dietsch ::

Speaking evolution to Christians

Sorry I've been absent this place for a while. I'm sure all three of you would like to see more content here from time to time.

One interesting advantage of my job is that I come across announcements and reviews of cool new books. Today, for example, I was indexing the latest issue of American Biology Teacher and saw an ad for a book called The Evolution Dialogues, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

(The AAAS publishes the journal Science, so this don't look like no Discovery Institute bullshit or anything, pushing ID in science clothing.)

According to the AAAS's press release for the book, it was written for use in adult Christian education programs. The idea seems to be, Let's explain evolution, genetics, and natural selection in layperson's terms; examine the various Christian responses to these concepts over the years; and correct common misunderstandings.

A book like this will succeed more with mainstream Protestants and Roman Catholics than with hard-core fundamentalists, but I could see how moderate evangelicals might find it useful, to better understand the issues involved, whether they accept evolution or not. (Some evangelicals, in fact, do accept that evolution is true.)

I'm going to order a copy, give it a good read, and see what bloggers and critics think of it. I think directly engaging faith communities in a proactive way is a good thing, especially when poll after poll shows that Americans have little understanding of, and patience for, evolution and genetics.

Reading a Death Warrant in Tehran

In late 2004, I blogged about a case in which an Iranian human-rights activist, Shirin Ebadi, faced a Treasury Department ban on the American publication of her memoir. Although I never followed up, the ban was eventually lifted, and her memoir will finally be published next month by Random House.

The NY Times Magazine has a chilling excerpt, in which Ebadi finds a surprising name on a death warrant.

(I wonder whether this entry will spark another incoherent rant from the same anonymous commenter who trolled here previously.)

Darwin's oeuvre

Coinciding with the AMNH exhibit I mentioned previously are two new books, each compiling Darwin's four major works on evolution: Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. Prior to these releases, the four works had never been published together.

The first edition, Darwin: The Indelible Stamp, is from Running Press and is edited by James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double-helix structure. W. W. Norton follows with From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books, edited by E. O. Wilson, the famous Harvard scientist who popularized sociobiological theories.

[via the NYTimes]

Pages: illumination

This looks amazing:

One hundred exquisite medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, dating from the 10th through the 16th centuries and ranging from miniature portable Bibles to oversized Gospel books, make up a new exhibition at The New York Public Library. The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library, on view from October 21, 2005 through February 12, 2006, is the first full-scale exhibition to highlight the incredible breadth of the Library's collection of Western European illuminated manuscripts, among the largest in North America.

At the Humanities research library, at 42nd and 5th (the one with the lions), through February. [Links: NYTimes; NYPL]

100 books, so little Time

Via just about everywhere, Time's top-rated English-language novels, from 1923 to now: http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html I'm not going to bother debating the merits of any book on the list, nor will I lament the absense of a particular book or author. What I will do is list the books that I've read and those I'd like to read. Here goes, in Time's order (that is, alphabetical by book title). Books I've read: All the King's Men The Assistant (want to re-read) Beloved The Big Sleep (read at least twice) Catch-22 (want to re-read) The Catcher in the Rye (twice) A Clockwork Orange (twice) Go Tell It on the Mountain (want to re-read) The Grape of Wrath Great Gatsby (twice) Lolita Lord of the Flies (twice) The Lord of the Rings (twice) Neuromancer (twice) 1984 (twice) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (want to re-read) Rabbit, Run Ragtime Red Harvest Slaughterhouse-Five The Spy Who Came in from the Cold The Sun Also Rises (twice) To Kill a Mockingbird Watchmen (twice) So, 24% of the full list. Books I want to read soonish: An American Tragedy Animal Farm (how is it possible I've never read this?) The Berlin Stories Call It Sleep Deliverance Portnoy's Complaint

Copyright and IP stuff again.

Copyright and IP stuff again. I know, it ain't your bag, probably. Oh fucking well. But this is more ha-ha than zzz-zzz, so be cool. I was out at St. Mark's Bookshop tonight and I bought a couple issues of 2600, along with the paperback edition of Laurence Lessig's latest book, The Future of Ideas. My interest in copyright and IP stuff went on hold while I moved, found a place to live, found a job, and so on, but now I can pay more attention to these things again. Anyway, I started reading Lessig's book tonight. I'm not far in yet, but it's interesting. Remember the days, about six years ago, when everyone said the Internet would revolutionize communication and entertainment? "Watch out, big boys," they all said. "When consumers can get music and movies and books over the Internet, why will they need cable or record stores or Borders, eh? It's a new world, old media, so adapt or get the hell out of the way." So, it's 2002, and where are we? Napster is dead. Audiogalaxy, dead. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act have double-teamed the American public, stifling innovation and keeping older works from entering the public domain. Someone "adapted" in the old vs. new media war, and it sure wasn't old media. These are the issues Lessig covers. And, really, I've been meaning to read his book for months. But it took until now. So, I sat and read about 30 pages tonight and then I got to thinking, "Hmmm. Anna Mojo has been discussing IP stuff off and on in her Web log also. I wonder whether she has anything new on this." Go have a peek and see what I saw when I got on her log. Maybe you'll chuckle as I did.

Cracked, yellowing

Cracked, yellowing--in which I muse about bookstores I've loved.

Down and Out

I've been reading George Orwell's first novel Down and Out in Paris and London in preparation for my trip. I've intended to read this book for quite a while, and this seemed like the perfect time. Orwell writes about a young writer living in poverty in the two cities. The book is based in part on his own experience as a young writer living in poverty in the two cities, and that comes across in rich character detail and his descriptions of living for days without food. It's quite a brilliant book, really, and although I'll be actually be rather up and in while in Paris and London, it seemed a perfect title to borrow for my log.

Have patience

I beg you...to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without ever noticing it, live your way into the answer...

-Rainer Maria Rilke
"Letters to a Young Poet," letter four

Finder

Comic-book writer Warren Ellis has been pushing a book called Finder on his forum for quite some time now. Finder is a soft sci-fi series by Carla Speed McNeil. It's not an easy book to describe, but if you go out to her Web site, you can learn a bit more about it. The comic gets a lot of acclaim and when Carla popped up on Warren's forum, saying she had copies for sale straight from her site and that the first collection was very nearly sold out, I ponied up and bought a copy, straight from her. So, it arrived in the mail today. I opened the mailer and pulled out a copy of the first trade paperback ("Sin Eater") and several folded sheets of paper. "Hm, what's these?" I wondered. "Too much paper here to be a receipt." When I opened them, I saw three pages of pencil sketches by Carla. She apparently works in breakdowns before drawing each issue. What that means is she makes rough sketches of the panels that will appear on each page. This technique helps artists work out storytelling problems and create a sense of the flow of each issue. Think of it as storyboarding a movie before filming. She also apparently drafts her captions and dialogue balloons on those pages. Even though the Web site clearly states "All orders will include original production sketches while supplies last" I didn't notice it. Here's links to the finished version of the pages she sent me: page 14
page 15 I have earlier versions of page 14 (minus the captions) and an early version of the top half of page 15, including rough captions and dialogue. Remarkable.

Atlantic Monthly and chain bookshops

Atlantic Monthly has an interesting article on chain bookshops. It's worth reading and I think it makes some valid points about why they might not be as evil as they're frequently made out to be.

Bad science

Arts and Letters Daily had an interesting link this morning to a review of two new books about bad science--anything from cold fusion to N-rays to astrology and homeopathy. The review gave both books favorable marks, which intrigues me all the more. Both books are available in the U.S., so I might have to check out one or both when I finish the backlog of books I'm currently working through.