Kicking the Sacred Cow: Heresy and Impermissible Thoughts in Science [Mass Market Paperback]

James P. Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2006

Galileo may have been forced to deny that the Earth moves around the Sun; but in the end, science triumphed. Nowadays, science fearlessly pursues truth, shining the pure light of reason on the mysteries of the universe. Or does it? As bestselling author, James P. Hogan demonstrates in this fact-filled and thoroughly documented study, science has its own roster of hidebound pronouncements which are Not to be Questioned. Among the dogma-laden subjects he examines are Darwinism, global warming, the big bang, problems with relativity, radon and radiation, holes in the ozone layer, the cause of AIDS, and the controversy over Velikovsky. Hogan explains the basics of each controversy with his clear, informative style, in a book that will be fascinating for anyone with an interest in the frontiers of modern science.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Baen (July 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416520732
• ISBN-13: 978-1416520733
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,836,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and Highly Informative, July 29, 2006

By 

Robert Shepard Jr. (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kicking the Sacred Cow: Heresy and Impermissible Thoughts in Science (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been a fan of James Hogan's science fiction ever since I picked up "The Proteus Operation" over 20 years ago. At present I have on my shelves practically everything he's ever written. There are two things I really like about Hogan's style: the stories tend to be exciting, and they're also very clearly written.

Now, Hogan writes "hard" science fiction. This means that cutting-edge or even radical new scientific theories play an important role in the plot line of the story, or feature in intellectual conversations and even heated debates carried on by leading characters in the story.

With the advent of the World Wide Web, it became possible for me to do research on some of the more exotic theories of cosmology and catastrophism. Hogan's own web site is a treasure trove for such research, as it contains a mother lode of links to other sites I never would have known about otherwise.

But what I really wanted was a convenient volume collecting some of Hogan's thoughts in one place, suitable for reading at bedtime, without that pesky computer pumping out so much summertime noise and heat.

Enter "Kicking the Sacred Cow", Hogan's latest work of non-fiction. When at last it became available in paperback, I was quick to order it from Amazon, and am very glad I did.

The book contains excellent sections on the following broad range of topics:

- Cosmology: Alternative views on the Big Bang and the Hubble Law, plus an introduction to the "Plasma Universe" theory. Could electromagnetism play a more important role in shaping the universe than mainstream cosmologists think?

- Relativity: Alternatives to Einstein's theories of relativity, plus some background information on how the theories came to be. This was very thick material for a layman like me. I'll probably have to reread it a few times to let it all sink in.

- Catastrophism: Immanual Velikovsky's iconoclastic (many would say lunatic) theory on the origins of the planet Venus, various upheavals recorded in Earth's geological record, and so on. For a gripping science-fiction treatment of these ideas, consider Hogan's novel "Cradle of Saturn".

- Environmentalism: the global warming controversy, the Ozone Hole, DDT, asbestos and radiation. These all affect us in important ways.

- AIDS: It's a modern scourge which has taken millions of lives. But what, exactly, causes it?

- Darwinism: A perennial source of friction between scientists and creationists, but perhaps the argument is not as clear-cut as some on both sides would have you believe.

It would be pointless for me to go into a deep discussion of the material covered in each of those sections. If true, some of these alternative theories would have profound implications on the nature of our existence and that of the universe we inhabit, plus even how we and our children live our daily lives.

Note that Hogan thoughtfully provided a keyword index and an extensive set of references at the end of the book. For those of you interested in exploring these topics more in depth, you can consult books and articles running the gamut from Darwin's mainstream classic, "The Origin of Species", to Velikovsky's radical classic "Worlds in Collision".

What I judge to be the most important message contained in "Kicking the Sacred Cow" can be summarized in the book's dedication: "To Halton Arp, Peter Duesburg -- and all other scientists of integrity who followed where the evidence pointed, and stood by their convictions."

Heavy stuff, to be sure. But what does it all mean? Well, Hogan's works of fiction have undergone quite a change over the decades. His early works, as he himself discusses in "Sacred Cow's" introduction, put a great deal of faith in the "intellectual purity" of science, its ability to follow the facts to their logical conclusions and the betterment of mankind. But a curious thing happened in the 1990s -- Hogan's novels began to focus on a kind of authoritarian Big Science which had been hijacked by various political and economic interest groups, more interested in preserving dogmatic teachings and hierarchical power structures than in discovering the truth, wherever it might lead.

A disturbing parallel, Hogan observes, seems to have developed between the modern scientific establishment and the Medieval Church. Heretics -- those who dare question pronouncements handed down from On High, tended to be ridiculed, pilloried, excommunicated, even burned at the stake.

True, modern-day heretics aren't literally barbecued, but they can be denied funding and tenure, publication in mainstream scientific journals, plus that all-important access to space telescopes, particle accelerators and climatologic measuring stations. Without the tools of their trade, how can they work? They can be labeled as virtual monsters, subjected to personal attacks which have no bearing on the validity of their theories and observations. For a classic example of this, consider what happened between Carl Sagan and Immanuel Velikovsky in 1974.

It is this, I think, which is of most importance, much more than the ins and outs of the individual theories in question. Hogan notes that some of the most influential and revered scientists in history were precisely those who came from outside the traditional power structure: ones like Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Faraday and Albert Einstein.

So, if you are interested in "thinking outside of the box," as the saying goes, of thinking for yourself and not blindly trusting authority figures just because "they say so," Hogan's book "Kicking the Sacred Cow" will be a real eye-opener for you.

48 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are You Ready?, June 30, 2004

By 

Thomas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kicking the Sacred Cow (Hardcover)

I promise you Mr. Hogan will cause you to reconsider some of your most closely held beliefs. Beliefs that until now were so obvious there was little need to even think about the rationale behind them. From AIDS to global warming to evolution to the history of the solar system to the ozone layer to relativity and the big bang, Mr. Hogan asks whether existing data might be just as well (or better) be explained by alternatives other than the conventional wisdom.

While the author clearly has his own beliefs, he does not shove them down the throat of the reader, but offers alternatives to the common wisdom and challenges the reader to think more clearly about their long-held assumptions and how they got them. This is done in the spirit that scientific inquiry is not afraid of facts, but strives to reach conclusions consistent with the facts. I don't believe anyone can come through a careful reading of this book without beginning to question at least some beliefs and assumptions that they previously accepted without a second thought.

Some parts of sections two and three about cosmology and relativity get a little complicated, so if you find yourself beginning to get bogged down, skip ahead to the later sections, and come back to these sections at your leisure rather than quitting.

This book is a marvelous read.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Generalities, Poor Specifics, October 22, 2006

By 

Todd M. Baker "Todd M Baker" (Elma, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kicking the Sacred Cow: Heresy and Impermissible Thoughts in Science (Mass Market Paperback)

Like many who write science fiction, James P. Hogan has turned his hand in this book to science exposition, and he has chosen a supremely interesting topic, the culture of science and alternatives to accepted wisdom. The book is framed by an introduction and an afterword which make some insightful points about how science is conducted and note the consequences to those who question a consensus view. The bulk of the book consists of six sections, case studies of various accepted areas of science and the objections raised to them.

In his introduction, "Engineering and the Truth Fairies," Hogan describes the ideal view of science, but points out that even scientists will accept findings in fields other than their own without skepticism. He states: "I used to say . . . that science was the only area of human activity in which it actually matters whether or not what one believes is true. . . . Today, I reserve that aphorism for engineering" (p. 9). He makes the point that since engineering deals directly with reality, it is a useful guage to the truth of scientific theories. In his afterword, "Gothic Cathedrals and the Stars," he notes that many of the most important findings in science over the past several centuries were actually made by outsiders, from Leonardo da Vinci (who was trained as a painter) to Albert Einstein (who was working as a patent clerk when he made many of his most important findings). He observes: "While most research today depends ultimately on government funding . . . history shows that bureaucratic stifling and an inherent commitment to linear thinking makes officially inaugurated programs the least productive in terms of true creativity" (p. 466). It is a scathing analysis of modern science, but one that is not undeserved.

The six sections forming the majority of the book address cosmology, relativity, catastrophism, environmental concerns, the cause of AIDS, and evolution. While there are some interesting points in these sections (hard science fiction fans, in particular, should see the speculations on faster than light travel on pp. 129-134), I have true expertise in only one area, namely evolution, and so will limit my comments to that section.

To be blunt, Hogan's sixth section, "Humanistic Religion: The Rush to Embrace Darwinism," is rife with errors and misconceptions. The most glaring of these are as follows.

1. Throughout the entire section, he repeatedly equates the process of evolution with the mechanism of natural selection. He only mentions punctuated equilibrium in passing, and never presents it as a mechanism complementary to natual selection.
2. He discounts actual instances of evolution. For instance, he dismisses microevolution as merely adaptation (p. 399).
3. He misuses statistics throughout a considerable segment of the section (pp. 422-432), and also characterizes mutation as the only source of variability available to a species.
4. He describes evolution as the accumulation of information (pp. 434-435) instead of change, which allows him to dismiss even more instances of evolution.
5. He argues that organs, such as the eye, are so complex that evolutionary processes could have never led to their development (pp. 440-444).

These errors and misconceptions lead him to the conclusion that intelligent design is the only possible explanation for the appearance, diversity, and complexity of the natural world. He does not acknowledge the question this begs: Who designed the designer?

I am led to believe that with errors and misconceptions so glaring in one section, the other sections cannot be free of them. Hogan set himself an ambitious task with this book, but he falls woefully short of achieving it. Had he expanded his introduction and afterword and used historical examples instead of contemporary ones, he may have had a brilliant book.