Reviews
of Books by Victor J.
Stenger
See my special
page on Amazon.com whick has links to all my books and reviews.
Amazon.com
reviews "Stenger successfully provides a rational response to
the irrational critiques of the so-called 'new atheists'. cfeagans.
InfuriatedSciTeacher
"Stenger's work is concise and well-written, with enough newly
presented notions to be worthy of a read."
The
Secular Outpost "Stenger makes a case that will have considerable
appeal for those of us with a more optimistic temperament.
Friendly
Atheist. "This is a wonderful book for any person who hasn’t read
an atheist blog over the past five years. That is to say, older and
brand new atheists will enjoy Stenger’s book — it’s an excellent primer
for godless newbies."
Amazon.com reviews "Quantum Gods
is the ONLY book-length critique of the abuse of quantum physics."
Logan Narcomey.
Quantum
gods don't deserve your
faith. New Scientist
April
22, 2009 review by Amanda Gefter. "In this much-needed book, physicist
Victor Stenger isolates and then debunks the claims of two kinds of
"quantum belief."
Toronto
Globe and Mail Stenger walks us through the basics of physics to
refute [quantum spirituslity and theology].
Softpedia
"The entire book is a joyride." Tudor Vieru, Science Editor.
Free Inquiry 29(5):60-62
(2009) Stuart Jordan. "This is an excellent book for scientists and
careful thinkers."
Open
Parachute. "Stenger provides an important service exposing [quantum
spirituality and quantum theology] in his new book.
Amazon.com
reviews. "In my view Stenger succeeds in disproving God beyond a
level of reasonable doubt." Andrew.
Conspicuous by
His Absence
by David Ludden for eSkeptic. "Physicist Victor Stenger has just served
up a second course of delectable arguments for the non-existence of
God."
Tour
de Force by Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry. "Stenger’s new
book is a tour de force of scope, brevity, and rhetorical power."
Review
by Jonathan Levinson on the Secular
Web.
"Dr. Stenger's learning is vast and he expresses his thoughts with
enormous clarity, making them accessible to a large audience. He is a
master communicator. One will not find a better book on the scientific
evidence for atheism.
Forum
on Physics and Society, American Physical Society, review by
Lawrence S. Lerner. "Stenger’s expertise as a physicist is
clearly evident in this work."
Damien Broderick Science Fiction
author. "Unlike some critics of faith, Stenger takes the tough
line that deity is not just an unnecessary hypothesis or one where an
honest thinker can choose to accept or reject it. No, it is 'the
failed hypothesis'."
Jerry Peterson Simply Einstein.
"Chapter by chapter, the author shows that the existence of God
would suggest certain realities in the world that would be verifiable
by scientific inquiry. But the data don’t support these would-be
realities, thereby providing evidence that no God exists."
Podcasts
and YouTubes
You can watch, listen to or read interviews of Vic Stenger at these
locations
among others:
Future of
Naturalism YouTube interview by Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry.
Point of Inquiry
Faith
and Freethought
Thinking-critically
This has a You-Tube video of talk to CFI Toronto on April 5, 2007.
Start at part 3. This site also has links to other relevent videos and
podcasts.
The
Atheist Experience
Huntington
News Column in West Virginia web newspaper.
Mindcore
Amazon.com
reviews."This is the third book from Professor Stenger that I've
read. In my mind, he's certainly the "Richard Dawkins' of
general-audience physics books." Mike.
New
Scientist. "Stenger
has written a fascinating and throught-provoking book. . . it is a
feast for both the specialist and dedicated general reader."
Damien
Broderick Science Fiction
author. "Why is there Something, rather than Nothing? Who put the bang
in the big bang? Veteran particle physicist Victor Stenger offers
an answer to that deep question in his two new books [God: The Failed Hypothesis also
reviewed], arguing a materialist, God-free account of the cosmos,
equally antagonistic to superstition, the paranormal and religions
archetypal and newfangled alike."
Times
Higher Education-John Gribbon "It is a rare delight for a reviewer
to be asked to comment on a book
that spells out an idea that he has been promoting himself. I therefore
have to confess to feeling a warm appreciation for Victor Stenger's
work, even before I plunged in to the text. The fact that the text does
not entirely do justice to the idea is mildly disappointing, but what
Stenger has to say is so important that it should at least be discussed
everywhere that physics is taught."
Stephen Ames,
History and Philosophy of Science Programme, The University of
Melbourne "V.J. Stenger
. . . provides a scientific answer to the
question,
'where do the laws of physics come from?' Remarkably, his elegant and
mathematically detailed derivation of the laws is driven by the
requirment that the models physicists develop to describe objective
reality cannot depend on the standpoint of the observer."
"Sleeping
with the Enemy"
by
Karl
Giberson in Research
News & Opportunities in Science and Theology. Note
this
is a publication of the Templeton
Foundation.
"Has
Science Found God?" by
Kenneth
Silber in Tech Central
Station.
Skeptic
Bibliography
Perspectives
in Science and the
Christian
Faith by Gary DeBoer
Astronomy
Magazine.
January 2002.
Read review by Jennifer Birriel here.
Choice.
Current reviews
for Academic Libraries. May 2001
This wide-ranging, sophisticated book
treats
physics and important philosophical issues closely related to physics.
The dust cover blurb does a poor job of describing the book; the best
description
is found on page 339: "The Basic thesis of this book is that physics
has
painted for us a simple picture of material reality that is well within
our general understanding." In roughly 400 pages, Stenger (Univ. of
Hawaii),
a professional physicist with an interest in philosophy, discusses
major
topics of physics such as relativity, quantum mechanics, and the
apparent
one-way nature of time, as well as philosophical stances from Platonism
to postmodernism. The book goes considerably beyond popularization,
without
burdening the reader with technical detail. Nevertheless, it would take
a very gifted lay reader to absorb everything in this book in one
reading.
The author makes his own views known on some famously difficult issues,
but the reader does not need to agree with him to follow the text.
Recommended
for undergraduate and graduate students, professional scientists and
philosopher,
and lay readers with an active interest in philosophy or physics. - M.C
Ogilvie, Washington University.
New Books -
September
2000.
Quantum physics has many extraordinary
implications.
One of the most extraordinary is the events at the atomic and subatomic
level seem to depend on the future as well as the past. Is time really
reversible? Physicist Victor Stenger say yes, arguing that at its
deepest
level reality is literally timeless. And, with this reality, it is
possible
that many universes exist with different structures and laws from our
own.
USA Today
Dec. 15,
2000.
With the holiday rush upon us, it's
tempting
to think that time matters a great deal. But that may be a mistake,
suggests
physicist Victor Stenger as he dives into the quantum realm - the tiny
spaces where part of atoms appear in more than one place
simultaneously,
blink in and out of existence, and generally defy understanding.
Rather than meaning nothing or indicating
that the universe continuously branches off into new realities, as some
physicists argue, the author suggests that quantum events show time
reverses
itself freely at the subatomic level.
Although aimed at the general reader,
Timeless
Reality is not the easiest read on the bookshelf. The payoff comes
for the reader with a glimpse into the debate over the nature of
reality.
Discover
Magazine
January 2001.
In clear, simple prose, physicist Stenger
bravely explores quantum theory's most complex and challenging
implications
- that reality is fundamentally timeless and that time itself may be
reversible.
Today's Books
Dec.
8, 2000
! ! ! ! ! Must Read. Originality, content,
style, author
Because at the level of quantum phenomena
time may be reversible, there could be multiple universes arrayed
differently
than our Universe and operating upon different scientific principles.
Book News
Jan. 8,
2001.
If you complained to Stenger (physics and
astronomy, U. of Hawaii) that you had not time, he would shrug and say
nothing does. He explains to educated lay readers that time is
reversible
and that the underlying reality of all phenomena may have no beginning
and no end. He argues that based on established principles of
simplicity
and symmetry, at its deepest level reality is literally timeless, and
that
many universes may exist with different structure and laws from this
one.
Herbert Gintis, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, here
.
Times Literary Supplement, London 27
Dec.
1996,
click
here.
From Publishers Weekly
A particle physicist at the University of Hawaii, Stenger sets forth a
purely materialist, reductionist view of the universe. The
transcendent--gods, spirits, religious or mystical experiences--is
delusory, in his reckoning. He further maintains that paranormal
phenomena such as precognition or mind-over-matter are due to fraud,
hallucination, error or a will to believe. Whether he is discussing
ESP, poltergeists, UFOs, or out-of-body or near-death experiences, he
ignores, misrepresents or skims over evidence that would contradict his
thesis, while maintaining an aura of detached objectivity. Claiming
that religious or supernatural beliefs may be programmed into our DNA
because they once had survival value, Stenger rejects the holism of New
Age Thinkers and physicists, disputing their claim that instantaneous
connections link events across space and time.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Stenger is an elementary particle physicist, an atheist, a skeptic, and
an ardent defender of the scientific method. He uses the principle of
Occam's razor (the simplest explanation is the best) and the test of
the predictive value of a model to show how little evidence there is
for paranormal claims, including religious beliefs, as well as ESP,
astrology, and spirit channeling. Some of Stenger's ideas are
controversial even among scientists, and he tends to explain all human
qualities by just saying they are an evolutionary advantage. However,
this book provides an interesting overview of both skeptical and
credulous physics and much material for discussion. A good purchase for
undergraduate science collections.
- Amy Brunvand, Fort Lewis Coll., Durango, Col.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Book News, Inc.
Stenger (physics, U. of Hawaii) critically examines theories of a
transcendent reality in terms of what is currently known about matter
at its most fundamental level. He offers a convincing rebuttal to those
who attempt to link physics to mystical truths. Annotation copyright
Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
See Amazon.com.
31 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic! , October 19, 1998
Reviewer: A reader
This book makes a compelling case for the idea that the universe
didn't come about through the handywork of some magical space
pixie. The naysayers will throw about their arguments from
incredulity while kicking & screaming but, in the end, even
they (if anything like a rational mind still inhabits their
bodies) will be forced to admit that this concept deserves
serious consideration. Once, it was considered common sense that
the sun moved around the Earth. "Look up at the sky and see it
for yourself!", they would exclaim. But the thinking mind will
take the known facts and discard the hypothesises that don't have
compelling evidence to support them in favor of the ones that do.
Thus far, only a superstitious mind would put the intelligent
design idea into the latter category.
