Check out my new review at Rational Moms of James Lu Dunbar's BANG! The Universe Verse.
The Adventures of a Friendly French-American ExMormon Atheist Mom Living in Switzerland!!!
The Adventures of a Friendly French-American ExMormon Atheist Mom Living in Switzerland!!!
5 comments:
Right of the bat, I have an issue with asserting "nothing existed". No one knows what was or wasn't prior to the Big Bang, and if he's going to claim scientific accuracy, then he can't make naked assertions like that. By page three it's gotten worse, and makes me think this is going to unfold as a religious text. "So we know that from somewhere, some something would come into existence though we don't know where from" sounds like Creationist speech. Pages 4 and 5 reinforce the Creationist mindset and by page 10, there it is, the word "creation", and it's echoed again on page 29 and in "A Note from the Author."
I expressed these concerns to Mr. Dunbar and his reply was, "This is a rhyming, 30 page children's book about the origin of the universe, the most unknowable, unexplainable concept known to man, and you're upset because I used the word "creation," and you're not impressed that I include a scientifically sound explanation for quarks, elements or fusion?"
His response is nonsensical. How does doing one or more good things mean it's ok to do something bad? Isn't this the Christian charity model, where it's ok to proselytize at the soup kitchen or homeless shelter? To object to that would be to ignore the free soup and shelter being provided! No, that's not how it works, and my first instinct (and also the first instinct of those who I forwarded the link to) was that this was some kind of stealth religion book. Oh look, science for the kids in a cute, rhyming comic book! Look, it's Einstein! Oh I'll have to get this and the next thing you know you're kid is believing everything came from some unknown place and was created here, where before there was nothing. Yeah, that's great. I don't care if he explains a quark. A kid can always look that up or have it explained to them, but how much work is it going to be to undo that creationist nonsense?
Mr. Dunbar claims he's against the Creationists' threat to science, but I have trouble believing him. How the fuck can he be if he calls everything "creation"? Maybe he's one of those "liberal, moderate" Christians then, but still, having less flies in my soup doesn't mean the soup is better. Even one fly is too many.
Hey PhillyChief!!!
That is definitely a valid criticism.
I agree that it's a bit much to assert that nothing existed, given that we simply don't know what the situation was at that point.
For myself, I was willing to give him a certain amount of leeway for artistic license (rhyming is not so trivial), plus the fact that in the liner notes he admits that he's not a scientist -- and that this is meant to whet your appetite for more serious science.
That said, my kids and I have watched a ton of Physics videos on YouTube, so there's little danger of misunderstanding -- we know the underlying theory and get what he means. It may be different for others, though...
Are you fucking kidding me? Leeway? Yeah it explains quarks, while implanting in your kid's head that everything came from someplace we don't know of and was created here, somehow, for before that there was nothing. FABULOUS! Oh but it's ok to implant that in your kid's skull due to artistic license.
I have no idea why Google/blogger has deleted the comments on this post. I think it's a bug. I still have them in my email, and will repost them tomorrow if the problem hasn't corrected itself by then...
Hey PhillyChief!!!
That's an interesting analysis. I noticed that he used the word "creation" a few times, but it never occurred to me that he might have meant it literally. You may be right.
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