Customer Reviews

Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion and the Search for God

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is fairly deep and it will take a fair bit of concentration to understand the concepts it's talking about but the insight recieved is well worth the effort. It clearly explains the fairly complex theories of quantum physics and looks at how a creator (God) can fit into it all. Kitty is very fair and logical in her look at the arguments and just when you think she's won the argument for one "side" she throws a spanner in the works and does a back flip with a new piece of information.

I really enjoyed this book because it helped me to understand different theories of the begining of time and the Universe. It has a lot of philosophy which I also enjoyed. I love astronomy, physics, reading, logic and God. This book combines all these ingredients well. You will look at the Universe in a whole different way after reading The Fire in the Equations.

This Book does a great job showing the conflicts and the harmony between science an religion. This book really is fair and as balanced as it's going to get on the subject. This book shows that while science is a reliable tool, you can't use it to answer every question. It also shows how you can't really use you religion or lack of it to "prove" that God does or doesn't exist.
All I ask as a engineer major is that "Is the belief in God reasonable?" I beleive so, but the use of science for proof won't be considered. Since the Big Bang has limited us to what we can know, I think that it is the question most of us show ask ourselves.
**As for what some others have said.
Since natualism is the method we use to discover things in science, then there shouldn't be any surprise when science seems atheistic.Duh, Most people relize that alot of scientific results seems to suggest otherwise. So spare the public with crap like "science supports athesim" , you must have not read the book.

This book is one of my personal favorites. I love the way the author seemlessly blends the ideas of cutting edge science with religion, philosophy and pretty much anything revolving around the concept of a search for God. this book is written in a remarkably neutral perspective. the author makes a point to try to seem nonpartisan.

The ideas here are rather complex so one might want to dedicate their full attention to absorb the full implications.

I could read this again and again.

A brilliant tour de review and outstanding integration of science, religion, philosophy and personal inferences.

This is a highly thought provoking book. The author fearlessly asks some brave questions and digs deeper into the oceans of ignorance surrounding science. All the stuff you thought you once knew is suddenly turned upside down.

This book is the book the World has been waiting for. Not only has this book been reviewed and proof checked by a considerable amount of experts and members of the general public, but the author demonstrates that she is actually thinking about what she was saying, instead of just being dogmatic. She has also done a considerable amount of homework and talking to people. This is exactly what we need and I encourage this from more authors. There is lots of useful stuff in this book.

Both believers and non believers can come to a common place of understanding and communicate freely without any conflict whatsoever. All truth is one whether or not we get it from the test-tube or from The Bible. Well done Kitty. Brilliant job.

Kitty Ferguson has taken on an enormous task, attempting to write an objective study of what place--if any--faith in a Judeo-Christian God has in a serious study of science. The book begins with a detailed analysis of epistemology and then sets up increasingly personal and interfering gods against other cosmologies to see where conflicts and inconsistencies crop up. She does such a good job, in fact, that her viewpoint is left quite debateable.

Kitty Ferguson has done an admirably good job of explaining cutting-edge science to the general reader. With a few exceptions (notably the discussions of chaos theory, and misuses of Godel's theorem), the science is right. However, although she does her best, the author's agenda of promoting the viewpoint that science and religion are compatible comes through. She avoids asking the truly difficult questions, such as "If God does exist, why is all the scientific evidence consistent with atheism?" There's hardly mention of Occam's razor or even simple philosophical arguments which would have enhanced the book immensely. And while trying to argue that science and religion are compatible, she fails to explain why it is that more than 80% of physicists do not believe in God, as recent surveys have shown. Ferguson's argument comes down to "science can't absolutely prove there isn't a God, so religious belief is justified". Theists are left with an emaciated God of the Gaps devoid of substance, and no justification is given for why we shouldn't believe in several gods instead, or none at all. Books by Richard Dawkins, Steven Hawking, and Peter Atkins should be read in conjunction with this book as a corrective.