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A review by socraticgadfly
Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe by Lisa Randall
1.0
Too much science fiction with an icing of scientism
This probably should be filed under science fiction. I didn't realize before I started to read that Randall believes in the periodicity idea of mass extinctions. I know, and have long known, that that's been debunked. Friend Donald Prothero, in his 1-star review at Amazon, has the details.
Beyond Nemesis having been debunked, most of her ideas and claims about the Oort cloud are highly speculative at best.
That's all bad enough for a pretty heavy ding. Then, I saw this clear scientism-type dismissal of philosophy on page 27, and that was the icing on the cake:
"Philosophy, to a scientist at least, concerns questions we expect we will never reliably answer."
Prof. Randall, scientists who actually understand philosophy would cringe at such a definition. That's part of why philosophy of science exists, too.
Even worse? She's a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Finally, there's the subtitle: "The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe." Sounds a bit too "breathless," even quasi-New Agey, for me. Yes, book publishers have the final call (theoretically) on titles, but she could have pushed for something different had she wanted.
Suffice it to say I'll not be reading her in the future, either.
This probably should be filed under science fiction. I didn't realize before I started to read that Randall believes in the periodicity idea of mass extinctions. I know, and have long known, that that's been debunked. Friend Donald Prothero, in his 1-star review at Amazon, has the details.
Beyond Nemesis having been debunked, most of her ideas and claims about the Oort cloud are highly speculative at best.
That's all bad enough for a pretty heavy ding. Then, I saw this clear scientism-type dismissal of philosophy on page 27, and that was the icing on the cake:
"Philosophy, to a scientist at least, concerns questions we expect we will never reliably answer."
Prof. Randall, scientists who actually understand philosophy would cringe at such a definition. That's part of why philosophy of science exists, too.
Even worse? She's a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Finally, there's the subtitle: "The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe." Sounds a bit too "breathless," even quasi-New Agey, for me. Yes, book publishers have the final call (theoretically) on titles, but she could have pushed for something different had she wanted.
Suffice it to say I'll not be reading her in the future, either.