Thoughts on “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins – Chapter 1 “Only a Theory?”

Reposted from my The Ramblings of a Jewish Skeptic Blog

I’ve just finished reading the first chapter of The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. I aspire to write some thoughts and reflections on each chapter as I read through it.

Chapter 1 is titled “Only a Theory?” He begins by going into some depth defining the word “theory,” distinguishing it from an hypothesis. He also points out that the human life span is too short to directly observe evolution, but that this does not preclude accumulation of convincing evidence. He likens this to a crime investigator arriving at the scene of a crime, noting that evidence for evolution well excedes the legal criteria of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Evolution has been vilified by well organized and well funded opponents, such as Answers-in-Genesis. He equates this level of incredulity to that of other groups of “deniers” such as Holocaust deniers. Despite over-whelming evidence, they still hold on to their ideologically biased beliefs.

Dawkins sets the context for this book, and begins the defense of Evolution by noting its acceptance by both scientific as well as theological scholars. He observes that most religious scholars who give serious consideration to the theory of evolution, more often than not, come to accept it, perhaps reluctantly at first.

It is amazing to me that in the United States, 40% of the population believe that the universe is less than 10,000 years old and that humans co-habitated with dinosaurs. How can this be when there are mountains of scientific evidence from multiple different fields of inquiry disproving it? There is a great need for understandable and approachable education, which is what Dawkins is hoping to provide.

I love Dawkins writing style. It is very clean and logical, with a bit of a swagger.

I look forward to reading and commenting on the rest of the book!

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Book Review: Free Range Chickens by Simon Rich

This is a very short collection of humorous vignettes compiled by Simon Rich who, among other things, was a former Harvard Lampoon editor and a writer for Saturday Night Live and Mad Magazine. I had just finished reading the book Middlesex, which I have recently reviewed. In searching for a new book to read I decided to look at a friends book-list on Goodreads.com. My strategy was to and scroll down until I got the first book that he rated five stars and read that one no matter what. This was an experiment in randomness.

I thought this book was really funny. I enjoyed reading it, and I enjoyed even more sharing the vignettes with my wife (who didn’t quite get it as much as I did.) The best vignette I thought was the one titled Acupuncture School, which was hilarious. It pretty much sums up my feelings about acupuncture and pseudoscience/alternative medicine. I also enjoyed reading Dracula’s match.com profile.

The one disappointing thing about this book was that it was really short. I read it in about an hour and a half. However I did reread several sections. I also read several sections out loud to my wife as she was getting ready for bed (much to her annoyance.)

Overall I would recommend this book. It was very funny however very short. Some may feel that it was too short to warrant the price, but it is something that you can reread and share with friends. In fact it’s the kind of book that actually gets more funny when you reread it and when you share with other people.

Book Review – The Jew in the Lotus

The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet’s Re-Discovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India by Rodger Kamenetz

I read this book in hopes of re-kindling an interest in learning and reading about Judaism. I turned to this book after I could no longer stomach reading God is a Verb, a book on Jewish mysticism. There are certain aspects of Buddhism that are appealing and I thought that reading a book about a conversation between Jewish and Buddhist scholars would be interesting.

I think that this book was well written. It is the story of a diverse group of Jewish scholars that journey to India to speak with the Dali Lama. The discussion was meant to further each traditions understanding, and for the Dali Lama to get advice on how to maintain a tradition while in exile.

It was an interesting read, but I did not feel particularly inspired by the story. If anything, I felt annoyed at the bickering amongst the Jewish group. I’m in a very rational and skeptical phase of my life, and this book did nothing to persuade me otherwise. After finishing the book, I was eager to move onto something more evidence/science based.

View all my reviews.

Review of The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama

I enjoyed reading this book. Barack Obama writes in a very down to Earth way. I thought he was surprisingly honest when talking about his family and the way he thinks and solves problems.

I realize that this was a memoir written as part of his presidential campaign. It is basically his platform, and he goes through the various issues that at the time he anticipated would be the agenda for his campaign.

He is a liberal Democrat. He is not apologetic about this, nor should he be. The Conservatives have so vilified the liberals over the last few decades that this label is often publicly regarded as slanderous. He sees a role for government in peoples lives. He advocates for laborers and government regulation. But he also advocates common sense and compromise.

I was slow to warm up to Barack Obama as he ran for President, and I still have my reservations. I do not agree with him on every issue. But I do respect his integrity, his intelligence; His willingness to admit and learn from mistakes, and his willingness to compromise.

The thing that was most interesting to me as I read was his accounts of being a very busy working Father. Men do not have an Oprah as a sounding board. It was nice to see how he handled different situations and how he and his wife make it work.

View all my reviews @ goodreads.com.

Book Review – Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intellegent Design by Michael Shermer

Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design by Michael Shermer

rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting primer on the evolution vs. intelligent design debate. It provides good talking points to arm yourself with if you plan to enter a debate with a creationist.

It is interesting that the intelligent design movement is just a warmed over version of creationism that is trying to pose as scientific. Their main strategy so far has been to refute evolution. They do not have any research or evidence to back up any of their claims.

The whole creationist mind set is based on ancient texts that can not be edited or updated when new evidence comes to light. Since they see the bible as the unerring word of God, they cannot incorporate the evidence of evolution because it renders their texts inaccurate.

The creation myths of Genesis are understandable as a means for a Bronze Age civilization to explain their world. But given the tools and methods of science that we have now, there is no excuse to believe that the accounts of the worlds creation in the Bible are true.

Get this book and read it. Then discuss with your creationist friends!

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Book Review – The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul

My review: The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was interesting. I consider myself to be a bit left of center politically, but there are certain aspects of libertarianism that appeal to me. Ron Paul (who I was surprised to learn was a practicing OB/GYN prior to entering politics) makes several very good arguments, and it is hard to disagree with him.

He bases many of his opinions on a literal interpretation of the constitution. This is fine, because we were fortunate in this country in late 1700’s to have several very wise men concentrated at the same place and the same time. Paul makes the argument that our constitutional system of checks and balances has been corrupted over the years. One example of this would be the growing power of the President and the executive branch of government.

Another premise that he espouses is that the federal government should have a very limited role in what we do. He advocates for a greatly reduced bureaucracy and increased ability for state and local governments to pass laws relevant to the desires of the local residents. The best example that he cites is the department of education, which he sees as a totally ineffective, unconstitutional and expensive institution. He then takes the extra step to say that by advocating the dissolution of this agency, it does not mean that he is anti-education.

Another example of over-reaching government is the ever growing and increasingly punitive drug enforcement laws. We spend a lot of time and money waging a war on drugs, but we do not see significant declines in drug use, and we have one of the highest prison populations in the world, mostly people charged with drug related offenses.

Something that I really agree with him on is a need to decrease our military presence around the world. We should not have to be, and other countries would rather us not be, the world police. We need to focus our strength and resources on the welfare and safety of our own people. It is perhaps ironic that our meddling in the affairs of other countries actually decreases our safety.

This book is very thoughtful, and well written. It is a good introduction to Libertarianism (Though Ron Paul recently ran as a Republican Presidential candidate) I have to think about it more to decide how much I agree with him.

(**This post was cross-posted on my political opinion blog The Way I See It.. And on my Goodreads.com account.  View all my Good Reads reviews.)

The Castle in the Forest

The Castle in the Forest: A Novel by Norman Mailer

My Goodreads.com review

I thought this book had an interesting premise. It is the story of Adolf Hitler’s youth told from the perspective of the demon that influenced the course of his life. This sounds dark and compelling. But honestly, this book was boring! It lacks momentum to begin with. Then, inexplicably, the story switches from the Hitler family to the coronation of the Russian Tsar. After a few chapters of this, I just could not go on. I stopped reading the book halfway through. My recommendation? Don’t bother…

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