New books about science and religion

Decoding the Language of God: can a scientist really be a believer?: a geneticist responds to Francis Collins by George C. Cunningham. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2010. (Library location is 215 CUN.)


Written by a scientist but easily read by nonscientists, this title is a response to another geneticist's book, The Language of God by Francis Collins (2007). In Cunningham's book, the author refutes the findings Collins made in his book about science and religion. In Decoding the Language of God Cunningham argues that there is no scientific evidence to argue the belief in a personal God, and he argues that much scientific evidence debunks this belief.


Belief: readings on the reason for faith by Francis Collins. New York: HarperOne, 2010. (Library call number is 202.2 COL.)

Here Collins brings together a collection of writings about faith and God from numerous faiths and religious thinkers, scholars and believers around the world. Collins is defending the basis for a belief in God that he states is the most profound question humankind continually asks. This is a good collection of some of the world's profound thinkers and spiritual leaders, such as Augustine and C.S. Lewis to Annie Dillard and Elie Wiesel.


The Language God Talks: on science and religion by Herman Wouk. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010. (Library call number is 201.65 WOU.)
In this book, Wouk frequently looks back on his friendship with physicist and atomic bomb scientist, Richard Feynman. Feynman was a humanist, and he and Wouk had many discussions about faith and science. Wouk writes about his life of belief as an Orthodox Jew while also relating his scientific discussions and research for many of his great works of fiction. This is an interesting read about one man's journey through a life of faith.

Biography Resource Center

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Pet Loss

Many people have dear pets, and regard them as members of the family. When one dies there is a substantial need to grieve, and the way to find books isn't always clear.

In day to day speech, we say pet loss. But a book may not be using these exact words so, as long as catalogs aren't like google, you need a little help with good keywords to use.

Here are some sample searches
with keywords pets death psychological aspects

grief pets

bereavement pets

Memoir

This Boy's Life
Author Tobias Wolf

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This is a deeply personal account of Wolf's life as a young boy growing up with a single mother and the close emotional bond between them. This bond becomes threatened when, out of fiscal necessity, she gets remarried to an abusive man. Rather than wallow in self-pity in his narrative, Wolf draws the reader into his storied childhood full of honest confessions of all the bad things he did as a mischievious youth and how these, along with other experiences, shaped who he became and the decisons he made. The backdrop for this story is the beautiful North Cascades.



Liar's Club
Author: Mary Karr

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In this the first of Karr's three memoirs she describes her childhood growing up in a dysfunctional family in Texas. There are a number of pivotal events in her young life, some of them difficult to read, but she has a way of drawing the reader into what seems like an unbelievable existence with colorful metaphor and lyrical composition that reflect her abilities as a poet as well as prose writer.