The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God [Hardcover]

Roy Abraham Varghese (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Tyr Publishing; 1 edition (Jan 1 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0972347313
ISBN-13: 978-0972347310
Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.1 x 3.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 739 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #149,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Varghese, an impresario of science-religion dialogues who is perhaps best known as co-editor of Cosmos, Bios, Theos, uses scientific insights to build a broad, if somewhat uneven, case for theistic belief. Although Varghese is obviously familiar with contemporary science and its interpreters, he highlights four thinkers of the premodern era: Avicenna (Ibn-Sina), Aquinas, Maimonides and Madhvacharya. Although each figure represents a different philosophical/religious tradition, their worldviews coincide at many essential points. But more importantly, Varghese argues, their vision of an orderly and intelligible universe was the "Matrix" required for the development of modern science. If theism provided the first foundations of science, then the naturalistic or skeptical perspective assumed in scientific circles today might be exposed as unnecessary or even self-defeating. These arguments have been made before, at least where the first three figures are concerned; but Varghese's discussion of Madhvacharya and the theistic school of Hinduism he represents adds a distinctive note. Unfortunately, readers interested in Varghese's distinctive insights must wade through the book's somewhat sprawling construction and competing organizational themes. Several sections of the book are set up as an online dialogue between "Geek" and "Guru," a device that succeeds at points but becomes somewhat stilted as the book unfolds. Geek poses a few hardball questions just where Guru has effective answers; but on the whole he is a soft opponent, never pressing an advantage and often too yielding to Guru's arguments to come across as a convincing skeptic.
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Product Description

The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God is an inquiry into those every day experiences and "facts of life" that are as mystifying as they are obvious and ordinary. From commonplace phenomena like language and reproduction to such enigmas as energy, life, consciousness, mind and the laws of nature. Science brings us face to face with magic and mystery. The world is nothing less than a wonderland. This book is a dialogue between an atheist scientist ("Geek") and a theist ("Guru") with a special featuring of the "matrix of modern science" where we see that in contrast to the often assumed conflict between religion and science, "the womb of modern science" converged in a fascinating and historical way through the 4 greatest thinkers of the Hindu, Jewish, Christian and Moslem religions.Great questions with great answers: What did the pioneers and prophets of science think about God? What happened before the Big Bang? Is there a supra-scientific Theory of Everything?

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 4.1 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly excellent book on science and ontology, Nov 12 2005

By Bill Groves "seeker" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Hardcover)

The author states he is not a scientist, but an ontologist. This undoubtedly is true, but he also has an excellent grasp of science from cosmology to quantum physics. I have read many books looking for a scientific perspective on the nature of the Creator and this is clearly the best so far. He avoids the pitfalls of simple anthropic arguments and cuts to the very core of this issue with razor sharp philisophical, ontological, scientific insight. This is a true monumental work of art on the subject of understanding the nature and mind of God through science and ontology. I'd recommend it very highly.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonder of the World is a Wonder, May 6 2008

By Kevin J. Mastaw - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Hardcover)

If you're lookin for good, well thought out, arguments against the atheist world-view, this book is loaded with them. Varghese covers a lot of ground, here, and touches on almost every aspect of scientific and meta-scientific thought. In fact, one of my criticisms is that he may have tried to cover too much ground in one book. He almost could have used this material to write 3 books, here.

The book is based on written discourse between Professor Madhava Mitra - a.k.a. the Guru - founder of the Sakshi Hermitage in the Himalyas and Joseph Levin - a.k.a. the Geek - a post-doctoral research assistant at MIT. Levin's father died and, in consoling him, Mitra uses the opportunity to show how Levin's world-view falls far short of giving a reasonable explanation of our experiences.

I found myself getting lost in some of the logic but that didn't stop me from enjoying the book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wonder of the World, Jan 23 2008

By Gloria J. Smith - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Hardcover)

This author of this book asks questions about the existence of God that I have never thought of such as how do photons and electrons know what to do, how to bond and move, and have been doing so for hundreds of trillions of years. It provides a scientific way of understanding how the universe and life are based on intelligence that existed before the Big Bang. Presenting the information as a dialogue between the "Geek (the author)" and the "Guru (scientist, Madhva Mitra)" is the author's way of asking questions and responses from both sides of every issue in the book. It is fascinating and easy enough reading for the non-science person to understand and enjoy. I have come to more fully appreciate the wonder of the world and life more as result of reading Varghese's engaging and studied treatment of subject.

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