Click on book cover above for a review of Atoms and Eden.
Is the universe "designed" for life? Will science ever unlock the mysteries of the human mind or explain the origins of religion? In "Atoms and Eden," award-winning journalist Steve Paulson explores these questions in an unprecedented collection of interviews with the major figures in the science and religion debate, including Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, E. O. Wilson, Francis Collins, Jane Goodall, and Steven Weinberg.
This book is an unprecedented collection of twenty freewheeling and revealing interviews with major players in the ongoing--and increasingly heated--debate about the relationship between religion and science. These lively conversations cover the most important and interesting topics imaginable: the Big Bang, the origins of life, the nature of consciousness, the foundations of religion, the meaning of God, and much more.
In Atoms and Eden, Peabody Award-winning journalist Steve Paulson explores these topics with some of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time, including Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, E. O. Wilson, Sam Harris, Elaine Pagels, Francis Collins, Daniel Dennett, Jane Goodall, Paul Davies, and Steven Weinberg. The interviewees include Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims, as well as agnostics, atheists, and other scholars who hold perspectives that are hard to categorize. Paulson's interviews sweep across a broad range of scientific disciplines--evolutionary biology, quantum physics, cosmology, and neuroscience--and also explore key issues in theology, religious history, and what William James called "the varieties of religious experience."
Collectively, these engaging dialogues cover the major issues that have often pitted science against religion--from the origins of the universe to debates about God, Darwin, the nature of reality, and the limits of human reason. These are complex, intellectually rich discussions, presented in an accessible and engaging manner. Most of these interviews were originally published as individual cover stories for Salon.com , where they generated a huge reader response. Public Radio's "To the Best of Our Knowledge" will present a major companion series on related topics this fall.
A feast of ideas and competing perspectives, this volume will appeal to scientists, spiritual seekers, and the intellectually curious.
Features
First collection of original interviews on science and religion with this prominent group of scholars.
Sixteen of the twenty interviews originally appeared on Salon.com. Each interview ran as a cover story in Salon, and they all generated a huge amount of reader response.
The author's syndicated radio show, "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (TTBOOK), plans to broadcast a major 4- or 5-hour series in fall 2010 on topics related to this book. TTBOOK will also celebrate its 20th anniversary around the same time. Wisconsin Public Radio and the show's national distributor, Public Radio International, will launch a publicity campaign to promote these events.
Reviews
"In this wonderfully insightful and provocative book, Atoms and Eden , radio journalist Steve Paulson explores two of the most powerful forces in human history - science and religion - and the way they shape our world view. Using interviews with scientists, historians and philosophers as a springboard, Paulson deftly creates a conversation about faith, doubt and the very nature of belief systems that draws the reader into rethinking assumptions about what's important in the way we build our lives today."
--Deborah Blum, author, Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death
Steve Paulson is the executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning public radio program "To the Best of Our Knowledge." He is a recipient of the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in Science and Religion. He has written for Salon, Slate and other publications, and has produced feature stories for NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
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