Dear ASA Colleagues,
Although it may not pertain to intelligent design and related issues on the
biological level, I'm announcing The Book of the Cosmos on this list
because it engages very seriously issues of design and teleology at the
cosmological level. The theme hinted at by the title is the old and ongoing
idea of the world (the universe) as a book, which quite naturally raises
issues of authorship and meaning (Is it merely "a tale told by an idiot,
..signifying nothing"? and so on.)
If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them personally (within my
limited capacity!).
Yours sincerely,
Dennis Danielson
_____________________
T H E B O O K O F T H E C O S M O S:
Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking
A Helix Anthology
edited by Dennis Richard Danielson
(Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2000)
590 pages
ISBN: 0738202479
To put it informally, this book is my annotated pick of western cosmology's
greatest hits from ancient times to the present--a sweeping, accessible,
and lively telling of the human story of our universe in firsthand
writings. With emphasis on the art as well as the science of cosmic
writing, I present not only colorful gems of scientific prose but also
brilliant excerpts from poetry and philosophy, diaries and dialogues,
essays and epistles.
THE BOOK OF THE COSMOS is an ideal gift book for introducing the
inquisitive person to the broad canvas of human ideas about the universe.
It can also serve as a source book in generalist college courses on the
cosmos, or on literature and science. Or it can just be enjoyed as a
surprisingly coherent narrative--of cosmic passion, awe, intellectual
flair, and not-infrequent bewilderment--richly woven by a hundred
cosmologists across history whom we hear speaking vividly and engagingly in
their own voices.
For more information (including an annotated table of contents) I invite
you to visit my home page, <www.english.ubc.ca/~ddaniels>.
Gratefully and with best regards,
Dennis Danielson, editor
THE BOOK OF THE COSMOS
______________
"The romance of cosmic discovery has never been so thoroughly documented ..."
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
"... this treasury will bring delight and even amazement to many readers."
-Michael J. Crowe
"... a thrilling read to set the heart racing and the mind soaring."
-Sean Abbott
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