Review: A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Summary: Fascinating science, disturbingly poor philosophy

I learned a lot about current thinking in cosmology from Krauss. He does a fine job of presenting theories of how the Universe began and unfolded.

Sadly, his claim that the book will address the issue of "Why is there something rather than nothing?" from a scientific point of view is complete bait-and-switch. He doesn't address it, and he claims it is not worth addressing. Then he provides a different claim which he says is the better to ask anyway.

My response to his non-scientific thought (presented as scientific because he's a scientist and what he thinks must be scientific) is: A sneer is not an argument. Simply showing contempt for those who disagree with you is not the same as refuting what they say.


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Review: Kidnapped

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I read this books to my boys, ages 11 and 13, for a book club discussion with some other boys.

This is an adventure story which explores ideas of loyalty and friendship, and how different loyalties might conflict. I strongly recommend it.

However, I do also strongly recommend that you don't just pick it up and read. The book has a lot of Scottish-English dialogue, and it also assumes a familiarity with the conflicts between the Jacobites and the British in Scotland in the mid-1700's. Late into the book I picked up a SparkNotes summary and read through the couple pages of explanation of the history and context. It really helped me to understand it, and I found my enjoyment of the book grew tremendously.

So, read the book, but spend a few minutes studying the context first. You'll be glad you did.



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