(Book) Reviews: Worth reading? Absolutely!
Reading keeps the mind agile. We read a lot; Books, articles, blogs to name a few. Here is a list of what we liked and did not (sometimes)
This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking
REVIEW
As Jason Zweig puts it, "we should each invest a few hours a week in reading research that ostensibly has nothing to do with our day jobs, in a setting that has nothing in common with our regular workspaces."
That is the reason why we wholeheartedly recommend this book. Although the complete contents of this book is available on the web at the website of EDGE.org we still bought it as this is one of those books you keep picking up every now and then to browse through.
This book contains 165 contributions to the EDGE question of 2011: "WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?" by 165 distinguished contributors. To name a few, Susan Fiske, Daniel C. Dennett, Daniel Kahneman, Steven Pinker and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. These contributors come from a myriad of backgrounds and disciplines ranging from philosophy to quantum physics to literature to geriatrics. this wide array of backgrounds makes for a great read with many true eye-openers and also some I-told-you-so's.
This concept of one question with one, in most cases short answer makes this book an easy read. Not that the contents is always easy to read or understand. In most cases the contributors make a compelling argument for their respective answers. Some of the answers to the question, in no particular order are: "Possibility Spaces: Thinking Beyond Cause and Effect"; "Inference To The Best Explanation"; "Experimentation" and "The Edge of the Circle"
The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
- Author
- Joel Bakan
- PUBLISHER
- Free Press
- DATE
- March 7, 2005
- PAGES
- 240
- LANGUAGE
- English
- ISBN
- 978-0743247467
REVIEW
Check back soon as we are reading this book now.
So far very promissing. You gotta love the title.
How to Debate a Creationist
In honor of the 150 anniversary of Charles Darwins's The Origin of Species, and in the face of opposition to modern biology, Skeptic society is pleased to offer one of it's top selling resources as a free PDF download for one week only.
Th 22-page handout edition includes: 25 evolutionist answers to 25 creationist arguments, and 10 answers to Intelligent Design creationist arguments.
Review
This leaflet provides an easy read and a good understanding of some of the arguments creationists use. On the flip side it also provides a good understadning how evolutionists look at things.