nyny

book recommendation

Lately I've been reading this book by Gerald Schroeder. I'm a little less than halfway finished, but so far it's proven to be extremely helpful. I've had questions rolling around in my head literally for years now about the history of the universe and the origins of life. It's been really difficult for me to reconcile intelligent, scientific awareness with creationism as taught by the church. It's by no means a perfect book, so I'm not taking everything he says at face value. However, this is the first time I've ever felt hope in existing as both a scientifically literate person and a person of faith in regards to this topic; those two camps don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Schroeder goes into significant detail in explaining complex concepts, so you have to really stay with it and pay attention to what you are reading. It's really worth it though. His discussion of the theory of relativity is particularly thorough and engaging. Throughout my scholastic career, I specifically remember only three things that I had substantial difficulty understanding. The first was the concept of negative numbers in 5th grade. The second was the concept of imaginary numbers in 9th grade. Both of those things took a couple of days for me to get a handle on. The third thing was the theory of relativity in my 11th grade physics class. I just absolutely could not understand how time could slow down. I think some of this is due to the fact that my physics teacher wasn't really that great, but until now I've never really understood the concept. I guess I've never really been confronted with it or been in a situation where I was forced to understand it (for some reason we didn't cover it in my college physics class). Now, eight years after my introduction to this theory, Schroeder has explained it in such a way that I now have a real handle on it. It may seem unimportant to some, but this accomplishment is really satisfying and feels significant to me.

Anyway, it's a good book. You should read it if you are dealing with similar issues/thoughts.

posted by becka @ 11:19 PM