9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! A real mind-opener., April 29, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: God in the Equation : How Einstein Transformed Religion (Paperback)
I can't recall ever reading another book quite
like this one. Most of the books about science and
religion I've seen fall into one of two categories.
They either try to make the case that scientists are
secretly religious people, or else they try to argue
that science leaves no room for faith. Powell takes
the discussion in a very different, more subtle
direction, one that reminds me of some of Daniel
Dennett's ideas. In essence, Powell argues that
spirituality is an integral component of the way
humans process information about the world--even if
the people doing the processing are cosmologists who
openly describe themselves as atheists. That
perspective puts a whole new spin on Albert Einstein's often-puzzling use of the word "God" as something interchangeable with the laws of physics. It also explains why, in his later years, Einstein was so committed to the idea of a cosmic religion.
Alas, Einstein was an idealist and I'm afraid Powell
may be too. His dream that science can reform religion
of its more destructive impulses looks just like
that--a dream. Religion seems to be doing just fine in
the Middle East, not to mention in Mel Gibson's bank
account. But Powell's analysis of how the scientific
process works is both original and eye-opening. I also
really enjoyed his sweeping history of cosmology, full
of clear explanations and surprising details. The
section on the early history of the big bang, in
particular, covers territory that I've never head
about before. (The father of the big bang was an
obscure Russian meteorologist--who knew?) This book
does an amazing job explaining what we know about the
universe and how we know it. If it also helps advance Einstein's pacifist agenda, so much the better. Truly inspirational.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What Does the Fat Lady Sing? (Or when?), August 30, 2006
This review is from: God in the Equation : How Einstein Transformed Religion (Paperback)
Corey S Powell has written an excellent popular account of a major scientific discovery.
One that if confirmed promises to open up new vistas of investigation and deepen our theoretical understanding of the universe.
To properly tell his story, Powell first backs up a little, and sketches a brief account of the history of observational astronomy and its interplay with theoretical physics - the celestial mechanics of Newton. He then moves forward to the genesis of a new cosmology.
Some readers may be put off by the title. or, more specifically, take issue with the author for introducing "God" into what should be a scientific discussion.
I admit that at times I found Powell's "sci/rel" trope occasionally cloying; e.g., his description of Cecelia Payne-Goposchkin as a "sort of Mary Magdalene in the shadows of the sci/religious miracles" of two cosmological advances affecting first Arthur Eddington, then, later Harlow Shapley (p119).
Nonetheless, I feel that Powell has endeavored to heal a kind of psycho-linguistic breach in our language - and consciousness.
Cosmology had fractured into (a) scientific cosmo-genesis, and into a religious nullity.
The latter having perhaps mythological or "poetic" significance, but otherwise empty of scientific content.
Even if the premises upon which the book is based - the interpretation of the Mauna Kea data, introduced at the start of the book - are shown to be erroneous, the idea of creation - and, our place in it - re-emerges in Powell's book from the obscurity of a secularism that occasionally over-reaches.
The main burden of the text is to lay out the science behind the work of principally two teams of scientific collaborators studying Type Ia supernovae.
The significance of their work was announced in Science's "Biggest Breakthroughs of 1998"
(18 Dec issue).
Powell's careful preparation gently leads the reader to a heightened understanding of the theoretical issues involved. In so doing, he neither tarries too long, nor plunges heedlessly ahead of the lay reader.
One wishes that the author had provided a "further reading" reference to magnetic monopoles directed to a general audience (something along the lines of Scientifc American Frontiers).
Also Powell misconstrues the force of the weak anthropic principle. The latter serves as a simplifying assumption. In that sense it may serve to guide research. It is a crude heuristic - a tool.
Even in its strong "participatory" form it does not (indeed, cannot) "brush aside the flatness problem, the horizon problem, and [questions about] the origin of structure in the universe," as the author suggests on p.193.
Just before picking up "God In the Equation" I happened to read de Santillanna's Crime of Galileo.
Powell alludes briefly to Pius XII's somewhat embarrassing sally into the sci/religious controversy.
When, November 1951, the Pope burbled about the Big Bang, he trespassed onto the reservation of 1893, which officially validated Galileo's assertion that it would be impious to suppose that God
"may have laid pitfalls for men by establishing contradictory [scientific and religious] truths."
Is Mr. Powell himself likewise guilty of trespassing - in this case, onto the religious reservation -
when he talks about the Church of Einstein?
This begs a question: Is knowing the universe the same as knowing God?
Note that this is distinct from the matter of faith.
We take on faith the veracity of "things unseen."
But it is also faith that sees the creation (as it is; as "given") as at once exemplar and indicative
of divinity.
As sublime.
Powell strays perilously close to religious revisionism.
(A revisionism without apologetics, however.)
The author seems to exhibit a mixed mind.
And it may be that this ought not be condemned.
I found myself moved when he wrote about the "spiritual power of Einstein's equations."
And untroubled.
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