Republican Denial of Reality?

I would like to make my point from a few days ago (can you be smart and a Republican at the same time) even stronger, so I present you with a few more interesting bits of information I stumbled upon on the Web.

1. An article from Slate, by Phil Plate: Why is Our Government Attacking Science?
2. Again, from Slate: Mandating Scientific Discovery Never Works, by Lawrence Krauss.

Both authors are great scientist (see Plait's "Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World" and Krauss' "A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing"), and both of them understand how science works extremely well. On the other hand the Republicans in the government seem to only accept science that is convenient for them, either politically, or ideologically. And that, of course, will take us back to the times where science, "reason" and philosophy were in the service of the rulers. We still call those times "The Dark Ages", and for a very good reason.

Do You Believe In Magic?

You do, if you use homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, Reiki, some kind of faith healing, and countless other alternative medicine modalities that have absolutely no roots in modern science, reality and critical thinking. Most of them are just ways of "wishing away" the problem, and while some might "work" as a placebo, the might have some dangers associated with their use, and, when used instead of real medical interventions, all of them can be deadly (see here, here, and here).

So, why do we do it? Because we want miracles? Because we don't know any better? Because science is complex and, sometimes, difficult to understand? Probably, all of the above.

It is good to know that we can count on a few brave authors, who do the research, dig out the details and present it in a nice fashion, digestible by the regular folks like us. Among them is Paul Offit, a medical doctor, a researcher, and a strong proponent of reality-based medicine, including vaccines. His previous books, "Autism False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search For a Cure", and "Deadly Choices" were both excellent descriptions of the vaccine "controversy", how it started, evolved from bad science to social movement, and how it threatens our health and the well-being (and lives) of our children. Knowing his great writing style and deep commitment to science and research, I was very excited to find out that his new book "Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine" is out. I should have more of my own thoughts about it in a few days (or weeks, it's summer after all), but in the meantime, here are two reviews available on line:

Book raises alarms about alternative medicine - from USA Today, by Liz Szabo
and
Vaccine advocate takes on the alternative medicine industry - NBC News

There is also more on the topic from Liz Szabo: Alternative therapies, supplements can cause side effects and How to guard against a quack

Go, read it all, and stop believing in magic. It's the 21st Century!

Book Recommendation: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief

If you want to see how to create a new religion in less than one generation, pick up this book:

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

I live pretty close to Clearwater, passed by the Scientology base there many times, I have seen their tables with e-meters in the local malls, and years and years ago, when I was working around Times Square in NYC, I peeked into their center there as well. For many years, I assumed it was a harmless cult for people in search of some spiritual need, the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, something new and exciting in their lives. After all, isn't that what all religions give us? However, as I was learning more about this particular cult, I realized that its dangers exceed any other religions we are familiar with, due to its secrecy, extend of its influence on people, and pure lunacy of its beliefs.

Now, after reading Wright's excellent book, I have even more contempt for this crazy cult and its followers, especially those who seem to have "brains" to think for themselves, and just refuse to do so, because they are too invested (either psychologically, or financially) in something that is so blatantly crazy.

The book has basically three logical parts:

• L. Ron Hubbard's early years - his war "heroism", his science-fiction writing career and the beginnings of his methods of mind control.
• Hubbard's "public" years - the crazy voyages across the seas, the beginnings of the religion of Scientology, dealings with foreign governments, the first battles with the IRS, and finally his "disappearance" (real and metaphysical).
• Scientology under David Miscavige - the victory over the IRS, and the expansion of the church, especially into Hollywood.

While the book starts off a bit slowly, and the elaborate details of Hubbard's early life seem a bit boring, they do paint an excellent picture of the future cult/religion, and it's apparent success. Hubbard's personality and his imagination were instrumental in establishing foundations of Scientology. The history of the church under Miscavige is a different story altogether, which reads more like a good suspense, or crime novel, rather than an account of things that really happen.

"Going Clear" is not only an excellent primer on Scientology itself, but it is also a great study on how a new religion can be created in a very short time, given a charismatic leader, a few lies here and there, and a group of people with enough problems in their own lives, that they would follow anyone and anything like sheep. Scientology, along with the Mormon church, is the second "major" religion created in the last 200 years, with enough historical records to study this strange human behavior and better understand human needs for community and belonging, and how those traits can be used and abused by others.

I guess, the only complaint I have about Lawrence Wright's book, is its very ending, in which the author actually seems to be giving Scientology a free pass, by comparing it to older, more mature religions and implying that since most of us need some kind of religious affiliation in our lives, Scientology could, and should become just one of many religions, that guide us through our short and miserable existence.

Summer Slump and Book Recommendations

Summer is here and the slump has begun. Not really... overwhelmed by work in various forms, I completely lack time for writing anything coherent about multitudes of stupidity and gullibility we face daily in our lives.

I would like to write excessively about an ad I saw in a local Polish cultural center about a person, who claims, can "read God", tell you how to reconnect with your loved ones in heaven and extend your life in some magical way. To top it off, that person, in his ad, written in extremely bad English, boasts that he does it all for only 40% of profits, sending the other 60% as a spiritual gift to some mistical place. No kidding! What a bargain!
Or, along the same lines (different name, same BS), I would love to write about the complete nonsense of Reiki, and its scamming ways, making people pay for something that does not exist. Reiki, being an eastern version of therapeutic touch (TT) has no scientific background behind its claims, as famously demonstrated by Emily Rosa in 1998. Yet, right next to the guy who can "read God", I saw an ad from a Reiki master, claiming all kinds of benefits, for a price, of course.

Unfortunately, no time for all this due to work engagements. Luckily, Kindle does wonders, and I was able to read two excellent books that I would like to recommend to everyone:

1. "Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming" - Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway
What an excellent overview of the last 50 years of anti-science propaganda, from tobacco industry, acid rain effects, ozone hole and the Star Wars program of the 80s, to the global warming denial, all courtesy of the same people and the same special interests. This book is extremely well written and can hold your interest for hours, presenting facts and connections you would not suspect existed. It is interesting and frightening at the same time, to remember the 80s, when we first started hearing about the ozone hole and how we were damaging it. It felt like the doomsday was upon us, that soon, we would not be able to leave the confines of our homes on a sunny day. When solutions were proposed, I remember various companies and whole industries crying how it'll kill the economy and bring another doomsday on us: the economic one. Yet, after an unprecedented international cooperation, we were able to come up with solutions, ban a few dangerous substances, replace them with better and safer ones and avert the disaster.
Today, we face similar problems with anthropogenic global warming and yet the same people create distractions and false "skepticism" to stall any solutions. Without those solutions, not us, but our kids will face a very bleak future, a future to which they will no doubt adopt, but at what costs? And, they will have only a handful of people to blame, with general public and some media following bad science, propaganda and distortion of facts.

2. "A Universe from Nothing" - Lawrence Krauss
If reading about "long, long time ago, far, far away" is your thing, I highly recommend this book. Lawrence Krauss, a leading cosmologist and theoretical physicist of our times, explains how our Universe (along with possibly, billions of others) came to be, literally out of Nothing. The real Nothing, as it is explained in the book, much better than I could ever do. Where we come from and where we are heading are also topics of discussion, and while it is good to know that we possibly live in the best times (give or take a few billion years), the end for us does not look great, so enjoy your time here. This book is maybe a bit less accessible that some other popular science books ("A Brief History of Time" comes to my mind), as it does include some math and physics, but Krauss makes it rather easy to digest and his style is very engaging and entertaining, given the subject that ends with (spoiler alert!) doom and gloom...

It's Getting Hot In Here...

I do not think you could find a sane person at this point, who would question some of the largest environmental disasters our species brought upon this fragile planet: DDT in the 60s, acid rain in the 70s, ozone depletion in the 80s and finally anthropomorphic global warming in the late 90s and 2000s. All of them except the last one (as of today) were averted to some extend by a joint cooperation of many nations and all of as together.

The crazy thing is that while all of those issues had gone through a period of scientific uncertainty (as they should, given the proper scientific process), they also encountered a stiff opposition from denialists, usually associated with some political option. This denial went on for years, against well established scientific facts, studies and despite an overwhelming consensus from the experts in each field of study.
The methods and strategies used by such denialists have not changed for years and can be clearly seen in today's debate on the anthropomorphic global warming.

There is a number of reasons why I'm writing about this topic:

1. Wall Street Journal had a terrible article called "No Need to Panic About Global Warming", which, instead of using science to back up its claims (true or not), used a version of Godwin's Law, and invoked discredited Stalin's scientist Lysenko to drive its point, which can be otherwise refuted in a few easy steps (and, as a matter of fact has been: here, here, and here, to link to just a few of them, not to mention the letter signed by 255 National Academy of Science members).

2. National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a long time defender of quality evolution science education in the US schools, branched out and decided to use its resources on climate science as well. This move comes as no surprise, as both "controversies" keep showing up in our school systems and are driven by mostly beliefs and not real science, which is pretty much settled in both cases.

3. By pure coincidence I just finished reading "Merchants of Doubt", which connects the dots and shows pretty clearly how science has been covered up and muddled for political and financial reasons for many years, starting in the early 1950s with the tobacco industry's fight to cover up effects of smoking, to the present day with a fight to ensure that people are kept in the dark about the anthropomorphic global warming.

The science is in, the verdict has been reached, multiple studies and 99% of scientist around the world have said the same thing: our planet will be a very different place to live for our children, if we don't take action now. There is nobody else, who can fix it for us.

Book Review: The Believing Brain

Traveling long distance by plane gives you plenty of time to do some reading and, recently, I was able to get my hands on the latest book from Michael Shermer "The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies - How We Construct Beliefe and Reinforce Them as Thruts".
This is one of those books that take you to the very bottom of an interesting topic. You can read about pseudoscience, alternative medicine, UFOs, strange political views, etc, and you'll find plenty of reasons to see why believing in those things just does not make sense. However, Shermer's book shows how we come to those beliefs, how we cultivate them, seeing ourselves as the most reasonable people on the face of the Earth, and finally how we discard any information that goes contrary to our convictions.

Reading List

It's been a while since my last book related post, but that does not mean I haven't done my regular share of reading. Therefore, it is high time to present some of my 2011, 1st quarter recommendations.
Since we are just getting into April, and April is Autism Awareness Month, the first set of books is related to that topic. Unfortunately, for little more than a decade, autism goes hand in hand with vaccines, especially in the eye of the public. After much good news from the rational side of the "debate" last year, we saw more of the same at the beginning of this year, with the series of articles by Brian Deer in the British Medical Journal.
I mentioned those two books earlier, but now after actually reading both of them, I can safely recommend them.
The first one is Paul Offit's "Deadly Choices":















This is like getting your info from the very best source. Dr Offit's earlier books on the topic were as informative as this one is, and now we have the latest info included. He traces the history of the anti-vax movement in this and other countries, from its beginnings in the mid 19th Century to the latest Wakefield scam-induced craze. He also presents all the scientific, research-based facts about all the possible problems our society (and especially our children) would face, if we failed to contain the unreasonable and plain crazy arguments for the anti-vax side.
A logical follow-up to Offit's book is another one that came out almost at the same time: Seth Mnookin's "The Panic Virus".















While, some of the information in this book is similar to what's covered in the previous one, Mnookin, in addition to showing the history of the anti-vax movement, goes with much more details into specifics of the current autism/vaccine connection controversy and the associated social movements in the USA. It is very informative to see how various "parent" organizations that start off as grassroots movements, end up being a part of much greater industry, industry that makes millions every year selling unproven, costly, and sometimes deadly "medical" interventions. Another part is the "litigation" industry: law firms, lawyers, corrupt scientists, witnesses-for-hire and parents (some of them with good intentions), who are willing to make up facts and research in order to make money trying to prove the links that never existed. It is also heartbreaking to see how parents of autistic children are manipulated and given false hopes, just to drive this multi-million scam.

There is another angle to Mnookin's book that I find fascinating. Ever time I speak with someone about the alternative medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, etc, one of the main arguments in their arsenal is the "big pharma" making all the cash from us, pushing the traditional medical treatments, vs. good, alternative modalities and practitioners just caring about our well being. It takes some skillful research, like Mnookin's, to untangle the web of connections in the world of "alternative" autism research and treatments. The parallels are obvious and difficult to miss. The alt-med world is in it for profit as much as the big pharma is, the difference is they do not have to worry about anyone controlling them and they don't have to prove that any of their claims actually work.

Dr. Offit on Colbert

Dr. Paul Offit was on The Colbert Report last night:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/372812/january-31-2011/paul-offit

Interesting conversation (as always) from a great mind.

I already went through his book and I'll write about it shortly.

BMJ Articles - The Links

I just wanted to post links to the original articles from British Medical Journal (BMJ) about Andrew Wakefield fraud. I think it is extremely important to read them and realize how fake news can be manufactured and that nothing and no one can be trusted without verification. That's where peer review and the self-correcting nature of science comes in.

Part 1: How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed

Part 2: How the vaccine crisis was meant to make money

BMJ Editorial: Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent

In a related story, an interview with Seth Mnookin on Salon.com, about his new book "The Panic Virus" (next on my reading list):

Behind the vaccine panic

and also, Salon.com removes the dumbest, full of errors article from five years ago:

Correcting our record

Yes... that article that was written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (yet another example that your social status does not make up for brains) and also published by Rolling Stone magazine. Let's see how they are going to "fix" their credibility.

Happy Carl Sagan Day

Celebrate reason and Carl Sagan's 76 birthday by reading one of his excellent books...

Among the best, of course, is:
















If you haven't had a chance to read any of his books, start from this one, and it will most likely alter the way you see the world.

Book Review: The Grand Design

This book generated more controversy that it deserves in my opinion.















I've heard countless statements about the book, from both non-religious, and religious figures. One side was all gung-ho about the fact that Hawking denounces God claims we do not need any supernatural forces to explain our Universe. The other side was offended for the same reasons.
While I think the book is as great as anything Stephen Hawking wrote in the past, I did not find it revealing, especially in light of his other famous book "A Brief History of Time".
His science is as good as ever, his delivery right on the mark, giving just enough details to keep us, mortals, interested without putting us to sleep. The "revelations" are nothing new in science, which has been staying away from supernatural explanations for many decades (if not centuries).
The only surprise I got: Hawking does not believe that we are going to find a "theory of everything". Many, smaller, more compact theories might have to do, each corresponding to a particular universe.
The rest of the "controversy" was in my opinion just marketing.

I still recommend this book as a great reading!!!

Some links:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2010/09/09/lkl.stephen.hawking.interview.cnn
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/11/stephen.hawking.interview/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/02/hawking.god.universe/index.html
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/03/religious-leaders-hit-back-at-hawking/

Book Review: Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk

I was watching "Real Time with Bill Maher" last night (Sept. 24th episode) and realized how his guests and the book I read recently came together in a nice fashion. Bill Maher had two conservatives: Andrew Breitbart and Amy Holmes on the show, going against Seth MacFarlane and Ann Druyan (the wife of Carl Sagan). The issue that created the most heated discussion (not to say yelling) was the climate change and its origins.
Andrew Breitbart gave the usual "not all scientists agree" nonsense with some additional, typical set of lies and Ann Druyan call him on it, saying straight to his face that the Right serves lies and distractions while we are still doing noting to mitigate the real issue.
The discussion brought up a very important problem that we all face almost every day, often without realizing it: how to tell what is "science" from all kinds of claims that people try to sell us?
This question, and a few possible answers are the core of the book "Nonsense of Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk"by Massimo Pigliucci:
















It is not an easy book to read, having a fair amount of philosophy in its content, but it also gives a great overview of the current "state of the game", or the anti-intellectual, anti-science attitudes so widely spread in our society. From the general rejection of science, mostly by the religious right, to the attempts of incorporating its own "soft" science into the mainstream by the "liberal" hipsters, we see this process almost every day.
Pigliucci starts off with a simple question: what is science and what is not (or what claims to be science, but in reality is pseudoscience). As we quickly find out, it is not an easy question to answer, since even within science itself there are disciplines that, while generally regarded as scientific, are having a hard time fitting into a number of predefined criteria.
We get a tour of current anti-scientific battlefronts, including various think tanks, which peddle any nonsense for which they get paid, under the covers of "real" scientific research, the current global warming debate (which is not really a debate from the scientific point of view anymore), and the Intelligent Design case from Dover. All of the above serve as great examples of how to define science and how to attempt to distinguish it from any other claims.
The final piece of this book and the one that I enjoyed the most was a discussion on how to tell an expert from a wanna-be. This is so important because, as I pointed out at the beginning, almost every day we encounter people who claim to have answers to all the issues of today's world. We also have to make our own decisions (some personal and some political) in an increasingly complex world, decisions that affect our health, our families and our way of life. It is therefore very important to know how to distinguish the real deal from "bunk".
If not for everything else, this is one reason to read "Nonsense on Stilts".

Book Review: "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search For a Cure

I've been gearing up to write something about this book for a few months now, but due to a complete lack of free time, as always it took me a bit more than I anticipated.
















There is one simple sentence to describe this book: every new parent should read this one!!!
I wish this book had been out when my son was born, and my wife and I had to battle misinformation and pure nonsense of the anti-vaxx movement. It is consoling to know that we made all the right decisions at that time, even when the level of propaganda from the anti-vaxxers was reaching its peak.
"Autism's False Prophets" gives your an amazing perspective from the best source: Paul Offit is the top pediatrician and infectious diseases expert in the world. He's also an authority on vaccines, having co-invented one that's credited with savings hundreds of lives daily (see more info). He's been involved with the whole vaccines/autism controversy (not a real one, but that's how it is perceived) from the beginning and knows the details first hand.

The original publication date of this book was in 2008, which makes it slightly out of date, especially in light of recent events (Andrew Wakefield's original MMR paper retraction by Lancet, his medical licence being revoked in U.K. and numerous studies further discrediting any link between vaccines and autism), but the real value of this book and all the information it contains is in the fact that it shows how the whole MMR and autism link (and later just general vaccine/autism link) was manufactured and how the real data kept coming, showing there is no link at all. It also shows the unseen links behind some of the people "on the other side". We are used to hearing that it's the "big pharma" that influences our doctors, and it's the corporate interest and profit seeking that drive our medical establishement, but it is very educating to see that money might be behind some of the people who claim they are fighting for us, the consumers.

Unfortunately, even today, I still encounter people who refuse to believe and cause more harm than good, by spreading misinformation and sometimes pure lies to benefit their own, misguided causes. As we all know, the era of information abundance on the Internet makes making decisions much harder for many of us. It is even more important to find the right sources, and this book is the perfect one!

New Show Worth Watching

This has been going around the blogosphere:
Phil Plait, TV Star

Sounds interesting and I know I'll watch it.
My son will have a blast too: he loves Discovery shows about cosmic disasters, UFOs and all kinds of weirdness!!!

If you want a taste of Bad Astronomer's style, read his books, they are excellent:

Book Review: Denialism

Another one bagged! This time the book that took my undivided attention for a few days was Michael Specter's "Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives".
I have to admit I was picking it up (or downloading it, as it may be in case of an e-book) as a convert. It is definitely a book that "preaches to its own crowd" as far as I am concerned. I knew that this "denialism" attitude is very real and it affects us daily.
For one, I have seen the "vaccine" denialism first hand, and I've realised that it extremely difficult, if not impossible to reason with those who crossed over to the other side (that one that claims vaccines cause all kinds of harm). The confirmation bias, personal anecdotes, and simply the fear of loosing your own beliefs, is stronger than reason and clear thinking.
I'm also rather close to a crowd that strongly believes in all sorts of "natural" remedies, discarding any science that shows no effects. It is rather amusing (but sad at the same time) to see people spending hundreds of dollars on fake and unproven vitamins, remedies and modalities, claiming that the "big pharma" and the doctors are out there only to get our money.
However, the book goes farther than that. It talks about some valid reasons (Vioxx) why people distrust pharmaceutical companies and  the mainstream medical establishment in general. It is a fascinating story and it proves that there are enough controls in the system to keep us safe.
Besides vaccines and natural remedies, "Denialism" concentrates also on a few other topics, namely our "organic fetish" and the more and more pervasive genetics and genetic engineering.
In both cases, Michael Specter dissolves the myths and presents very convincing argument that only by listening to science and reason, we can keep both in check. But "keeping in check" does not mean, not embracing future discoveries. Genetics and genetic engineering are especially delicate areas, but we need to be mindful of what the give us, understand it, and use it wisely, following scientists, not politicians, to ensure our success.

You can also read Michael Specter's recent article on the CNN portal, where he discusses ideas coming from his book:

American denialism threatens many areas of scientific progress, including the widespread fear of vaccines and the useless trust placed in the vast majority of dietary supplements quickly come to mind.

A Few Books of Note...

There are two books I've been reading recently that I would like to recommend to anyone with some curiosity and open mind.

First, there is "Trick or Treatment", by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, MD.
I finished it a few weeks ago, and it was a jackpot!!! This is a very well written, popular research book on a number of alternative medicine therapies. Included are: acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, herbal medicine, and a few others in lesser detail. Since the two authors represent two opposed sides of the equation (Singh being a scientists and a journalist, and Ernst being an alternative medicine practitioner), it gives this piece additional credibility. As the authors proclaim at the beginning, their goal was to objectively evaluate the above therapies, showing their history, scientific background and the state of current research. While I sort of knew what the outcome would be, it was very interesting to learn about the exact historical background of those modalities, and to see what research has been done so far. Not surprisingly, all of the therapies discussed in the book, did not yield any real results in many scientific test, beyond a simple placebo effect. Some interesting outcomes were found for acupuncture and chiropractic, associated with pain management and back problems. Herbal medicine, being what it is: a sloppy, uncontrolled application of real drugs, shows some use, but one must be careful, watching for drug interactions and dosage.

Secondly, I enjoyed "Confessions of an Alien Hunter" by Seth Shostak, which is an incredibly entertaining account of the last 50 years of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), as told by one of the most authoritative individuals of the field. From history of the research, to some politics, and outlooks for the future, it's a pure fun to read. The best part of this book is that it really shows SETI being so much more than most of the people would think: biology, anthropology, physics, and many other fields, make up this broad, scientific approach to finding our neighbors in the Universe.

The Greatest Show on Earth

I finished reading Richard Dawkins' "The Greatest Show on Earth" and I have nothing but praises for the author. As a layman, who got drawn into the world of biology, and especially evolutionary biology, late in my informal education (after enjoying formal education in Computer Science, and informal interests in modern physics and astronomy), I enjoyed this book immensely.

Richard Dawkins has an incredible gift of holding your interest in the topic, presenting some of the most incredible facts about biology and the current state of evolutionary science to the reader. He presents a step-by-step case for evolution, producing evidence based on the newest research in multiple fields. I especially liked his intuitive explanations of the geological "clocks" and how scientists can date the past events and artifacts. But what really blew my mind (so to speak) was the chapter on embryological development. It's simply amazing to see "our inner fish" during that short period of nine months, when we can trace our evolutionary development condensed in time.

If you are looking for a good popular science introduction to the current state of cutting edge biology, this book is for you.

In addition to the great scientific content, this book also presents a terrible state of education in the U.S. (and Great Britain too). Having around 40% of Americans still believe that the Earth is 6000 years old, in the age of the Internet, space exploration, and many other technological advances, shows you that we are consistently failing to educate our children. Scary, but unfortunately, true.

Kindle: Paper Goes Bye, Bye...

I got my Kindle DX yesterday, and it is a beauty! The screen is crisp and very readable, the books download fast, and the ability to read your own PDFs and other documents is great. I also tried it in my car today, with the Text-To-Voice feature, and while the "voice" is a bit artificial, it's not Stephen Hawking for sure, and you get used to it very fast.

Guess, what was the first book I purchased? Richard Dawkins' "The Greatest Show on Earth". I did not get far yet, but as his previous books, it appears to be a great read, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it immensely.

Sorry, Mr. Gutenberg, your time has come to an end...

New Book From Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth

Richard Dawkins' new book "The Greatest Show on Earth" is coming out very soon, and I think it'll be a treat, given the author's track record.
Here is a short teaser: Creationists, now they’re coming for your children

For me the idea of evolution being right or wrong (not that I dispute it in any way) is a secondary discussion, being just the most glaring example of the anti-science approach taken by a huge chunk of our society. This approach will cost the US its lead role in the science and technology community soon, if we don't do something radical about it. Our society has this weird "negative" view of science, almost to the point of hate. At the same time, we all have no problems using the fruits of scientific and technological research in our everyday lives.