Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order
by George Johnson
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Description
Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? And is what we call science only a set of myths in which quarks, DNA, and information fill the role once occupied by gods? These questions lie at the heart of George Johnson's audacious exploration of the border between science and religion, cosmic accident and timeless law. Northern New Mexico is home both to the most provocative new enterprises in quantum physics, show more information science, and the evolution of complexity and to the cosmologies of the Tewa Indians and the Catholic Penitentes. As it draws the reader into this landscape, juxtaposing the systems of belief that have taken root there, Fire in the Mind into a gripping intellectual adventure story that compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins. "A must for all those seriously interested in the key ideas at the frontier of scientific discourse."--Paul Davies show lessTags
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Member Reviews
George Johnson was my group leader in a recent Santa Fe Science-Writing workshop. In several of our discussions, this book came up, so I decided to read it when I came home. Drawing inspiration from the Pueblo Indians who live near him, and from the scientists at Los Alamos and the Santa Fe Institute, Johnson weaves together a powerful story of how humans carve up the world to make sense of it. If you ever wondered if there were laws guiding the universe, or whether the order we find in it is a mere artifact of the way we have evolved, this is an immensely provocative book that considers all sides of the question. Well-written and well-reasoned, this is one of my favorite books this year.
compares/contrasts modern scientific thought to religious beliefs--not very convincing
One of my favorite books on science and spirituality, with a geographical focus on New Mexico.
Yes he is a very good writer and very knowledgeable about science
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ThingScore 50
Mr. Johnson shows admirable openness and agnosticism as he examines, chapter by chapter, a range of scientific frontiers furthest from the simple and deterministic physics and chemistry of objects operating at our scales and times. But he occasionally shows the hand of conventional bias, thus affirming by example (and perhaps unintentionally) the mental obstacles that stand against our show more restructuring of nature.
He is particularly reluctant to view the history of life as undetermined in broad outline and not predictably driven to greater complexity (although he gives my own contrary views both a lucid explanation and a fair summary). And he honestly locates this reluctance in our social traditions and psychological preferences. He writes, "Most of us feel certain that the biological world inexorably increases in complexity." But why do you feel this way, Mr. Johnson, in a world that has been truly dominated by bacteria since life began? show less
He is particularly reluctant to view the history of life as undetermined in broad outline and not predictably driven to greater complexity (although he gives my own contrary views both a lucid explanation and a fair summary). And he honestly locates this reluctance in our social traditions and psychological preferences. He writes, "Most of us feel certain that the biological world inexorably increases in complexity." But why do you feel this way, Mr. Johnson, in a world that has been truly dominated by bacteria since life began? show less
added by jlelliott
Author Information
9+ Works 2,125 Members
George Johnson was born in 1952, in Fayetteville, Ark. He has worked for newspapers in Albuquerque, N.Mex. and Minneapolis, Minn., and is a science writer for the New York Times. His first book, Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in American Politics (1984), won a special achievement award in nonfiction from the Los Angeles show more chapter of International PEN. Many of Johnson's other books evidence thoughtful, spiritual examinations of the relation between man and science. Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith and the Search for Order (1995) is about the diversity of ideas in New Mexico. Johnson draws parallels between Los Alamos and the worshipful view of scientific discovery and the high desert, a sacred place for the Tewa Indians and Hermanos Penitentes. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Important places
- Truchas, New Mexico, USA; Santa Fe Institute
- Epigraph
- When all the stars were ready to placed in the sky First Woman said, "I will use these to write the laws that are to govern mankind for all time. These laws cannot be written on the water as that is always changing its form, ... (show all)nor can they be written in the sand as the wind would soon erase them, but if they are written in the stars they can be read and remembered forever."
- FROM A NAVAJO CREATION STORY - Dedication
- For Nancy Maret
- First words
- Several years ago, on a visit home to New Mexico from my self-imposed exile in New York City, I was driving through the predominantly Catholic village of Truchas, on the high road from Santa Fe to Taos, when I rounded a corne... (show all)r and was startled to see a tiny adobe church with a makeshift steeple of corrugated green and yellow plastic (the kind used to cover carports and swimming pools) and a sign that read "Templo Sion, Asambleados de Dios" - Zion Temple, Assembly of God. (Introduction)
In the evening, just as their planet is about to complete another revolution, small bands of earthlings gather in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and engage in a ritual that is probably as old as humankind.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, General Nonfiction, Philosophy, Travel
- DDC/MDS
- 215 — Religion Philosophy & theory of religion Science and religion
- LCC
- BL240.2 .J547 — Philosophy, Psychology and Religion Religions. Mythology. Rationalism Religions. Mythology. Rationalism Natural theology Religion and science
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 329
- Popularity
- 96,239
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.97)
- Languages
- English, German, Italian, Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 1
