The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God [Hardcover]

Roy Abraham Varghese (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0972347313 | ISBN-13: 978-0972347310 | Publication Date: December 15, 2003

In The Wonder of the World, "Guru" (Madhva Mitra) and "Geek" (Joe Levin) debate the fundamental questions of existence. These are the starting points of their inquiry:

- What happened before the Big Bang?
- Does the universe have an IQ?
- How do electrons and photons, cells and proteins, "know" what to do and what keeps them ticking?
- How do thoughts "cause" brain events?
- Is there a supra-scientific Theory of Everything?
- What did the pioneers and prophets of science think of God?

Guru is an exponent of the God-equation that underlies science and reason and Geek is an atheist scientist who holds that science leaves no room for religion. Guru seeks to show that we can "see" God here and now. Geek says, "show me." Guru offers to lead a pilgrimage from the invention of Nature to the Mind of God. Join them now as they journey through the Wonder of the World: space, time and motion; the quantum microverse; Big Bang and other cosmologies; the saga of life on planet Earth and the appearance of rational self-consciousness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Varghese, an impresario of science-religion dialogues who is perhaps best known as co-editor of Cosmos, Bios, Theos, uses scientific insights to build a broad, if somewhat uneven, case for theistic belief. Although Varghese is obviously familiar with contemporary science and its interpreters, he highlights four thinkers of the premodern era: Avicenna (Ibn-Sina), Aquinas, Maimonides and Madhvacharya. Although each figure represents a different philosophical/religious tradition, their worldviews coincide at many essential points. But more importantly, Varghese argues, their vision of an orderly and intelligible universe was the "Matrix" required for the development of modern science. If theism provided the first foundations of science, then the naturalistic or skeptical perspective assumed in scientific circles today might be exposed as unnecessary or even self-defeating. These arguments have been made before, at least where the first three figures are concerned; but Varghese's discussion of Madhvacharya and the theistic school of Hinduism he represents adds a distinctive note. Unfortunately, readers interested in Varghese's distinctive insights must wade through the book's somewhat sprawling construction and competing organizational themes. Several sections of the book are set up as an online dialogue between "Geek" and "Guru," a device that succeeds at points but becomes somewhat stilted as the book unfolds. Geek poses a few hardball questions just where Guru has effective answers; but on the whole he is a soft opponent, never pressing an advantage and often too yielding to Guru's arguments to come across as a convincing skeptic.
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Review

...a highly illuminating and thought-provoking discussion of all the important issues on the borderline between science and religion. -- Robert Jastrow - founder of NASAÂ’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, Director of the Mount Wilson Observatory and author of God and the Astronomers

...a sensitive, profound and clear discussion of the important issues of our universe and our existence. -- Charles H. Townes - Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the laser

...helped me to challenge and refine my...answers to the ultimate questions that each one of us must ask. -- Arno Penzias - Nobel Prize winner; discovered Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation establishing the Big Bang theory

I intend to reread The Wonder of the World at leisure. I was hugely impressed and substantially challenged by it. --Antony Flew - the world's best-known atheist and a critic of theism for more than 50 years

Though I found myself arguing with both protagonists, the issues raised and Guru s lucid outline of modern science s framework of understanding, helped me to challenge and refine my own answers to the ultimate questions that each one of us must ask. --Arno Penzias Nobel Prize winner; discovered Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation establishing the Big Bang theory

Varghese explores the basic and critical questions we face concerning this remarkable and wonderful universe. Why are we here? Where are we going? This is no doctrinaire treatise, but a sensitive, profound and clear discussion of the important issues of our universe and our existence, including questions, answers, and uncertainties. It is written with a deep understanding of philosophy, spirituality, and the complex science involved, yet expressed in a way which is interesting and very understandable to the non-specialist. --Charles H. TownesNobel Prize winner and inventor of the laser

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Tyr Publishing (December 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972347313
• ISBN-13: 978-0972347310
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roy Abraham Varghese, author of The Wonder of the World, is the editor and author of various books on the interface between science and religion. Of these, Cosmos, Bios, Theos, included contributions from 24 Nobel Prize winners and was described as "the year's most intriguing book about God" by Time magazine. This was the best-selling book from the publishing house Open Court. Cosmic Beginnings and Human Ends won a Templeton Book Prize in 1995. Great Thinkers on Great Questions was published by OneWorld of Oxford, England, and distributed worldwide by Penguin. God-Sent and the best selling God-Fleshed were two works of popular theology published by Crossworld Herder, the US division of the German publishing house Herder and Herder. Varghese was a panelist at the science and religion forum in the Parliament of World Religions held in Chicago in 1993. He was also an invited participant in the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held at the United Nations in August 2000. He has organized several conferences with dialogues between noted atheists and theists including a conference at Yale University on Artificial Intelligence. He has worked on conferences and publications with some of the best-known atheists in the English-speaking world, ranging from Antony Flew and Sir Alfred Ayer of Oxford to Marvin Minsky of MIT as well as with prominent scientists (including a number of Nobel Prize winners).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly excellent book on science and ontology, November 12, 2005

By 

Bill Groves "seeker" (Cushing, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Hardcover)

The author states he is not a scientist, but an ontologist. This undoubtedly is true, but he also has an excellent grasp of science from cosmology to quantum physics. I have read many books looking for a scientific perspective on the nature of the Creator and this is clearly the best so far. He avoids the pitfalls of simple anthropic arguments and cuts to the very core of this issue with razor sharp philisophical, ontological, scientific insight. This is a true monumental work of art on the subject of understanding the nature and mind of God through science and ontology. I'd recommend it very highly.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonder of the World is a Wonder, May 6, 2008

By 

Kevin J. Mastaw (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Hardcover)

If you're lookin for good, well thought out, arguments against the atheist world-view, this book is loaded with them. Varghese covers a lot of ground, here, and touches on almost every aspect of scientific and meta-scientific thought. In fact, one of my criticisms is that he may have tried to cover too much ground in one book. He almost could have used this material to write 3 books, here.

The book is based on written discourse between Professor Madhava Mitra - a.k.a. the Guru - founder of the Sakshi Hermitage in the Himalyas and Joseph Levin - a.k.a. the Geek - a post-doctoral research assistant at MIT. Levin's father died and, in consoling him, Mitra uses the opportunity to show how Levin's world-view falls far short of giving a reasonable explanation of our experiences.

I found myself getting lost in some of the logic but that didn't stop me from enjoying the book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wonder of the World, January 23, 2008

By 

Gloria J. Smith (Mesa, Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Hardcover)

This author of this book asks questions about the existence of God that I have never thought of such as how do photons and electrons know what to do, how to bond and move, and have been doing so for hundreds of trillions of years. It provides a scientific way of understanding how the universe and life are based on intelligence that existed before the Big Bang. Presenting the information as a dialogue between the "Geek (the author)" and the "Guru (scientist, Madhva Mitra)" is the author's way of asking questions and responses from both sides of every issue in the book. It is fascinating and easy enough reading for the non-science person to understand and enjoy. I have come to more fully appreciate the wonder of the world and life more as result of reading Varghese's engaging and studied treatment of subject.