, and natural history.

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition
Douglas Adams

How shall we begin?

This is the story of a book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—not an Earth book, never published on Earth and, until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or even heard of by any Earthman. Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.

or

This is the story of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a number-one best seller in England, a weekly radio series with millions of fanatic listeners, and soon to be a television spectacle ...

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition
Douglas Adams

How shall we begin?

This is the story of a book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—not an Earth book, never published on Earth and, until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or even heard of by any Earthman. Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.

or

This is the story of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a number-one best seller in England, a weekly radio series with millions of fanatic listeners, and soon to be a television spectacle on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

or

This is the story of Arthur Dent, who, secnds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, is plucked off the planet by his friend, Ford Prefect, who has been posing as an out-of-work actor for the last fifteen years but is really a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Together they begin a journey through the galaxy aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with the words don’t panic written on the front. (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”)

In their travels they meet:
•Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch President of the Galaxy
•Trillian—Zaphod’s girl friend, formerly Tricia McMillan, whom Arthur once tried to pick up at a cocktail party
•Marvin—a paranoid android, a brilliant but chronically depressed robot
•Veet Voojagig—former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years

To find the answers to these burning questions: Why are we born? Why do we die? And why do we spend so much time in between wearing digital watches? read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But remember . . . don’t panic, and don’t forget to bring a towel.

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The Reel Truth: Everything You Didn't Know You Need to Know About Making an Independent Film
Reed Martin

Did you know that most of the biggest indie filmmakers, screenwriters, and producers working today each made the same avoidable mistakes early on in their careers?

The Reel Truth details the pitfalls, snares, and roadblocks that aspiring filmmakers encounter. Reed Martin interviewed more than one hundred luminaries from the independent film world to discuss the near misses that almost derailed their first and second films and identify the close shaves that could have cut their...

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The Reel Truth: Everything You Didn't Know You Need to Know About Making an Independent Film
Reed Martin

Did you know that most of the biggest indie filmmakers, screenwriters, and producers working today each made the same avoidable mistakes early on in their careers?

The Reel Truth details the pitfalls, snares, and roadblocks that aspiring filmmakers encounter. Reed Martin interviewed more than one hundred luminaries from the independent film world to discuss the near misses that almost derailed their first and second films and identify the close shaves that could have cut their careers short. Other books may tell you the best way to make your independent film or online short, but no other book describes so candidly how to spot and avoid such issues and obstacles as equipment problems, shooting-day snafus, postproduction myths, theatrical distribution deal breakers, and dozens of other commonly made missteps, including the top fifty mistakes every filmmaker makes.

From personal experience and his years as a freelance reporter covering independent film for USA Today and Filmmaker magazine, Martin uncovers the truth about the risks and potential rewards that go with chasing celluloid glory. Whether you’re writing a screenplay, looking for financing, about to start shooting, or thinking about investing time and money (or someone else’s money) in an independent film, The Reel Truth is a must-read.

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Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
Tom Vanderbilt

A New York Times Notable Book

One of the Best Books of the Year
The Washington Post • The Cleveland Plain-Dealer • Rocky Mountain News

In this brilliant, lively, and eye-opening investigation, Tom Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He uncovers who is m...

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Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
Tom Vanderbilt

A New York Times Notable Book

One of the Best Books of the Year
The Washington Post • The Cleveland Plain-Dealer • Rocky Mountain News

In this brilliant, lively, and eye-opening investigation, Tom Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots. Traffic is about more than driving: it's about human nature. It will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us, and it may even make us better drivers.

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Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order
Peter Cappelli

Your organization needs older workers more than ever: They transfer knowledge between generations, transmit your company's values to new hires, make excellent mentors for younger employees, and provide a "just in time" workforce for special projects.

Yet more of these workers are reporting to people younger than they are. This presents unfamiliar challenges that--if ignored--can prevent you from attracting, retaining, and engaging older employees.

In Managing the Older Worker, P...

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Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order
Peter Cappelli

Your organization needs older workers more than ever: They transfer knowledge between generations, transmit your company's values to new hires, make excellent mentors for younger employees, and provide a "just in time" workforce for special projects.

Yet more of these workers are reporting to people younger than they are. This presents unfamiliar challenges that--if ignored--can prevent you from attracting, retaining, and engaging older employees.

In Managing the Older Worker, Peter Cappelli and William Novelli explain how companies and younger managers can maximize the value provided by older workers. The key? Recognize that boomers' needs differ from younger generations - and adapt your management practices accordingly. For instance:


· Lead with mission: As employees age, they become more altruistic. Emphasize the positive impact of older workers' efforts on the world around them.

· Forge social connections: Many older employees keep working to maintain social relationships. Offer tasks that require interaction with others.

· Provide different benefits: Tailor benefits--such as elder-care insurance programs or discount medication--to older workers' interests.

Drawing on research in management, psychology, and other disciplines, Managing the Older Worker reveals who your older workers are, what they want, and how to manage them for maximum value.

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The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which sold more than 2 million copies in English alone. He revolutionized the way we see natural selection in the seminal bestseller The Selfish Gene. Now, he launches a fierce counterattack against proponents of "Intelligent Design" in his latest New York Times bestseller, The Greatest Show on Earth. "Intelligent Design" is being taught in our schools; educators are being asked to "t...

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The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which sold more than 2 million copies in English alone. He revolutionized the way we see natural selection in the seminal bestseller The Selfish Gene. Now, he launches a fierce counterattack against proponents of "Intelligent Design" in his latest New York Times bestseller, The Greatest Show on Earth. "Intelligent Design" is being taught in our schools; educators are being asked to "teach the controversy" behind evolutionary theory. There is no controversy. Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence—from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics—to make the airtight case that "we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection." His unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument, exposing the absurdities of the creationist position, into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master’s vision of life, in all its splendor.

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Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture
Elaine L. Graham

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Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture
Elaine L. Graham

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Richard Dawkins: Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind, Dawkins Vs. Gould, the Root of All Evil?, Growing up in the Universe

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind, Dawkins Vs. Gould, the Root of All Evil?, Growing up in the Universe, Ultimate Boeing 747 Gambit, the Enemies of Reason, List of Publications by Richard Dawkins, the Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, the Genius of C...

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Richard Dawkins: Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind, Dawkins Vs. Gould, the Root of All Evil?, Growing up in the Universe

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind, Dawkins Vs. Gould, the Root of All Evil?, Growing up in the Universe, Ultimate Boeing 747 Gambit, the Enemies of Reason, List of Publications by Richard Dawkins, the Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, the Genius of Charles Darwin, Out Campaign, Spectrum of Theistic Probability, Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think, Break the Science Barrier, Gerin Oil, Marian Stamp Dawkins, Middle World. Excerpt: Break the Science Barrier is a television documentary written and presented by Richard Dawkins , which promotes the viewpoint that scientific endeavour is not only useful, but also intellectually stimulating and exciting. Featuring interviews with many well-known figures from the world of science and beyond, it was originally broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom - the first of a series of collaborations between Dawkins and the station - before being released on DVD more than a decade later. The documentary contains many of the themes later expounded in his book Unweaving the Rainbow , which was published two years after the initial broadcast.References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest is a book by philosopher of biology Kim Sterelny about the differing views of biologists Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould . When first published in 2001 it became an international bestseller . A new edition was published in 2007 to include Gould's The Structure of Evolutionary Theory finished shortly before his death in 2002, and more recent works by Dawkins. The synopsis below is from the 2007 publication. Synopsis Part I - Battle Joined In the introductory chapter the author points out that there have been many ...

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