Books
Pharyngula
Category archives for Books
Where Texans file science
Posted by PZ Myers on September 27, 2009 The Hastings bookstore in Lubbock, Texas, has a peculiar way of organizing their books. But then, these are people so deeply confused that they probably rummage about fruitlessly in the Religion section looking for truth.
Dawkins’ book is for fence-sitters AND non-fence-sitters!
Posted by PZ Myers on September 22, 2009 The latest online edition of Seed Magazine (you all know it’s gone to an all-digital format, right? You should be reading it regularly) has an interview with Richard Dawkins on his new book — it focuses on the potential for the new book to persuade people to accept the idea of evolution. I think it…
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Posted by PZ Myers on September 16, 2009 There are no more excuses. None. The defining characteristic of all arguments with creationists is how damned ignorant they are. I’m sure many scientists have been stupefied into stunned silence when they first encounter these people; these advocated of creationism are typically loud and certain and have invested much time and effort into apologetics, but…
Just because they won’t mention it…
Posted by PZ Myers on September 14, 2009 It’s another negative review of Unscientific America. I think we’re reaching consensus on one thing: the book was awfully light on substance.
Cruel, cruel tease
Posted by PZ Myers on August 24, 2009 If you’re like me, you are eagerly awaiting the release of Dawkins’ next book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), and you’ve probably already put in your preorder at Amazon. It’s kind of like the anticipatory excitement for the Harry Potter books, only for hardcore geeks. To whet your appetite, there is…
Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style
Posted by PZ Myers on August 11, 2009 You know, I think communicating science is an extremely important enterprise, one that I think scientists need to work at more. That interface with the general public is poorly cobbled together and we often seem to be working in completely different directions, producing a lot of, well, chafing, where the citizenry is off supporting some…
A book to give us all nightmares
Posted by PZ Myers on August 1, 2009 I think I’m going to have to order this book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Jeff Sharlet, on the basis of this interview. I know, it’s Bill Maher, who drives us frothing mad with his inconsistencies, but ignore Maher and just pay attention to the story Sharlet is…
Another review of Unscientific America
Posted by PZ Myers on July 27, 2009 As is his habit, Jason Rosenhouse has begun a long review of Mooney and Kirshenbaum’s book. It won’t be giving too much away to say that he gives it a “Mixed, but generally negative” review. I know M&K will only present the positive side on their site (as I’m only going to emphasize the negative),…
Unscientific America: it’s personal!
Posted by PZ Myers on July 17, 2009 I feel obligated to reply to Mooney and Kirshenbaum’s latest complaint, but I can’t really get motivated. Their argument has become so absurd and so petty that it seems a waste of time anymore. All they’ve done is confessed that they are on a personal vendetta: they are very upset with me, they admit that…
Unscientific America: still useless
Posted by PZ Myers on July 14, 2009 Mooney is at it again, scrabbling madly to refute my criticisms. It’s another ho-hum effort. He claims he did spend some effort criticizing the overt anti-science forces in our country — only it was in his previous book, not this one. No, that doesn’t rebut me at all: in a book that purports to be…