[Hac-announce] Preliminaries on Jerry A. Coyne

[Thomas Platt]

This morning I sent the e-mail I've copied below.  I neglected to  
mention that I didn't recommend the book.  The recommender was  
looking for someone with a more appropriate background than her own  
to handle the discussion if the book is accepted.  I was glad to  
volunteer.  I hope she will be happy with my handling of it. - Tom Platt


I am reviewing "Why Evolution is True" by Jerry A. Coyne for possible  
selection by our humanist book reading group.  The author appears to  
have excellent "creds" as can be seen from the Google list at
http://tinyurl.com/6kalzfl
In particular, you might want to look at his bio at the Wikipedia site.

The author is clearly a hard core atheist who feels that religion and  
science are incompatible and 'that scientists who hold religious  
views are only reflective of the idea "that people can hold two  
conflicting notions in their heads at the same time" '

As a low level "dinosaur docent" who teaches early grade school  
classes at the Peabody museum, my approach is necessarily quite  
different:  I teach what scientists think about fossils  and  
ordinarily avoid getting into religion except occasionally, if the  
issue should come up, to point out that scientists avoid getting into  
the motives of God when they do their science, ie. they interpret  
nature in natural terms.

I look forward with interest in checking out this book.

	Tom Platt