The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

Book Description

Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists. He works at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life. Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God and scripture. He believes that God cares about us and can intervene in human affairs -- on rare occasions, even miraculously. Collins has personally discovered some of the scientific evidence for the common descent of all living creatures, even though he repudiates the materialist, atheistic worldview argued by many prominent Darwinists.

In short, Dr. Collins provides a satisfying solution for the dilemma that haunts everyone who believes in God and respects science. Faith in God and faith in science can be harmonious -- combined into one worldview. The God that he believes in is a God who can listen to prayers and cares about our souls. The biological science he has advanced is compatible with such a God. For Collins, science does not conflict with the Bible, science enhances it.

For many years Dr. Collins kept his views largely to himself, as he helped oversee the Human Genome Project's stunning sequencing of the code of life. Now, in what may be the most important melding of reason and revelation since C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, Dr. Collins explains himself in detail. The Language of God makes the case for God and for science. Dr. Collins considers and rejects several positions along the spectrum from atheism to young-earth creationism -- including agnosticism and Intelligent Design. Instead, he proposes a new synthesis, a new way to think about an active, caring God who created humankind through evolutionary processes.

He has heard every argument against faith from scientists, and he can refute them. He has also heard the needless rejection of scientific truths by some people of faith, and he can counter that, too. He explains his own journey from atheism to faith, and then takes readers on a stunning tour of modern science to show that physics, chemistry, and biology can all fit together with belief in God and the Bible. The Language of God is essential reading for anyone who wonders about the deepest questions of all: Why are we here? How did we get here? And what does life mean?

Customer Reviews:

appeals to logical fallacies at key points.......2007-09-30

This book attempts to create a bridge between evolution and the Bible by arguing for theistic evolution, but falls flat through its use of logical fallacies in defense of evolution. Here is a sampling:

p. 99 "No serious biologist today doubts the theory of evolution..." p. 174 "for anyone familiar with the scientific evidence..." This is the "poisoning the well" fallacy, where people who disagree with him are mocked as amateurs or ignorant.

p.199 "Theistic evolution is the dominant position of serious biologists who are also serious believers." Poisoning the well, and Ad Populum. There was a time when 'the earth is flat" was the dominant position of serious people. Did that make it true?

p. 99 "... it is difficult to imagine how one would study life without it (evolution)." Arguing from lack of evidence. I can't imagine it, therefore it cannot exist.

p. 146 "evolution is so overwhelmingly supported by scientific evidence". Tautology, due to the ground rules of science. Science allows only natural causes for observed effects, which rules out supernatural causes, therefore in science the only possible cause of life is evolution.

p. 96 "while there are many imperfections in the fossil record, and many puzzles remain to be solved, virtually all the findings are consistent with the concept of a tree of life of related organisms" (evolution). Aside from the data that disagrees with my view, all the data agrees with my view. The ancient astronomers observed that planets occasionally seemed to reverse direction, which they viewed as an imperfection in their orbits. Scientists later discovered that the imperfections were not in the orbits of the planets, or their data - it was in their wrong framework (geocentric) for interpreting the data. Could evolution be the wrong framework for interpreting the fossil record?

I would not note the logical fallacies, except they are essential to Collins' arguments, and therefore essential to his conclusions.

Thought provoking.......2007-09-28

For years I have struggled with the divisions caused by Creationist, Evolutionists, and Intelligent Design advocates among Christians. This book unabashedly developes a clear defense of Evolutionary theory while at the same time articulating a strong apologetic of Christianity. It is refreshing to see a brilliant scientist invite others into belief based not on a literal view of the Creation narrative but a glimpse into the grandeur of God as seen in Evolutionary theory.

Evolution from a Religious Scientist's Perspective.......2007-09-28

Francis Collins argues in this book that the conflict between evolution and religion is largely artificial and that it causes unnecessary damage to both science and faith. Collins speaks from the perspective of a highly-respected scientist and a self-described evangelical who is concerned with both the integrity of science and the integrity of religion. He refutes Creationism and Intelligent Design on both scientific and theological grounds. I found this book to be similar to Michael Shermer's Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design with the important distinction that Collins is a man of faith whereas Shermer is not (though both books are polite and seem geared towards a similar audience). Given Collins' religious credentials, this book might have greater potential than Shermer's book for positively influencing its intended audience.

Collins addresses some common anti-evolution fallacies in this book such as the perceived violation of the second law of thermodynamics and the habitual misunderstanding of the term "scientific theory." I thought that the points Collins raised regarding the psychological bias generated by the terms "creationism" and "intelligent design" were spot on. If one believes that God set evolution in motion to create life then evolution logically becomes the theory of an intelligently-designed creation, regardless of the clever naming practices of various anti-evolution hypotheses.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a believer, yet I was raised both as a Christian and as a Creationist; the damage that many religious are doing to their children and to the future of their faith by forcing people to make an artificial choice between God and science can hardly be overstated. As Collins points out, "Faced with incomplete understanding about the natural world, believers should be cautious about invoking the divine in areas of current mystery, lest they build an unnecessary theological argument that is doomed to later destruction." In fairness, some secularists also share in the blame for the equating of evolution with atheism when the two are evidently not mutually inclusive simply based on a cursory glance at religious polls taken of the scientific community.

The theology presented in this book is very similar to that found in C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity (in fact, Collins quotes Lewis heavily); therefore, I imagine that any fan of C.S. Lewis' theological writings should also be right at home with Collins' theological viewpoint. I think that The Language of God is mainly geared towards the religious but I would also recommend it to secularists as an example of how religion and modern science can coexist in relative harmony (ignoring the potential conflict between sociobiology and the notion of a divine Moral Law). I found the bioethical discussion concerning stem cell research, cloning, etc., in the appendix to be rather interesting as well.

I liked this book because I thought it provided a fair discussion on evolution in what I am cautiously optimistic is an accessible manner for many people of faith. Dawkins is one of my favorite popular science authors but I am under no illusion regarding the reception his books would receive, for example, from my religious family (i.e., a highly negative and divisive one). The actual science in The Language of God is rather light such that people who are interested in learning about evolution should likely look to authors such as Stephen Jay Gould or Ernst Mayr for more detail. Dawkins is another excellent writer for those who are not religious or who will not mind the occasional religious sucker-punch. I think that The Language of God is a good attempt at harmonizing modern science and religion and I would recommend it to all who are interested in this occasionally divisive discussion.

great book.......2007-09-23

Dr. Collins explains why believing Christians need not be afraid evolution debunks the Christian worldview

Science and religion -- with some flexibility you can see compatibility.......2007-09-22

The Moral Law (knowledge of right and wrong within) and the search for God that characterizes all human culture throughout history is the main evidence for the existence of God for Dr. Collins. Also ..."The Big bang cries out for a divine explanation" What was there before the Big Bang? But what about the earth being created so recently according to the Bible? This scientists answer is that this should not be interpreted as literal history but as "poetic and even allegorical description". The Big Bang could be poetically and allegorically interpreted into the Bible.
For his theology the author relies heavily on C.S. Lewis and Saint Augustine but he himself the scientist provides well written explanations of DNA and evolution. And with a little flexibility of interpretation this can all be considered to be part of God's plan.
But when it comes to Jesus the author's strong faith becomes visible. There is nothing poetic or allegorical about Him! He is a historical Fact. When it comes to the central tenet of his faith the scientist's hat comes off and the preacher's hat is put on. He does not ask for before and after DNA evidence that this "good man" rose from the dead (hard core atheists would demand a complete video record I'm sure).
Dr. Collins does write (from a scientific viewpoint) that such a claim (coming back from the dead) is "scandalous" and "outrageous" and then once again relies on C. S. Lewis to explain why he, Dr. Collins, is a true believer.
Depending upon your level interest you may or may not want to follow up by reading C. S. Lewis's works, because he is quoted so extensively in this book.

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

Average customer rating:

My boyfriend met Christ through this book
Compelling Arguments
A good starting point for both skeptics and apologists
Thought provoking
Just plain excellent

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
Lee Strobel
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity
The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict Fully Updated To Answer The Questions Challenging Christians Today
Mere Christianity
More Than a Carpenter

ASIN: 0310209307

Amazon.com

The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.

Book Description

Using the dramatic scenario of an investigative journalist pursuing his story and leads, Lee Strobel uses his experience as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune to interview experts about the evidence for Christ from the fields of science, philosophy, and history. Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and twice nominated for the Christian Book of the Year Award.

Customer Reviews:

My boyfriend met Christ through this book.......2007-09-12

I think this book does a pretty good job at analyzing Jesus' existence and the validity of the bible from various angles, such as via archeology, psychology, anatomy, science, logic, etc. And amazingly, by God's grace, my boyfriend met Christ through this book! Praise God.

Compelling Arguments.......2007-09-01

I found The Case for Christ to be well written and the arguments put forward to be very compelling. Mr. Stobel uses a series of interviews with a variety of experts to build his case and each presented facts or points of view that were very hard to refute. Excellent book.A Startrek to Eternity

A good starting point for both skeptics and apologists.......2007-08-28

I've read this book numerous times and read the reviews of those who gave the books low scores. This book is a good starting point for people with lots of agnostic/atheist friends. Granted, if your friend was Hawkings or Dawkins, you might have a tough time relying on this book. Sometimes it doesn't cover topics you'd like to be covered and sometimes the reasoning takes a bit of thinking to understand, but generally, this book covers all the bases.

Of course, the writer had a Christian agenda. Everything has a systemic bias. I could write a review on The Selfish Gene saying that the book has an evolutionist bias. For others, just "the Bible says so" is a good argument. This is even more sillier, like driving a car without knowing how to brake. When your friends give you an obstacle, you can only swerve around it or crash and burn. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus said to love the Lord with all your mind and that sound doctrine should be taught. If you can't argue for sound doctrine, how can you teach and understand it?

Thought provoking.......2007-08-23

This book is very well written in an investigative style and counters some of the less challenged arguments of those who do not believe in Christ as the Son of God. Usually, agnostics and atheists present what appears to be an intellectually sound argument against Christ's position as the Savior of the world. These arguments are countered methodically and give the non-theologian a source for countering arguments against Christ. I have read Strobel's "A Case for Faith" and because of that read this book. It is nice to read intellectually sound arguments for Christ that can't be dismissed as the work of religious zealots or "kooks" as Christians are sometimes portrayed when defending their beliefs.

Just plain excellent.......2007-08-21

This is a most interesting book, excellently written, decisive and to the point. It touches on areas that any believer has pondered and many atheists base their faith on.

Any thinking person cannot argue the facts uncovered in it. It is also a good reference for the up and coming apologist.

It is so much easier to be an atheist than a believer. This book reveals the futility of the easy belief...

Average customer rating:

Good But Content Diluted, Concept-Elucidation Blurred?
Just incredible.
Tufte B-sides?
What was I thinking?
Beautiful Evidence

Beautiful Evidence
Edward R. Tufte
Manufacturer: Graphics Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition
Envisioning Information
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data
Visual & Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Decision Making

ASIN: 0961392177

Customer Reviews:

Good But Content Diluted, Concept-Elucidation Blurred?.......2007-08-15

Yes it is indeed a sad enterprise when an author--runs out of steam. Begins to repeat; begins to dilute. A near-universal in visual art, also in literature. Mark Twain's early travel books ran dynamic, rich--but then at least one later work slowed to show results of fatigue and the end of inspiration. We can call it an issue of Specific Gravity. What is the amount of material compared to the word-count? One speaks of "op-ed books" today, full-length treatments whose gist and essence could have been presented in, say, 1000 words.

Edward Tufte's invaluable first three books show this proportionate packing with material. Just possibly, this fourth and latest book--shows dilution, watering-down, inappropriate repetition. At least one other reviewer has made this point; I suspect so.

But let's accentuate the positives of Tufte's vision--even if imperfectly presented here. New here (among good stuff such as "sparklines") is the indispensable attempt at explicating universal principles of design. Above the Concrete Particulars, the flux of graphs, charts, pictures, etc., what Conceptual Principles can guide us? And the half-dozen issues he identifies, are helpful.

However, the presentation of them is not. Tufte employs Menard's famous graphic of Napoleon's 1811 Russian campaign to illustrate the principles. However, in terms of sheer Information Elucidation, two errors seem to occur.

First, number of examples. To convey difficult concept, more than one example, illustration, instance is needed. We lack a "rounded ensemble" (in my system's terminology) of several and varied instances to better cinch the point. Example: someone trying to convey the idea of a map as more than just an image of the earth's surface, of presenting knowledge, referenced chromosome maps in genetics, weather maps in meteorology, animal range maps in zoology, magnetic field maps in geology, and wiring diagrams in engineering. [Geographer Peter Gould is even better in elucidating how maps are not terrestrial but conceptual, representing relationships between things. He references "maps" of emotional states of married couples, South Pacific geobotanically, New Zealand "in changing aircost space," intellectual winds blowing through psychology journals, my gosh, world journalism, Shakespeare, influenza...] Bravo, a rounded ensemble cinches the concept with polypod footings. Too bad Tufte fell short here as the multiple instances ploy is actually similar to Tufte's own excellent tactic of "Small Multiples."

Second, comparison/contrast, or rather,Tufte's non-use of this keystone principle of thinking-writing-communicating. Only the excellent Menard graphic is shown; he should have either shown a bad attempt by another of the same subject, or created a "ruined" version also of Menard's, given a flawed example. This dualism for each of his universal principles. One thinks of Tufte's own dictum, statistics always asks, "compared to what?" Or, "He who knows not a foreign country knows nothing of his own." Or, to teach freshmen students good qualities of poetry, give a first draft or inferior poem on the same subject as well as Yeats' excellent final-draft "The Old Pensioner." Or give even a triad: as in, a too-lightly- inked graphic, a just-right density, and then an over-inked graphic.

So much for better elucidation of Key Principles. This is more important than the issue of irrelevant items, such as the issues of introductions and of sculptures. A little charity here; it's hard to exclude one's own enthusiasms. But Convergence to Point is also a principle of good communication.

"At least a quintet [of books] is projected," states Tufte. But let him await the wellspring re-filling itself with Heavy Water, not diluted dew. And please use comparison-contrast and multiple examples to cinch point.

Just incredible........2007-07-18

As always Professor Tufte's work in this area just continues to astound me. I have read- and re-read - the other works and this is arguably the most succinct and tight one yet. It operates equally well from 30,000 feet as it does through a macro lens....very well laid out, beautifully executed and remarkable approachable for a wide range of professionals outside the design and graphics industry.

Tufte B-sides?.......2007-07-01

This fourth book in Tufte's series on visual information resembles a disappointing B-sides/greatest hits collection instead of an essential new work. It includes a full reprint of Tufte's recent PowerPoint pamphlet and frequent discussion of topics from earlier books (for example Minard's chart of Napoleon's march into Russia). The final chapter on Tufte's sculptures seems especially misplaced. New material includes exploration of Sparklines, word-sized graphs interspersed among normal text. In the Graphics Press tradition of superior aesthetics, this book contains richly printed images and text on thick paper.
I'd strongly recommend the previous three books in the series, esp. the first one 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'. Those who already own those three works can probably skip this new volume.

What was I thinking?.......2007-06-08

If I had gone into a brick and mortar store and thumbed through the pages of this book I would never have purchased it. I'm sorry I just don't get all this artsy type fluff that everyone seems to be so "Tufte-Gong-Ho" about. I was expecting a book from a professional business perspective on insights on how to represent various types of data in the correct visual format. One look at the table of contents gives you the impression that's exactly what this book is. However, when you look at the actual contents, you have pictures and artwork that would never make it in a professional boardroom. The examples are just plain terrible and you would think someone as good as Tufte would be able to represent and communicate concepts in a better format instead of getting nostalgic with historical artwork. Do I really care about David Smith's Cubi XXVI (1965) sculptural volumes! Oh and the slave trade ship pictures on pages 22-23 are a nice touch. Give me a break; I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what the point of those pictures were in explaining a concept. I just hope I can resell this book and try to recover half the price I paid for it. If you are in corporate America trying to make a living adding value to your company's bottom line, skip this book.

Beautiful Evidence.......2007-05-07

This book should be reviewed by anyone who writes reports or gives presentations. I especially like the author's views on corruption of data and facts.

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management

Average customer rating:

No 'one size fits all' solutions here
A balanced, practical look at management "beliefs"...
Finally ... A Management Book Worth Reading
Find your company in this book and squirm
Hard to Believe

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management
Jeffrey Pfeffer , and Robert I. Sutton
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers
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Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning

ASIN: 1591398622

Book Description

The best organizations have the best talent. . . Financial incentives drive company performance. . . Firms must change or die.

Popular axioms like these drive business decisions every day. Yet too much common management “wisdom” isn’t wise at all—but, instead, flawed knowledge based on “best practices” that are actually poor, incomplete, or outright obsolete. Worse, legions of managers use this dubious knowledge to make decisions that are hazardous to organizational health.

This practical and candid book challenges leaders to commit to evidence-based management as a way of organizational life – and shows how to finally turn this common sense into common practice.

Customer Reviews:

No 'one size fits all' solutions here.......2007-08-21

In this well written book, Stanford Professors Pfeffer and Sutton demonstrate the dangers of copying others, blindly applying conventional wisdom, or accepting ideologically based fables without understanding how the underlying human behavioral principles and fundamentals apply to the situation at hand. It asks us to look at the underlying assumptions about how people think and operate - are people really motivated only by the stick or the carrot? Is the relational model for the `rest of life' really different than the relational model for our `work life'? If neither assumption is a fundamental truth, should we be using policies and practices that make these assumptions?

It encourages leaders and organizations to constantly `be in learning' rather than looking for `the answer' in a best practice book or seminar. Simply put, `copy & paste' of someone else's answer is seldom, if ever, your answer on a performance improvement test. If you are thinking that evidence-based management means, "show me who is using this practice", or "show me where this policy is working"; read the entire book. What at first sounds like a declaration that only statistically proven, historical practices should be accepted as the basis for future practices is in itself a dangerous half-truth that will limit the future to a repeat of the past. Hard Facts is recommended for leaders who will read the book in its entirety. Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"

A balanced, practical look at management "beliefs"..........2007-07-12

Pfeffer and Sutton take a hard look at a few management beliefs that have seemed universally accepted in one form or another. Of the ones presented, I have heard and read the most about 1) best organizations have the best people, 2) strategy is destiny, and 3) change or die. The authors have done a very good job at showing that some beliefs are not always true under all circumstances and, in fact, quite often false or at least "half-truths". I also found the financial incentives chapter particularly compelling as it seems that a more balanced reward system is better for most companies in the long run.

I found most of the advice for handling these beliefs to be very sound although a recurring theme is just take a step back, look at hard evidence, and not necessarily follow "the crowd". This book would be best appreciated and most easily "implemented" by executive management but is also a very interesting read for anyone who wants to build out their general management knowledge. Overall, a pretty insightful and practical read.

Finally ... A Management Book Worth Reading.......2007-07-09

The problem with the puffed up, presumptuous world of management literature and reasearch is that it is neither. Most books are an appalling mixture of presumed truths, mishmashed ideas set up, many times as a "science." In fact it Management is much more a dismal art than Economics ever was a dismal science.

But now enter the duo who wrote this book... the true essence of the book could be:

1) lesson of wisdom... wisdom in the Platonic sense -- knowing what you do not know and being smart enought to admit when you do not know and brave enought to continue on using;

2) evidence-based management. This means empirical management, hard facts, not preconcieved notions of how the world is or should work.

Evidence-based management is based upon a scientific approach and this book take evidence-based medicine as its template for how to arrange business. In evidence-based management there is no immutable truth -- science and the socratic method of inquiry mean that the playing field is level. Poeple are able to challenge preconceived ideas, but they must also be willing to submit their ideas to the scrutiny of analyse. Pfeffer et al, give good examples of preconcieved ideas that are either not true or half-baked. Incentive pay is one -- it works in simple, non-dependent environments where individuals control results. It does NOT work in highly structured environments where results depend upon complex interactions with others... ie. Cold-callers should be incentivised by pay-for-performance, but doctors and teachers clearly should not -- and all the imperical evidence supports the above assertion.

So why do people have such a knee-jerk reaction and assume that everyone only needs to be incentivised to spur them ever onwards to better results...? Pfeffer et al, suggest that it is popular culture and sort of presumed ideological supposition that is never challenged.

Other ideas challenged in this book by Evidence-based Management tecniques are:

STRATEGY: Its nowhere near as important as knowing what to do. In fact concentrating only on strategy is most often wrong. What is much more necessary is having a process to implement changes little by little.

LEADERS: Not as important as billed. Change at the top has almost no correlation with corporate performance. Leadership does matter to a degree, but not as much as good systems of work. Here again is the banal overwhelmed by the sexy presumption that someone who is in power of a company must "actually control results" -- as Pfeffer et al show... they clearly do not. Good process, good middle line managers who implement well and who know and listen to process management determine which companies will succeed more than good leaders.

This book was one of the few management tomes that I actually looked forward to reading when I picked it up. I have already ordered "The Knowing-Doing Gap." A very refreshing change and real wisdom for a wretched genre.

Find your company in this book and squirm.......2007-06-19

This excellent book lays out why and how companies fail to drive their business based on evidence, and instead "miracle cure" advice and personal reactions - largely to the detriment of everyone involved. The book quickly lays out why you should take an evidence-based approach and some guidelines on how. The meat of the book comes in chapters on various half-truths that are dangerous in terms of managing people and organizations:

- Is work fundamentally different from the rest of life and should it be
- Do the best organizations have the best people
- Do financial incentives drive company performance
- Is strategy destiny?
- Is it change or die
- Are great leaders in control of their companies (and should the be)?

They wrap up with a call for evidence-based management. The book is well-written, funny in many places and slightly depressing (if you don't see yourself or your company in any of the "how not to" stories I will be astonished) but very worthwhile. Some of my favorite quotes include:
"If doctor's practiced medicine the way many companies practice management, there would be far more sick and dead patients, and many more doctor's would be in jail"
"If you think you have a new idea, you are wrong. Someone problably already had it. This idea isn't original either; I stole it from someone else
Sutton's Law"
"Treat your business as an unfinished prototype"
"No brag, just facts"

In particular they recommend making sure you have identifed cause and effect when considering past successes, taking account of changing circumstances and establishing why something was effective before adopting it. They emphasize the importance of attacking assumptions and establishing which are pre-conditions for success. The book lays out plenty of evidence on the importance of narrow testing of new ideas before rolling them out, especially in ways analogous to the double-blind study used in medicine. They discuss the importance not of individual leaders being great but of them building a structure within which people can be successful (think Toyota) and they conclude by reminding us that wisdom is knowing what you know and what you don't know while still acting on the best available data and being willing to change as new data becomes available.

I would also recommend three other books I have reviewed recently:
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
Tom Davenport's book shows one aspect of evidence-based management - driving company behavior with analytics - and uses some of the same examples (Harrah's, for one)
Making Robust Decisions: Decision Management For Technical, Business, & Service Teams
David Ullman's book is a great discussion of decision-making in the face of uncertainty, a key skill in evidence-based management
The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
Phil Rosenzweig's book disses many of the same business trend half-truths with even more wit than this one. If you are cynical about fix-everything-with-technique-X books, and you probably should be, this is a great book

Lastly if you are more technically minded and enjoy this book, you might enjoy the one I have just finished:Smart Enough Systems: How to Deliver Competitive Advantage by Automating Hidden Decisions

Hard to Believe.......2007-06-04

Pfeffer & Sutton's book is all about how bias and incorrect "common sense" can lead us astray in making management decisions. They show how a great deal of what passes as business management advice is just not all that good. In fact, some of it is, as the title says, total nonsense.
That said, it was far less of a book than I wanted it to be. The title, you see, has this really bold lettering for HARD FACTS. In smaller type underneath is the rest of the title. In fact, on my copy the Total Nonsense is in bigger type than the Half-Truths part (the latter even being gray on a black background). Yet, as I read the book, I kept looking for the HARD FACTS and found a lot of references to Half-Truths. The basic premise seems to be that while most advice is correct in some settings, it is only when it is taken as truth for all time that it becomes dangerous.
I wanted graph after graph of facts from all the studies people mention but never put into digestible form. I wanted to get the translation of management studies into facts that I can use. However, what I did get was basic management book stylistic convention: assertion of some truth followed by an example from one of seven (plus or minus two) case studies. Not that this is all bad, far from it. But it seemed sad given the large HARD FACTS on the top. In fact, I find the convention easy reading. But it doesn't really give me the HARD FACTS. I guess I would have to go into the footnotes (ugh), read all the studies mentioned (ugh, ugh), and then draw the graphs, charts, and summaries (ugh, ugh, ugh). That is what I thought this book would do and doesn't.
So I think it becomes another interesting book that will be put aside for another interesting book in about five months. Are there good insights? Sure. Do I trust all their sources? I don't know why I should since they never explain why they do (the "lots of studies" logic). So maybe they are right, but it is hard to believe.

Evidence-Based Technical Analysis: Applying the Scientific Method and Statistical Inference to Trading Signals

Average customer rating:

Fantastic!
Useless
Make backtesting meaningful
Best for professional, intellectual and philosophical trading system developers
A must-have for TA practitioners

Evidence-Based Technical Analysis: Applying the Scientific Method and Statistical Inference to Trading Signals
David R Aronson
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology (Wiley Trading)
Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders
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ASIN: 0470008741

Book Description

Evidence-Based Technical Analysis examines how you can apply the scientific method, and recently developed statistical tests, to determine the true effectiveness of technical trading signals. Throughout the book, expert David Aronson provides you with comprehensive coverage of this new methodology, which is specifically designed for evaluating the performance of rules/signals that are discovered by data mining.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic!.......2007-09-26

Just wanted to add to the praise of this book. If you're not following the backtesting practice of this book then you're playing slots with your trading (hey, maybe you'll get lucky!!). Some of the material is tough going and will require a second reading, but it'll be worth it. As another reviewer said about this being a kind of in-depth follow on to "Fooled by Randomness", I couldn't agree more. As matter of fact it's what I read just prior, so I couldn't help smiling as I went through this book, because he was putting the meat on the plate that Nassim set! Thank you, thank you..

The previous reviewer (Useless..) that gave it one star clearly did not get the concepts of the book. Did he even read it? That review does not compute. The *only* negative I would say is that if you're just looking for how to do robust backtesting, then the extensive material on the scientific method might be a bit much (but you can always read lightly those sections). But I understand why he put it in there, since it's the entire premise of taking a different and more rigorous approach to TA.

Now back to re-reading Chapter 6... Thank you Mr. Aronson!

Useless.......2007-08-29

I found this book useless..a total waste of time and money.Instead of analyzing the results obtained by using the various technical indicators,the author simply trashes their use,and does so in a preverse use of mathematical formulas,from which the reader gains nothing.I truly felt like my money was taken,for the purchase of the book,under false pretenses.

Make backtesting meaningful.......2007-08-24

Most trading books are pseudoscience or entertaining reminiscences of successful traders. Aronson has done an admirable job of applying the requisite rigor to the many difficulties associated with analyzing the results of historical backtesting.

Best for professional, intellectual and philosophical trading system developers.......2007-08-08

I had thought of using another review title "For fans and followers of Victor Niederhoffer" as inspired by his praise on the front cover. Pardon me to assume the following: if you had not heard of Niederhoffer, the chance is high that you have no prior experience/idea of testing the statistical significance of various TA tools, nor dwelling into the philosophical/scientific aspects of TA at all. Please accept the fact that this book is not for you. For trading professionals who deem themselves philosophical and intellectual (preferably with a college level of knowledge on statistics), this book is an inspiration. Highly recommended!

A must-have for TA practitioners.......2007-08-01

This book shakes some of your most deep beliefs in TA - and this is a healthy thing. Read it with an open mind.

Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation, Second Edition (Practical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic Investigations)

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Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation
Excellent
Excellent Reference
A great book for any investigator
A must have!

Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation, Second Edition (Practical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic Investigations)
David E. Zulawski , and Douglas E. Wicklander
Manufacturer: CRC
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849301017

Book Description

What makes a person confess to a crime he did not commit? Was he coerced? Is he trying to protect someone else? Interrogation has come under attack as opponents focus on false confessions. However, most cases are still resolved by confession, not forensic evidence. Among the new topics covered in the Second Edition of this bestselling book, Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation focuses on why false confessions exist and how to avoid them. Written by two experts who have conducted over 15,000 interviews and interrogations from theft to homicide, this book expands on the valuable topics in the previous edition to include discussions of: Telephone interviewing False Confessions Field Interviewing Sexual Harassment Interviewing Confronting the Alleged Harrasser Pre-employment Interviewing New Legal Aspects Frequently Asked Questions Covering the entire sequence of events that occur during the interview and interrogation process, this book provides a realistic building block approach that allows you to move from a preliminary accusation to an ultimate confession by applying practical rules to the process. It gives you the flexibility to select a number of different paths to proceed in an interrogation of a suspect. Useful in both the law enforcement and private sectors, Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation, Second Edition allows you to deal effectively with the complex problems of interviewing and interrogating victims, witnesses, suspects, and even potential employees.

Customer Reviews:

Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation.......2007-03-09

I found this book to be very informative. A big part of my job is interview and interrogation. This book was able to put into context what I have already been doing for a number of years. I found that I was referencing the book in my head as I watched the people I was speaking with and knew by their actions how truthful or untruthful they were being. If this is the type of work you do the book is a very good read.

Excellent.......2003-04-12

I went to the Wicklander seminar recently. The book was just as great as the class, I'm very fortunate to have been able to go and receive the book. Thanks!

Excellent Reference.......2001-12-08

This is an excellent referecne book for anyone involved in both private and public sector interviews.

A great book for any investigator.......2001-05-03

This was a very informative book. I highly recommend this book for anyone dealing with interviews and interrogations.

A must have!.......2000-06-24

This is a great resource. If this isn't on your shelf, it should be.

The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History

Average customer rating:

whose in the boxesThe Jesus Family Tomb
What do you do when your proof is shaky at best? Get a famous Hollyowood director to sign on!
A nice little read
Fiction or fact?
Good documentary

The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History
Simcha Jacobovici , and Charles Pellegrino
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
The Lost Tomb of Jesus
The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History (Plus)
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The Gospel of Judas

ASIN: 0061192023
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

The Jesus Family Tomb tells the story of what may very well be the greatest archaeological find of all time – the discovery and investigation of the Jesus family tomb. The tomb in question houses ossuaries (bone boxes) with inscriptions bearing the names of Jesus of Nazareth, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Judas, the son of Jesus. This crypt has been overlooked and ignored for years and exists today under a patio just outside of Jerusalem. The authors have tracked down the location and been granted unequaled access to inspect the findings within the tomb. The artifacts were found, recorded and catalogued by professional archaeologists in a controlled setting. There is no question of their authenticity.

A fascinating combination of history, archaeology, and theology, the revelations inside the book will change the way we think about God, religion, and everything we have learned about the life and death of Jesus.

With a foreword by James Cameron.

Customer Reviews:

whose in the boxesThe Jesus Family Tomb.......2007-08-23

The Jesus Family Tomb

The Jesus Family Tomb by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino reads like a murder mystery or a cheap spy thriller. It is interesting and holds the reader's attention despite a glaring misrepresentation of accepted investigative procedures. Jacobovici and Pellegrino have an agenda and the facts are made to fit.
There are several misleading and non-factual theories presented. The alleged "Jesus, son of Joseph" ossuary may actually be inscribed "Hanan" according to Dr. Stephen J Pfann, a noted expert in Semitic languages who agrees with ancient phonetic writing scholar, Dr. Rochelle Altmann, about the inscription on the alleged Jesus bone box.
There are also experts in disagreement with the so-called Mary Magdalene ossuary inscription. Both Richard Bauckman of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Ben Witherington, a professor at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky, believe the inscription speaks of two people placed in the same bone box, a common practice in first century Judea.
The authors state that by statistical analysis the chances are 600 to 1 in favor of this being the Jesus Family tomb. However, the reliability of the assumptions made prior to the analysis, along with the way they are stated in words, is critical to the acceptability of the results of the analysis. Any statistical analysis that accepts disputed data and rhetorical debris-"In"-; will produce garbage-"Out."- What are the numerous assumptions accepted as fact concerning the ossuaries? This is the relevant analysis question to be addressed before the statistics are reviewed.
The use of DNA analysis in The Jesus Family Tomb provides a popular appeal in addition to a scientific aura. The subsequent DNA analysis of two ossuaries in the Talpiot tomb showed that they were not linked by DNA. However, there had been looters in the tomb and in the ossuaries. Dr. Ian Barnes of the University of London says that there is a good chance that "the DNA belongs to someone who excavated the tomb." It is totally absurd to do a mitochondrial DNA analysis on two ossuaries that have disputed inscriptions, (out of the ten ossuaries present in the Talpiot Tomb), then theorize that Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene were married and had a son, Judah.
"Patina" testing is a method of analyzing mineral deposits, which build up on artifacts over years to determine the archaeological origin of those artifacts. The James ossuary, displayed in 2002, is linked by Jacobovici and Pellegrino to the Jesus tomb by patina testing. The James bone box has a forged inscription which says "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Dr. Ronny Reich of Haifa University in Israel says that the inscription patina of James ossuary is fraudulent.
The most disturbing inconsistency in The Jesus Family Tomb is the selective reliance on New Testament scriptures. The genealogy of Mary is cited (Luke 3:23-38) as an example of numerous "Matthews" in Jesus' family. It is an attempt to rationalize the Matthew bone box and its auspicious presence in the Talpiot tomb (p.78). Jacobovici also cites Acts 1:23-26 as though it carries historical authority (p.78). He also quotes Mark 6:3 which names Joseph as one of Jesus' brothers. Jocobovici and Pellegrino use this canonical scripture to reference Joseph as historical fact (p.77). The authors quote the New Testament as authoritative in saying Philip was the apostle to the Greek-speaking Jews (p.206). Jocobovici quotes Mark 15:26 saying the Romans referred to Jesus as King of the Jews (p.90). The authors quote John 2:19 about Jesus claim to rebuild the temple in three days (p.28). The aforementioned citing are a sampling of Jocabovici and Pellegrino's selective splicing of their tale with New Testament scriptures which are, historically, the only support for their background information. No justification is presented for trusting certain texts over others. As illustrated above, the authors rely on certain portions of the accounts of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John while simultaneously ignoring other portions. It is an attempt to "have it both ways." The authors use the New Testament text (especially historical data), as support for their hypothesis while at the same time ignoring the message and contradicting the world- view of the whole New Testament canon.
Archaeologist Dr. Jonathan Reed, Professor of Religion at the University of La Verne says, "It's what I would call archeo-porn. It's very exciting, it's stimulating, you want to watch it, but deep down you know it's wrong."

What do you do when your proof is shaky at best? Get a famous Hollyowood director to sign on!.......2007-08-12

First off, this isn't really a book about the alleged Jesus Family Tomb. Rather, it's about the making of the Discovery Channel special. If that kind of "behind the scenes" stuff interests you, you will probably enjoy this book.

I myself was rather disappointed with this book. I really wanted to see proof of a historical Jesus. Unfortunately the best the authors can come up with is the names on the tomb. Since the names "Jesus," "Joseph," and "Mary" were among the most common names at the time, that's not very compelling proof. Even the so-called "stastical analysis" presented is not very convincing. I felt like they brought director James Cameron aboard to lend some credibility to this project, knowing that they could not present any convincing proof.

A nice little read.......2007-08-04

A nice little summer read. Simcha is great, I love his enthusiasm. Not a hard-core scholarly book, but lots of info that will make you go hmmmmmmmm.

Fiction or fact?.......2007-07-26

I read to be informed, inspired, entertained, amused, shocked, and hopefully, enlightened. It is hard to find a book that can encompass all of the above. But this book did just that.

Not only does the author claim to have found the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, but that we also now have Jesus' DNA. The first thing that went through my mind was, you guessed it, can we bring Jesus, or a copy of him, back to life? After all, both Christianity and Islam claim that Jesus will come back to earth! Will this be the way?

More fascinating is that in the tomb were supposedly Jesus' wife Mary Magdalene and their son Judah. So were Jesus and Mary Magdalene married as has been proposed by many recent scholars (as well as by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code)?

If this is really the tomb of Jesus, how will this affect Christianity? And how will this affect Islam? According to Islamic belief, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, and both his body and spirit were lifted to heaven in order for him to return again to earth before the Day of Judgment. According to Islam, Jesus' body is not on Earth, but in Heaven together with his spirit.

There are many skeptics to the claims in this book. The names in the tomb are common names. In the era of Jesus many were called Mary, Joseph, and Judah (the author does calculate the possibility of these names together and comes with a very convincing probability). Why would Jesus have a family tomb when such tombs were a practice of the wealthy, which Jesus was not? Why would his tomb be in Jerusalem, and not in his home town of Nazareth? If this is really the tomb of Jesus, why was it kept a secret throughout the centuries? The author does give his own opinion to those questions, and they are very convincing, but a more important question is how were Jesus' followers able to keep Jesus' tomb a secret when they kept burying Jesus' descendants in it. First, Jesus was buried, then his brother, then his wife, and probably his son last. Regardless of the sequence to the burials, all those burials and the tomb were kept a secret, especially when we are talking about a city with only about 100,000 citizens?

However, one has to keep an open mind and come to his own conclusions. I found the book very convincing, but I also found other books claiming that Jesus was buried in Pakistan and India just as convincing. So who is right? Or is no one right? Or are the scriptures alone right? But which scriptures are right, the Christian scriptures or the Islamic scriptures, which came later and attempted to correct the earlier misconceptions and errors in past religions?

The documentary and the subsequent book did anger a lot of people, and that was expected. A quick visit to amazon.com in this book review section will reveal very hostile people towards the author, which I personally don't think is right or moral. Worse than the simple hostile reviews are the threats against the author which forced him to seek police protection. Those threats forced the entire second printing of the book to be pulled from the shelves of bookstores, and sent back to the publisher. According to the author, "this was the first time in the entire history of American publishing, that a book was pulled from distribution while it was still on the New York Times Best Seller List, and that a film was pulled from a network while it was still ranking in the Neilsons as the highest rated show that the network had aired in nearly two years."

God is great! I love God, no matter what name one gives Him and no matter who His prophets or chosen religion is. I live by the universal MESSAGE of all religions, and if one looks carefully, it is all one and the same. The MESSAGE! The rest is interesting and historical, but the message is the core. We should concentrate on the message of Jesus and all live together peacefully and in the pursuit of other's happiness and well being!

Good documentary.......2007-06-27

This book and The Jesus Dynasty by Tabor just about wrap up the story about the real Jesus.

The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God

Average customer rating:

Solid Introduction to Scientific Evidences For God
Pared down version
Good Introductory Material
An eye opening book
Repels Reason

The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
Lee Strobel
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
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ASIN: 0310240506

Amazon.com

Are Christianity and science incompatible? If there is a God, is he only an impersonal starter force? An introductory high school biology class first propelled Lee Strobel toward a life of atheism. God and science, he reasoned, were mutually exclusive. When the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune converted to Christianity, he decided to investigate the science he had once accepted as truth. Did science point toward or away from God? As Strobel interviews a variety of scientists on everything from debunking evolutionary icons to the implications of the Big Bang to the existence of the human soul, he builds his case: scientific evidence points toward Intelligent Design.

Although the discussion often veers into the academic, Strobel works hard to make it accessible to those without scientific training. Throughout the book, he salts interview transcript information with interesting personal stories of his own spiritual and scientific quest for knowledge, as well as sometimes over-detailed descriptions of the actual interviews (right down to the type of beverages consumed). Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading on particular issues of science and faith.

Strobel concludes that, when correctly interpreted, science and biblical teaching support each other. He quotes physicist Paul Davies, "…science offers a surer path to God than religion." Open-minded readers will find that this book, and its questions for reflection and group study, invites conversation and investigation.--Cindy Crosby

Book Description

Lee Strobel investigates the latest scientific discoveries to see whether they form a solid basis for believing in God.

Customer Reviews:

Solid Introduction to Scientific Evidences For God.......2007-09-23

This is a solid introduction to the scientific evidences for the existence of God.

It contains numerous arguments from various disciplines inluding physics, astronomy, cosmology, and biochemistry. The author does a masterful job of poking holes in evolutionary theory and naturalistic explanations of the origins of the universe, life, etc. This is summed up by former Texas A&M University professor Walter Bradley, who said: 'I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there's an Intelligent Designer.' The truth of this becomes abundantly clear throughout the text of this book.

Although this is basically a general introduction to the topic, Lee Strobel has made a strong case for those who are open minded enough to consider it. It is certainly a reinforcer for those who already believe that God exists and is the Creator. It is a good starting point for open minded skeptics. For those who are steeped in the religiosity of Darwinism and naturalistic beginnings, it may help open their eyes a bit. I recommend it.

Pared down version.......2007-09-21

Stroebel makes some really good points in this book and changed some of my thinking about evolution, and it was a quick read, so I wasn't dissatisfied with it until I saw the non-student version at a book store. Maybe I should have done some more research on the differences between editions, but I really think anyone high school age or above could handle the 300-some pages of the "adult" version, which must contain a lot more information. So I'd recommend this particular version only to younger students or to someone who really just wants a small taste of the evidence.

Good Introductory Material.......2007-09-19

Lee Strobel has made another accessible and fascinating introductory apologetics book. By interviewing leading Christian scholars, including William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, and Michael Behe, Strobel lays a solid foundation for belief in a Creator of the universe.

Due to the nature of the material, this book is more technical than "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith." Nevertheless, Strobel makes the book enjoyable and easy to read with his excellent writing style.

This book covers a large scope of issues, mostly dealing with scientific evidence for the existence of God. Craig gives a great defense of the Cosmological Argument while Robin Collins provides an excellent defense of the Teleological Argument (also known as the Design Argument)- including a brilliant refutation of the so-called "multi-verse" theory. Stephen Meyer demonstrates that the origin of life is strong evidence for a Creator, and J.P. Moreland shows that philosophical reasoning and scientific studies support the idea of a soul, which is inconsistent with the materialist philosophy espoused by almost all atheists.

As with all the other books in the "Case" series, Strobel offers some excellent recommended further reading at the end of each chapter for those who wish to pursue the issues further.

The only problem I had with the book was that I felt it focused too much on the issue of evolution. In many cases it seemed that Strobel was equating "Darwinism" and atheism- concepts which are certainly not interchangeable. By implying that evolution entails atheism, Strobel puts an unnecessary stumbling block in front of any person who believes that there is strong evidence for evolutionary theory, yet who could still be convinced on the basis of other evidence that God exists. I think it is unwise to spread the notion that Christianity and evolution are directly incompatible.

Despite this flaw, The Case for a Creator is an excellent resource and a recommended read for everyone.

An eye opening book.......2007-08-31

I would recommend this book for everyone. It deals with the creationism vs. evolution/science debate in a new and fascinating way. He uses science to discredit many of its own theories. Lee Strobel never falls into the trap many creationists do - start with the Bible, and build a scientific theory around it. Instead he uses science, discredits many of the assumptions used today, and shows how science actually supports Biblical principles. I am still excited about this book even though I finished reading it over a month ago.

Repels Reason.......2007-08-29

I have read a number of the prior reviews and agree with many of them so I will not restate their good points. I would only like to say that (having also sat in sermons by Lee Strobel) I found the author's smug approach (he does not realize that the standards of science are vastly more rigorous than either journalism or law) to the subject insufferably frustrating. Instead of approaching the subject humbly and seeking out a balanced set of arguments, he instead relies exclusively (with one exception who's biological irreducibility claims has been discredited in other books such as, Finding Darwin's God, a book written by an actual biologist) on either his close friends or representatives of the Discovery Institute-a known PAC (I encourage you to look up the Discovery Institute on Wikipedia).

I have been a high tech engineer for more than 15 years and I would not recommend this book if you are someone who is sincerely seeking God in truth. I would instead recommend that you first read Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller. Lee Strobel's book only convinced me that most of the people who believe in intelligent design are either ignorant fools or are seeking power for themselves over others.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony

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Good Defense and Solid Refutation
Doubtful
Scholarly Yet Accessible
That...which we have seen with our own eyes...concerning the word of life
Bauckham Blast Bultmann, Beelzebub

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
Richard Bauckham
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0802831621

Book Description

This new book argues that the four Gospels are closely based on eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the accounts of Jesus circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the name of the original eyewitnesses. To drive home this controversial point, Bauckham draws on internal literary evidence, study of personal names in the first century, and recent developments in the understanding of oral traditions.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses also taps into the rich resources of modern study of memory and cognitive psychology, refuting the conclusions of the form critics and calling New Testament scholarship to make a clean break with this long-dominant tradition. Finally, Bauckham challenges readers to end the classic division between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith," proposing instead the "Jesus of testimony." Sure to ignite heated debate on the precise character of the testimony about Jesus, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses will be valued by scholars, students, and all who seek to understand the origins of the Gospels.

Customer Reviews:

Good Defense and Solid Refutation.......2007-09-25

I found this book on Bauckham to be slightly boorish. Why?

Because the form criticism, reduction critics have let on that they know so much more!

Bauckham solidly refutes and consistently refers to 'home base' - the Apostles and their close associates as valid and non-contradictory eyewitness, and therefore being the original and only sources of the NT.

A necessary defense in the light of the plethora of 'Matthew's community' this and the 'Johannine community' that.

Most re-assuring in light of the fact that the textual-critical scholars of the Bible do not believe in half of the words belonging to Jesus!

*Dr Kostenberger does rightly oppose Bauckam's suggestion that the Gospel of John was not written by the beloved disciple, but the 'Elder' John.

Doubtful.......2007-09-22

This is a wishful intent, aimed to prove a certain hypothesis.
The hypothesis is controversial at best.
Undoubtedly there were thousands of eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus, but no texts, if any, of their writings survived, unless one is to accept the fragments of the so-called Gospel of Mary Magdalen as being one such. The latter are more Buddhist in nature.
One wonders, also, why Jesus did not write his own gospel. Possibly he wrote down some of his teachings, but they have not been found.

The book is a noble academic treatise. However I think it is clear that the Gospels were written many decades indeed life-spans after Jesus...with all that this time lag must imply.

Scholarly Yet Accessible.......2007-09-04

Richard Bauckham has written an informative book in answer to those who would question the historicity and veracity of the synoptic gospels. The details of his points are technical but easy to follow even if one hasn't had a formal theological education. His reasoning is sound and he regularly summarizes each point of the argument. One review I read compared it to a mystery and I would have to agree that this book reads like a great novel.

That...which we have seen with our own eyes...concerning the word of life.......2007-08-08

This is a wonderfully fresh, challenging new look at the connection between eye-witness testimony and the Jesus tradition. As it argues for a fairly orthodox interpretation of the origin and transmission of the Jesus tradition, it is bound to stir up a skeptical backlash such as the lengthy (and often distorted or inaccurate) 'critical' review by Neil Godfrey. Nevertheless, it is a genuine work of scholarship, distinguishable from works by more skeptical historians and NT scholars only by the conclusions it reaches. The standard of argument and the use of primary and secondary literature are impeccable, as the knowledgeable reader will discern immediately.

Bauckham's case can be (all too briefly) summarized as follows: the Jesus traditions recorded in the canonical Gospels are not two or three generations removed from the eyewitness observers of the ministry and death of Jesus, but at most at one remove. Furthermore these traditions did not pass through a long, anonymous process of modification and expansion, but rather reflect the testimony of specific named tradents who continued to be authoritative sources of the traditions they passed on until they died. He bases this case on several pieces of evidence: 1)the remarks of Papias (and other early Church fathers) on the origins of the Gospels, 2)the named persons in the Gospels most likely reflect eyewitness sources for the Gospel narratives in which they feature, 3)the evangelists use an ancient rhetorical device known as the inclusio (used, for example, by Lucian and Porphyry) to indicate their main eyewitness sources, 4)remarks by Paul indicate the presence of a formal, controlled method of transmitting the Jesus tradition, as well as an official eyewitness collegiate in the form of the Twelve who ensured that the traditions passed on reflected actual contact with Jesus, 5)the pattern of agreement and disagreement among the Synoptic traditions about Jesus is best explained by the agreements and disagreements often observed among eyewitnesses to the same event(s). He devotes several chapters to the Gospel of John as a special case of eyewitness testimony and closes with a philosophical discussion of the role of testimony in the practice of historiography.

This thesis is of course open to challenge at several points. One might argue that the ancient sources (NT, Church Fathers) are simply too scanty to make definitive statements about who wrote what and when. One might examine the pattern of agreements and disagreements and conclude that the variations indicate a more informal, less controlled method of transmission of the Jesus tradition, or that the variations are best explained by theological differences among the evangelists. One might not be convinced by the presence of the inclusio in the Gospels, less still by its supposed function (to indicate eye-witness sources). The crux of the matter is that these are legitimate scholarly objections to a legitimate scholarly argument. Given the controversial nature of our sources, it is inevitable that people will disagree with Bauckham, and doubtless some of his arguments are more plausible than others (as he himself admits). But that is no reason to accuse him of producing "pro-medieval, anti-Enlightenment scholarship" (actually, Godfrey would be hard-pressed to come anywhere near the scholarly achievement of some of the medieval scholars, like Aquinas or Grotius or Scotus).

Whatever one thinks of Bauckham's overall thesis (I am inclined to think that it is broadly convincing, with some qualifications), he surely points the way forward to a fresh examination of the canonical Jesus traditions. Historical-critical NT scholarship began already loaded with theological presuppositions and primitive, un-scientific understanding of how oral tradition works or how corporate memory is preserved. What is called for is a model of the origin and transmission of the Jesus traditions that account for the pattern of agreement and disagreement we actually find in the Gospels, as well as the presence of non-canonical traditions and the references we find in the Church Fathers. James Dunn in his monumental work Jesus Remembered (Christianity in the Making, Vol. 1) and in the smaller A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology) has already taken important steps in this direction, while Gregory Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy in The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition apply the most up-to-date anthropological and psychological data to testing the plausibility of the models of Dunn and Bauckham. One can only hope that this trend will continue, and that we will gain a much more historically plausible understanding of Jesus and the Gospels, as well as one more congenial to theological concerns (NOT illegitimate, contrary to Godfrey's rants).

By all means read Neil Godfrey's review, but bear in mind that he is just as biased (if not more so) as Bauckham, and often misrepresents Bauckham's arguments and intentions, with an appalling lack of intellectual generosity and scholarly acumen. Anyone reading this book with an open mind and a nuanced understanding of what "Enlightenment" really means will greatly profit from it.

Bauckham Blast Bultmann, Beelzebub.......2007-08-07

Basic point obvious: Jesus had eyewitnesses . In the sense of people qualified and competent to report what they saw; and the Gospels are based on their testimony as such. 'Eyewitnesses' were and are a well recognized metaphor from jurisprudence, and a facet of Hellenistic historiography.

To which a churlish reader such as this one might reply, Duh!

It is perfectly obvious the Gospels were based on witness reports. In some cases (e.g. John, and epistle of Peter) the author formally declared themselves to be witnesses, and gave a kind of oath-sounding affirmation. Luke begins his gospel by telling us he he carefully assembled good witness a la a kind of investigatory reporter, making sure he got his facts from good sources.

Again, Duh.

But the real point at issue here concerns not the normal common-sense readers of the Gospels like ourselves, but those in the cult-like intellectual fringe of yesteryear, who were somehow bewitched in the 1920s and by the ravings of German liberal self styled `high critics' like Rudolph Butltmann. It was he who overlooked the obvious and dredged up anarcane alternative, the better to diminish Scripture and become all the rave of the anti-Christian mainstream media and adultery-addicted Art Deco salon set of his day. This happened in an age when intellectuals we all ga-ga over naturalistic reductionism and swallowed anything attacking the Faith; we had Clarence Darrow and the Scopes monkey trial, we had racial theorists with calipers measuring skulls; John b Watson and B.F. Skinner prototypes declaring there is no mind; we had colonials running around in pith helmets and butterfly nets in Papua, etc etc, all intoxicated with the notion that the verities of the God of old were 'outdated' and could be easily rendered correctly with modern science. And somehow, Bultmanns theories became horribly entrenched until repeated by thousands and millions of dupes readers. Bultmann basically said that the Scripture came not from witnesses but from oral traditions in disparate, disconnected communities. Sayings derived from purposes served, such as liturgical or evangelistic or pseudo-historical. And so the sayings and pericopes 'about' Christ, say Bultmannians, really tell us more about communities and agendas than Jesus.

Belatedly the pericopes were committed to writing. Evidence to the contrary, whether in the texts or from Papias, must simply be lies or inventions.

Bultmann is a scandal not only of higher criticism but of the entire scholarly enterprise itself, which was consciously constructed on the singular theme that God doesn't exist, and that the only allowable dscourse will be naturalistic.

Bauckham uses chap. 10 to lay out the scandal. Bultmann was debunked, point by point, some time ago. There's an unfortunate disconnect between the scholarly journals and these icons of popular science. And the world still rejects the Resurrection, or an afterlife judgment, and simply will grab at any half-plausible pseudo-theory to reassure themselves that there's no consequence of their wicked lives.

Now, with that in view, Bauckham's book begins to make sense. And it has real value in fact. He is primarily addressing a learned audience who have been infected with Bultmann and with the intensive anti-Christian virus. Ordinary, conscientious readers are already way ahead of him.

But other victims of `Jesus' Seminar' et al. claptrap that is so pervasive in antichristian mainstream publishing, who have soaked up the fraudulence about late dating of Gospels and the unreliability or oral transmission, will benefit.

Bauckham meticulously explains the significance of literary inclusio devices; the good credibility of Papias, and how his statements harmonize with Matthew and especially Petrine Mark; Johanine writings as real eyewitness testimony; the significance of many named persons in the Gospels (and others kept anonymous); assorted construction element emphasizing a witnessing purpose;the obviously likelihood that oral traditions were scrupulously memorized and were written in private notebooks; etc

What's missing in my view:

Most glaring and annoying is no mention of the Book of Revelation--which, after all, purports to be the testament and eyewitness experience of John, who is the same who was Christ's biographical witness. And John is ordered to `write down' the prophecy. And there is a solemn curse against anyone who would change it. And there are allusions to false apostles already corrupting the msg. All of these elements really bear direclty on Bauckham's thesis, and Revelation is rife with 'witness' themes, yet Bauckham gives it nary a mention.

Another weakness is his brief treatment of Paul's witness claim in which Paul asserts that he received the words of the sacramental liturgy from the Lord. Bauckham simply replies, `Paul couldn't have meant this,' without enough discussion on this monumentally important (and dubious) assertion.

Conversely, Bauckham gives us WAY too much about Greco-Roman literary forms and parallels that only tangentially bear on his thesis. This happens several times, totaling scores of pages. It fulfills the scholarly job of comparative literature, but is mind-numbing. Bauckham could have put the cites in footnotes or moved this material to an appendix.

If Baukham does a paperback edition, he should follow Tom Wright's example in his 900 page Resurrection, and give us a 250 page abridgment for popular reading.

There's no reflection, either, on the possibility that God may have constructed the Gospel with intentional ambiguity and opacity (as Jesus says) precisely in order to hide things from the 'smart guys' and reveal them only to the poor or humble or those in need. Part of the arrogance of the ruling intelligentsia is their naive assumption that reality is objective, under their symbolic control, and analyzable without acknowledging God. Scientists are only chasing their own tails.

From a scholarly standpoint, this book is a masterpiece that will certainly drive a stake thru Bultmann's heart. It should soften some of the bizarrely anti-Christianized heavily politicized and weirdly speculative maundering drivel we've been getting from HarperSanFrancisco, of Jesus Seminar genre, which is really converging on the Da Vinci Code agenda, and other septic spill from Beelzebub.

Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice

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Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice
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Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice
Bernadette Melnyk , and Ellen Fineout-Overholt
Manufacturer: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0781744776

Book Description

This user-friendly resource to evidence-based practice will serve as a guide to implementing evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare. "Real-life" examples assist the reader in actualizing important concepts and overcoming barriers in the implementation of evidence-based care; efficient critical appraisal of both quantitative and qualitative evidence; how to factor in a clinician's expertise and patient preferences/values when making decisions about patient care; chapters on outcomes management and how to create a vision to motivate a change to best practice; chapters on generating both qualitative and quantitative evidence; how to write a successful grant proposal; as well as a chapter on how to disseminate evidence to other professionals, the media, and policy-makers. The text also includes web-alerts that direct readers to helpful internet resources and an accompanying CD-ROM with 40 evidence reviews written by experts in the field that answer burning clinical questions across six specialty areas: adults in critical/acute care; adults in primary care; aging; emergency & trauma care; high-risk children & youth; and psychiatric mental health.

Customer Reviews:

Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice.......2007-06-27

This is an excellent resource for nurses in all clinical settings who are interested in providing evidence-based care...
makes the research process user-friendly especially for first-timers.

Good reference.......2007-04-10

I'm enjoying this book and finding it a great reference in teaching the basics of evidence based practice. I would definitely recommend it as a required text at the bachelor's and master's level.

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