Think + Drink science series at the South Florida museum: “Hey, It’s Just a Theory†– Evolution 101 Wednesday, September 16, 7 – 9 pm.
Northwest Florida State College lecture series: “Cellular Evolution: tracing our cellular lineage,†by Ritter on Sept. 18
Christian Study Center of Gainesville lecture series: September 28 Brent Henderson, Department of Linguistics “Can Science and Theology Make Peace in the Age of Darwin?â€
If you haven’t signed up already, there are still 18 teleconference spots open for tomorrow’s online seminar, “The World Before Darwin,” by Prof. Everett Mendelsohn. 8 PM EST, Sept. 16. Info here:
http://DarwinLecture1.Eventbrite.com
This is the first of the Darwin lecture series sponsored by the Reading Odyssey and the Darwin Facebook Project. Please join us!
NEW RICHARD DAWKINS BOOK
Richard Dawkins is a highly respected science author who writes with a clarity, authority, and elegance that I envy but revel in every time I read him. I have read most of his books (some twice) and intend to read them all before my long sleep below ground begins. He was the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University and I would like to say he’s fantastic at promoting this public understanding. I have included a list of his books below and highly recommend them all.
The reason for this post is that he has a new book on the very near horizon that I await with great interest. It’s called The Greatest Show on Earth: Evidence for Evolution. The book is available September 22. Here are some comments about the book (excerpts). I got these from the Barnes & Noble site.
From his publisher: In a brilliant follow-up to his blockbuster The God Delusion, Dawkins lays out the evidence for evolution.
From Publisher’s Weekly: … Dawkins remains a superb translator of complex scientific concepts. It doesn’t matter if he’s spinning metaphors for the fossil record (“like a spy camera†in a murder trial) or deftly explaining the method by which scientists measure the genetic difference between distinct species: he has a way of making the drollest details feel like a revelation. Even if one already believes in the survival of the fittest, there is something thrilling about learning that the hoof of a horse is homologous to the fingernail of the human middle finger, or that some dinosaurs had a “second brain†of ganglion cells in their pelvis, which helped compensate for the tiny brain in their head. As Darwin famously noted, “There is grandeur in this view of life.†What Dawkins demonstrates is that this view of life isn’t just grand: it’s also undeniably true…
From Kirkus Reviews: Look out, creationists. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he talks like an Oxford don. In fact, Dawkins (The God Delusion, 2007, etc.) gave up the Oxford chair in the Public Understanding of Science in order to write full-time, and to spend more time agitating against antiscience and pseudoscience…
… Without the strictures of academia, it seems, he relishes the opportunity to light into his opponents. Whether anyone will stand up to refute his notions remains to be seen, but for now Dawkins wins on points. A pleasure in the face of so much scientific ignorance- biology rendered accessible and relevant to the utmost degree.
A criticism is that Dawkins is ‘preaching to the choir’ in this book and he certainly is to me. He also seems to take on the Creationist point of view in a more aggressive way than in the past. I’m glad. I believe he is one of the best representatives we have on the ‘truth’ of evolution and the huge value of science to our species. I will devour this book. I wrote the post because I think this book will be very relevant to furthering FCS purposes, as well. I hope it is not old news. This is my first post so be gentle with me. Thanks much. Tom Woosnam. Estero, FL.
Other Richard Dawkins Books: The God Delusion, River Out of Eden, The Devil’s Chaplain, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Selfish Gene, The Ancestor’s Tale, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The Extended Phenotype, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few.