Evolution From Space: A Theory of Cosmic Creationism

Customer Reviews:

Interesting fringe of science.......2004-07-31

Astronomer and maverick Fred Hoyle is once reported to have said, 'Space isn't remote at all. ... It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards.' Hoyle was a world-renowned astronomer, and a very creative scientist who didn't let convention or popular opinion sway his views. He is often credited with coining the term 'Big Bang', a bit ironic, given that he used this term in a bit of scorn -- he never accepted the Big Bang theory of universal creation and evolution, preferring a Steady State Theory, never fully developed, as the astronomical community as a whole was far more interested in the Big Bang theory.

Hoyle's first claim to fame came from his work in stellar evolution and structure. He developed the theories of chemical element formation in the stars, commonly accepted by scientists today. Whenever you hear an astronomer or another waxing philosophic that we are all made of stardust or star-stuff, you are hearing an echo of Hoyle. While he did not win the Nobel Prize (many scientists think that he should have for this stellar work, no pun intended), he did with the Crafoord Prize, an award given by the Swedish Academy in recognition for fields not covered by Nobel Prizes.

In collaboration with Chandra Wickramasinghe, Hoyle was a champion of the modern theory of panspermia. Panspermia is essentially the theory that life comes from off the earth -- it has developed into a theory entitled 'Cosmic Ancestry' now, and includes many more environmental ideas. It argues that the Earth is not a biologically closed ecosystem -- apart from the fact that human-made spacecraft have propelled genetical material beyond the earth notwithstanding, Panspermia and such theories argue that the universe has, indeed, may be full of spores and other types of genetic 'pieces', viruses and the like, that occasionally find their way to earth, and rarely but occasionally survive the entry and become grafted onto the genetic structures on Earth.

This text with Wickramasinghe covers the range of ideas, including early theories from the late nineteenth century. Hoyle and Wickramasinghe also argue for an Anthropic Principle of Cosmology here -- that there is a purpose to the universe, and that human beings have a special place. Hoyle asks the question, why should we not believe there is a guiding principle in biology by intelligences beyond our own? Why is it that people are accepting of a God-principle, but not of intelligences that might fall between God and our own? These are rather dramatic and controversial ideas, to say the least. Hoyle and Wickramasinghe argue for a scientific pantheism, with God as the universe.

Hoyle's ideas are interesting, and backed up with impressive science (chemistry, physics, and biology). However, it is still very cutting-edge and beyond the mainstream thinking -- Hoyle prods the more Darwinian theories for evidence, while accepting that there is in fact no more evidence for Panspermia.

An interesting text for the edge of science. This is not what I believe, either scientifically nor as a theologian, but it is fascinating to see how such ideas are developed.

bad science fiction.......2003-10-05

Re: "Noone realizes it but this work is a classic on the issue of Darwinism. It has been 'refuted' so many times and still survives one must wonder if it doesn't scare Darwinists."

So does astrology survive. Guess what? Astrology doesn't "scare" astronomers. It is sad to see someone of Fred Hoyle's former stature reject the scientific method and embrace mysticism. ("No one" is spelled "no one", not "noone".)

A classic Darwin critique.......2003-07-28

Noone realizes it but this work is a classic on the issue of Darwinism. It has been 'refuted' so many times and still survives one must wonder if it doesn't scare Darwinists. One doesn't have to accept their perspective to see that the statistical difficulties of the original Darwinian theory were fatal, and should have been seen all along.
Attempts to deal with statistics in the Darwinian field have left a generation confused on the subject. The paradigm, to survive, has to keep the troops muddled.

Book Description

No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go. In this completely up-to-date guide our experts who live in Montreal and Quebec City give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do ? from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun. Fodor's Montreal and Quebec City 2003 shows you hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges ? from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special. The Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice ? from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency. Plus, web links and mix-and-match itineraries make planning a snap.

Amazon.com

Molecular biology seems to crystallize our feelings about science. The promises and threats of knowledge are made plain as we peek around the corner and see genetic counseling, genome mapping, and cloning staring back at us. Pioneering researcher François Jacob--who shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for medicine--offers his thoughts on the past, present, and future of science in Of Flies, Mice & Men. As informal as a memoir, yet sharp and clever in its discussions of philosophy and politics, Jacob's book breaks new ground in popular-science publishing.

Not many scientists are comfortable quoting poets from Sophocles to Apollinaire, but Jacob weaves their words with his own beautiful prose to inspire the reader with new ways of thinking about science as a part of human life. His aim is not simply to retell the brief history of molecular biology but to put it in context and, more importantly, to show that this context is as important as the research itself. Jacob is one of the few scientists who recognize that science is easily abused, but that its course can't be stopped, or even slowed much. Rather than caving in to fatalism, he offers the hope that it can be guided, and he knows that a well-informed public is his best ally in this effort. The project is inspiring, if a little daunting; as he says, opening Pandora's box "condemned human beings to never-ending research." --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Who could have guessed that the lowly fruit fly might hold the key for decoding heredity? Or that the mouse might one day disclose astonishing evolutionary secrets? In a book infused with wisdom, wonder, and a healthy dose of wry skepticism, Nobel Prize-winning geneticist François Jacob walks us through the surprising ways of science, particularly the science of biology, in this century. Of Flies, Mice, and Men is at once a work of history, a social study of the role of scientists in the modern world, and a cautionary tale of the bumbling and brilliance, imagination and luck, that attend scientific discovery. A book about molecules, reproduction, and evolutionary tinkering, it is also about the way biologists work, and how they contemplate beauty and truth, good and evil.

Animated with anecdotes from Greek mythology, literature, episodes from the history of science, and personal experience, Of Flies, Mice, and Men tells the story of how the marvelous discoveries of molecular and developmental biology are transforming our understanding of who we are and where we came from. In particular, Jacob scrutinizes the place of the scientist in society. Alternately cast as the soothsayer Tiresias, the conscienceless inventor Daedalus, or Prometheus, conveyer of dangerous knowledge, the scientist in our day must instead adopt the role of truthteller, Jacob suggests. And the crucial truth that molecular biology teaches is the one he elaborates with great clarity and grace in this book: that all animals are made of the same building blocks, by a combinatorial system that always rearranges the same elements according to new forms.

Customer Reviews:

Goes nowhere.......2002-12-02

I agree with the other reviews -- this book, by a Nobel Prize winner, no less, has a fascinating topic; yet, over and over, the author starts building up to a conclusion, and just as he's about to reach that conclusion and share the learned insights, he goes off on another path.
He also makes glaring mistakes about relativity and astronomy when he claims "that if you travel long enough and fast enough through the galaxies, you'll become young again" and "our entire world came into being in a few hundredths of a second."
Instead, very fast travel will make you age more slowly than your non-traveling and relatively fast-aging peers, but you won't "become young again," and the Earth was formed in a very slow process -- it was the initial Big Bang, not the creation of the Earth, that was fast.

Starkly Mediocre.......2001-05-29

Like music out of the romantic period, this book starts going nowhere, then promises to go somewhere, but ends up going nowhere.

The middle chapters talking about Lysenko and his anti-science... and the parts about genome research were interesting.

Neither fish nor fowl.......2000-07-11

Perhaps it's the translation, but this book dances around its point, and lacks coherence. It's meant, I think, to convey a sense of how it feels to work on science, particularly biological science, but it never really draws us in. Written more as a series of independent essays, it turns out to be not all that memorable, and not all that interesting.

Easy to read, yet lacking the inefable.......1999-06-08

This book is nice to read. It has a wonderful chapter on good and evil, in which you are shown an array of new perspectives. However, it lacks a common argument. It nibbles here and there, without apparent coherence. Also, Jacob, as a research scientist, understandably seems to feel the need to quote someone to corroborate everything he says, which means that the book quotes nearly everyone who's name is known, and these quotations lack relevance and insight most of the time.

OF FLIES, MICE, AND MEN.(Review): An article from: American Scholar

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OF FLIES, MICE, AND MEN.(Review): An article from: American Scholar
Aaron E. Hirsh
Manufacturer: Phi Beta Kappa Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00098SFIM
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa Society on March 22, 1999. The length of the article is 2046 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: OF FLIES, MICE, AND MEN.(Review)
Author: Aaron E. Hirsh
Publication: American Scholar (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1999
Publisher: Phi Beta Kappa Society
Volume: 68 Issue: 2 Page: 145

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

OF FLIES, MICE, AND MEN
Francois Jacob
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LZASQK

Of Flies, Mice, and Men. Translated by Giselle Weiss.

Average customer rating:

Of Flies, Mice, and Men. Translated by Giselle Weiss.
François. JACOB
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VPZA5O

Book Description

Marketing Arguments:

1. Each volume of the series informs about the
corrosion characteristics of materials, both important and frequently used.
2. Possibilities for the prevention and cure of
corrosion are described.
3. The series provides extensive and up-to-date in-
formation on the subject of corrosion.
4. The volumes are conceived for practical use;
numerous tables and illustrations provide a lot of data, each chapter is heavily referenced.
5. Each chapter is systematically organized; hence, the reader can find the information he is looking for easily and quickly.

Book Description

This volume is the first of two volumes containing the revised and completed notes lectures given at the school "Quantum Independent Increment Processes: Structure and Applications to Physics". This school was held at the Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald during the period March 9 – 22, 2003, and supported by the Volkswagen Foundation. The school gave an introduction to current research on quantum independent increment processes aimed at graduate students and non-specialists working in classical and quantum probability, operator algebras, and mathematical physics.

The present first volume contains the following lectures: "Lévy Processes in Euclidean Spaces and Groups" by David Applebaum, "Locally Compact Quantum Groups" by Johan Kustermans, "Quantum Stochastic Analysis" by J. Martin Lindsay, and "Dilations, Cocycles and Product Systems" by B.V. Rajarama Bhat.

Book Description

In this simultaneously hilarious and poignant companion volume to The Wapshot Chronicle, the members of the Wapshot family of St. Botolphs drift far from their New England village into the demented caprices of the mighty, the bad graces of the IRS, and the humiliating abyss of adulterous passion.

A novel of large and tender vision, The Wapshot Scandal is filled with pungent characters and outrageous twists of fate, and, above all, with Cheever's luminous compassion for all his hapless fellow prisoners of human nature.

Customer Reviews:

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled.......2001-11-28

If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

perseverance pays off.......1999-02-07

If you enjoyed the Wapshot chronicle, you will enjoy this,however he doesnt get into his stride until Chapter 6, or page 53. I have friends who claim they could never get into this book, and my advice to them is pick it up and start again at page 53 after which there is a great deal of the customary absurdity over which we lovers of Cheever drool. Thats all, enjoy!!

Average customer rating:

Wapshot Chronicle, the Wapshot Scandal
John Cheever
Manufacturer: HARPERCOLLINS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000STAUR6

Average customer rating:

Wapshot Chronicle/Wapshot Scandal
John Cheever
Manufacturer: HARPERCOLLINS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLNGQK

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THE WAPSHOT SCANDAL
John Cheever
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VMFYSA

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The Wapshot Scandal
John Cheever
Manufacturer: harper row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000CM9FS

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The Wapshot Scandal
John Cheever
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O3QH3M

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The Wapshot Scandal
John. Cheever
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEZOV2

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The Wapshot Scandal

Manufacturer: Harper and Row, Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H6QYTS

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The Wapshot Scandal
John. Cheever
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEO2ZG

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The Wapshot Scandal

Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000F30QP6

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