A self-help book from the perspective of reason and scientific exploration.

“Quanology is a look at life through the eyes of evolution”

I initially looked forward to reading this book as I had already read several reviews that it was a easily understandable look at how evolution plays a part in our lives today. However, before the end of the first chapter I was ready to put the book down and walk away. Since I have yet to start and never finish a book, I wanted to keep an open mind till the very end (and it was quite the struggle).

I’ll start with the content of this book but it is not the only thing I found an issue with.

I don’t at all appreciate books that outright dismiss belief in God (or any belief system for that matter) as idiotic. As the author states in the first chapter, religious beliefs are “usually wrong and based on bullshit” and “a detachment from the truth.” Evolution and faith are not 2 sides of an argument. I entirely agree that science is not a belief system which is why I can read research, accept evolution, and still claim faith in a God. Books like this have an undertone of years of built up anger and hate towards religion. It’s simply not necessary in a book that seeks to simplify evolution for the layman/ woman to criticize religion. And while he generalizes it to all religion, he is clearly specifying Christianity, most likely because that’s what he has had experience with (not that he is picking on only that religion). I would have been offended and annoyed had this been about any religion or deity so please don’t think its simply because it hit a personal nerve. Had he said Allah, Adonai, devas, Ganesha, or even Oden or Zeus.

Beyond the religious aspect, this book claims to be a work of science but at no point is research cited. Even for a book to be accessible to the simplest minded person, if you are going to say its all about science then do the scientifically appropriate thing at cite your work. When I read (or write) research or a book claiming a backing of science, I expect citations and when there is none, I can only assume its because they are stating an opinion or, at the very least, there isn’t any research to back up their statements. This is probably the point that most effected my feeling and rating for this book.

Finally, while the easy going nature of the writing style was fine, overall I found it boring and repetitive. In the beginning the author kept stating his intentions for the book but, after the first few times, I was tempted to skip ahead to where he would actually start talking about those very things. There are occasional times in which humor seeps into the simplifying definition of a term but that may be one of the only redeeming qualities of this book.

I didn’t particularly enjoy this book at all and I would only recommend this to you if you are already firm in your stance on evolution and just as easily dismiss all religions as ludicrous. If you are not at least open to the idea, this book is definitely not for you, will most likely offend you, and you’ll want to put it down long before the end.

Please note: I read this book online at paperbackreviewer.com for free in return for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed here are my own. ( )