The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion [Hardcover]

Herman Wouk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2010

"More years ago than I care to reckon up, I met Richard Feynman." So begins THE LANGUAGE GOD TALKS, Herman Wouk's gem on navigating the divide between science and religion. In one rich, compact volume, Wouk draws on stories from his life as well as on key events from the 20th century to address the eternal questions of why we are here, what purpose faith serves, and how scientific fact fits into the picture. He relates wonderful conversations he's had with scientists such as Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Freeman Dyson, and Steven Weinberg, and brings to life such pivotal moments as the 1969 moon landing and the Challenger disaster. Brilliantly written, THE LANGUAGE GOD TALKS is a scintillating and lively investigation and a worthy addition to the literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At age 94, Wouk embarks on an autobiographical journey through his monumental writings (The Caine Mutiny; The Winds of War; War and Remembrance), people he has met in his life, world events, and books he has read (including the Talmud) to weave a testament of faith. Throughout the book, he returns to his friendship with Nobel laureateRichard Feynman, whose work as a scientist on the atomic bomb and life as a humanist challenge the author's Orthodox Jewish beliefs. Along the way the reader meets other scientists and their accomplishments and also some of Wouk's fictional characters. What most impresses Wouk is the big bang (the first three minutes) and the small bang (the universe giving birth to the mind) so that humans could comprehend God. Ever so faithful to his Jewish heritage, he discusses how research in the scientific and secular world strengthened his faith. This book will interest any person of faith who has followed Wouk's storied career and read his fiction. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

The first half of Wouk’s third book on religion (after This Is My God, 1959, and The Will to Live On, 1999) is as engaging as his megaselling historical novels. It’s about his encounters with famous scientists, foremost among them physicist Richard Feynman, who suggested Wouk learn the “language God talks”—calculus. Wouk tried, unsuccessfully, but anyway kept on meeting and palavering with scientists, a habit acquired researching the atom bomb for The Winds of War (1971) and War and Remembrance (1978). His recounting of the science history he learned, predominantly about space exploration, is done so personably that stargazing laypersons ought to be tickled pink. He uses a little paleoanthropology and more WWII research to bridge from science to religion but then, unfortunately, bogs down abstracting the Battle of Leyte and Holocaust episodes in the war novels. He finishes well, though, with an imaginary dialogue with Feynman that winningly binds him and the physicist as Jews and affirms the continuing viability of questioning God. Hard not to like. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 183 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (April 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031607845X
• ISBN-13: 978-0316078450
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Herman Wouk earned his living as a scriptwriter for Fred Allen before serving in World War II. His career as a novelist spans nearly six decades and has brought him resounding international acclaim. He lives in Palm Springs, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Science, Theology ... Memoir, March 31, 2010

By 

litaddiction (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion (Hardcover)

From the epigraph:

"It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe [...] can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil -- which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama." --Richard Feynman

In THE LANGUAGE GOD TALKS, 94-year-old (!) Herman Wouk explores that cosmological stage and that human drama, and does it mostly through stories, including memoir.

He begins with science and the Big Bang, setting the enormity of the stage by recapping space exploration (including the race-for-space and the shuttle disasters) and the telescope's estimation/definition of the universe. He includes anecdotes about prominent scientists, including their theology (or not), particularly physicist Richard Feynman, who Wouk met while researching the Manhattan Project for his 1970s WWII novels (The Winds of War and War and Remembrance). Then he moves to the Small Bang (the birth of the mind, exemplified best through art, he says) and explores dramas in his own life through prompts from Tevya, Confucius, Job, and characters in his novels.

It's a small book with an agile, imaginative voice that's easy to read. But it's not necessarily simple to understand -- vignette-ish and symbolic, with a whole-is-greater-than-its-parts feel that invites a re-read. I came to this book new to Wouk, and developed an admiration, even a fondness, for him, and an interest in his previous works. This book seems directed to pop-sci fans and religious believers, but I think philosophers and lovers of literature (especially those familiar with Wouk) will like it more.

(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.)

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Language of Science, April 18, 2010

By 

L. Brandau - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion (Hardcover)

The Language God, Talks on Science and Religion by Herman Wouk is not so much about God, but the gentle philosophical musings of the author as he looks back on his life. He writes about his meeting with a theoretical physicist, Richard Phillips Feynman, which seemed to have quite an impact on his life. The author obviously has an interest in the heavens, but in a secular way, as he discusses space exploration. He describes his witness to the liftoff of Apollo 11 and what he believes is the future of space travel.

I was quite moved as I read his account of viewing the Dead Sea Scrolls in an underground wing of Jerusalem's Israel Museum. This was not an easy book for me to read and understand, but I will accept the blame as my own shortcoming. Herman Wouk is an intellectual - and I am not.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A not-quite autobiography, June 15, 2010

By 

E. Goldstein (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion (Hardcover)

Chances are, this is the closest thing we are going to get to a Herman Wouk autobiography. Not that The Language God Talks sets out to be any such thing. Its intention is to explain why Wouk believes. Sure, Richard Feynman, with a father born in Minsk same as Wouk's father was born in Minsk, refused to have a bar mitzvah. Sure the popular science Wouk reads--and Wouk apparently reads a lot of it--mostly considers belief unnecessary, when it bothers to consider the matter at all. Sure modernity's arrow is in the direction of non-belief. Wouk believes, he revels in the complexity of the Talmud, he adores the Prophets and the Psalms, he actually goes to the synagogue on a regular basis. Those of us with a soft spot in our hearts for this tradition don't see that explanation is necessary or perhaps possible. But we're not the ones writing the book.

To be honest, if you are really interested in the arguments for belief or non-belief there are better places to go. What this book has that the others don't have are fascinating snippets of autobiography. Wouk's encounters with Richard Feynman. How Wouk conceived the novels on WWll, and how the conception changed as he was trying to put it together. How he met the man who showed up in the novels as Pug Henry. How Wouk researched the books for years and years, and how at one point he considered himself in a race to finish them in the time he had left. Even hints on who were the originals of the characters in The Caine Mutiny. And along the way, how Wouk sought out Raul Hilberg, and how the University of Vermont, where Hilberg taught, had no idea that a great historian resided in its midst.

Somewhere in the book Wouk tells the story of an engineer who spent all his professional working life in Australia, which he has come to love, and who eventually decides to retire to his native state of Nevada. Before he leaves, he looks around, knowing he might never see Australia again. Wouk doesn't hide what he is doing. He is lovingly looking around at his own creations, as if he might not see them again. His own invented characters live for him. The book sometimes has an elegiac tone.

Of course he only talks about what he wants to talk about. There is lots, lots and lots he leaves out: his book, his privilege. Hint to those who write biography: here is an interesting subject, with a fine humanist mind, who lived in an interesting time. But we take what we can get. For those of us who care about his novels, this book, take it all in all, is worth it.