The Amazon reader reviews are, unsurprisingly, pretty much divided between the same people you describe: the people who already believe in the creator and read this book to reinforce rather than challenge their own beliefs, and the people who read it to see if there's anything to this creation business.
Some highlights:
Quote:
This is not a book of science. Instead, it's one man's quest to find opinions that validate his view of the world. The chapter on Darwin, instead of discussing research that discusses faults in Darwin's theories, Strobel relies solely on interview of one scientist. I'm sure the scientist has valid points, but no book purporting to be about science should spit out the opinions of others in interview form as if they are gospel.
I also found the tone very condescending. Strobel asks a leading question, scientist tells him why his preconceived notions are wrong, Strobel fall all over himself saying what a schmuck was has been for so long for not knowing the truth.
Quote:
I kept looking for the scientific evidence that was promised but it never materialized. No observations other than "Gee, that cell is so complex and beautiful, God must have done that." No data. No theory to explain the data [of course, no data]. No predictions. No testable hypothesis. No anything that looks, feels, sounds or smells like science, at least not science as we know it. Instead there seemed to be a lot of philosophical argument [which would be just fine if the grandiose promises of scientific evidence had not been made]. And a lot of sentences that start "I believe..."
This one's a bit ineloquent, but astute:
Quote:
Why the author implies the intelligent design immediately leads one to the [Christian] church, and not a mosque or a synagogue?
Quote:
I was hoping for some well thought out arguments supporting creationism. Unfortunately, none are to be found in this book. This book is a littany of circular arguments, skewed "logic", giant leaps, false assumptions, and general stupidity. ... They dismiss all the work of Stephen Hawkings in just one paragraph by saying that he used "imaginary" numbers in his work and nothing real could possibly result from that. (For those unfamilar with imaginary numbers, they are a standard tool of math generally taught in high school algebra class.
Quote:
Basically: If science cannot explain something now, if we don't know the answers now, then the only explanation can be God. The same kind of thinking brought us Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Neptune, etc. That's what mythology does--explain the inexplainable. Don't understand the complexity of planetary movement? Jeez, it must be Helios who carries the sun across the sky! Don't understand the complexity of the double helix? Jeez, it must be an intelligent creator who designs humans! We've known DNA existed for only 50 years...do you think possibly, just possibly, that one day science will know more about it than they do today? Or should we just immediately "cry god" and end of story?
This is the book for you if you like...
-circular logic
-one-sided "evidence" (there is no debate)
-science presented by a biased non-scientist
-short-sighted, shallow thinking
-science by creationist scientists
-ridiculous conclusions
This is disappointing. When I picked up the book, I actually had a little hope that there might be some real evidence. But, nope, fooled again.
*shrug* I'm all for challenging my beliefs, but it doesn't seem like Strobel's the man to do it.
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