Miller's "Only a Theory" Reviewed by PZ Myers

From a press release from the NCSE:

Kenneth R. Miller's new book, Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul, is reviewed in the July 31, 2008 issue of
Nature. Reviewer PZ Myers writes that "Miller is a fine writer who sharply
addresses the details of the arguments about intelligent design
creationism. When tackling old chestnuts such as the 'only a theory'
complaint, or Michael Behe's argument for a maximum limit for the number of
genetic mutations, or William Dembski's rehash of William Paley's
watchmaker argument for complexity, Miller discusses the contemporary
biological explanations while refuting the errors."

Myers notes that Miller's "religious leanings give him insight into both
sides of the struggle." While he finds Miller "sympathetic to the
creationists' perspective," Miller also "opposes them uncompromisingly.
Miller does not confuse sympathy for the intent of creationists with
sympathy for its effects. The conflict has wider consequences than the
teaching of one discipline in US public schools - the creationists aim to
revise what science means, discarding rationalism, naturalism, materialism
and other Enlightenment values to incorporate the supernatural and loosen
the rigour of all sciences."

While Myers finds reason to disagree with Miller about the social forces
driving creationism in America, he concludes: "Only a Theory is a useful
overview of a perilous political attack on the nature of science."

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I'm just finishing Miller's earlier book, Finding Darwin's god. It's about 4 or 5 chapters of good anti-Creationism, then an absolute mess.

By Virgil Samms (not verified) on 03 Aug 2008 #permalink

I've got a review of Finding Darwin's God up on Amazon, which can be found here if anyone's interested. As for this one - I think I'll be waiting until it's available in my local Library rather than shelling out the dollars involved.