What I heard in the car today ....
... was an interesting take on Christianity. As I drove up the mountain I listened to the Diane Rehm show on NPR - an excellent talk-show by the way. Rehm is an intelligent and skilled interviewer. At first I was going to turn to my Recorded Book of Moby Dick but was so struck by the man she was interviewing that I stayed to listen.
The guest under scrutiny was Francis Collins, a pioneering medical geneticist who once headed the Human Genome Project. He has written a book called The Language of God: A Scientist presents Evidence for Belief. Raised in a non-religious family Collins went from being an agnostic, to an atheist, to a true believer in the Christian God. He sees no conflict between genuine religious belief and science. The natural observable world is the work of God and can be studied. It is, in a sense, 'true.' I liked his take on the subject and liked him, to the extent his personality could come through on a radio program. Makes me want to read the book.
When they got to the part of the show where people call in, I switched back to Moby Dick.
At work I checked Amazon.com - found the following assessment from a reader:
As a teacher I sometimes want to weep, or laugh out loud, when I read comments on Amazon.
... was an interesting take on Christianity. As I drove up the mountain I listened to the Diane Rehm show on NPR - an excellent talk-show by the way. Rehm is an intelligent and skilled interviewer. At first I was going to turn to my Recorded Book of Moby Dick but was so struck by the man she was interviewing that I stayed to listen.
The guest under scrutiny was Francis Collins, a pioneering medical geneticist who once headed the Human Genome Project. He has written a book called The Language of God: A Scientist presents Evidence for Belief. Raised in a non-religious family Collins went from being an agnostic, to an atheist, to a true believer in the Christian God. He sees no conflict between genuine religious belief and science. The natural observable world is the work of God and can be studied. It is, in a sense, 'true.' I liked his take on the subject and liked him, to the extent his personality could come through on a radio program. Makes me want to read the book.
When they got to the part of the show where people call in, I switched back to Moby Dick.
At work I checked Amazon.com - found the following assessment from a reader:
However, I did not find the book to be stunning or revelatory. It also tends to be dry, rational and logical in some places. Exactly what you would anticipate from a scientist. For this reason, I give it 3 stars and suggest that it may not be for everyone.No, dry, rational and logical is probably not for everyone. At least not in this time or place.
As a teacher I sometimes want to weep, or laugh out loud, when I read comments on Amazon.
posted by Clemens | 1:57 PM
2 Comments:
I can't imagine many books you would not want to read, and please don't take this the wrong way but "dry, rational and logical" certainly sounds right up your alley. I really do not mean that as an insult and hope you do not take it that way.
Why would I take it as an insult? It's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.
Do you remember when Mother started calling me Mr Spock?
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