Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 373
 Worth reading but no revelations here July 24, 2010
B. McEwan (Brooklyn, NY USA)
When author Francis Collins uses the phrase "the language of God" he is talking about DNA, the genetic material that allows life to reproduce itself. As former head of the Human Genome Project, Collins knows a lot about DNA and about genetic science, and the portions of the book that focus on genetics are very well written and easy for a serious reader to follow. And the connections that Collins makes between his scientific study and his belief in God are lucid and plausible.
Where he loses me is that he often equates belief in the idea of "God" with religion, particularly liberal Christianity, and this is where his arguments break down. I have nothing in particular against Christianity. In fact, I was raised in the Methodist Church and have an abiding respect for the lessons given through scripture. But I don't subscribe to the beliefs of any religion and so for me it's not helpful to entangle belief in God with man-made rules and dogma.
Collins does a decent job of refuting the claims of Biblical literalists, as many others have done before him, so this is nothing new. But if you haven't read much in this area his arguments might be of interest. Overall, I would say that The Language of God is useful, but certainly not a "must read."
 Good but not what I expected July 24, 2010
Mike
Good book, not what I thought it was all about, but good and full of new ideas.
Truncated DNA July 22, 2010
Mickey (Columbus, OH)
I'm not going to review the whole book, I only read it because I saw an article in a magazine describing the issue of truncated dna. I'm very conflicted here...on the one hand, I feel as if I've finally seen the one argument that proves evolution beyond any reasonable doubt. On the other hand, I really wanted a more in depth discussion on the topic.
I read this section of the book over and over again, and I think I get it...but I think an entire chapter on this subject, with examples, would have been much better. Here we have, potentially, THE single best argument supporting evolution, and it's given a couple of pages. And I haven't seen (yet) any other book that discusses the issue in more depth.
As a non-scientist, I'm not going to describe this subject 100% accurately here, but let's say in a 'lower' species, like a mouse, there is a dna sequence that codes for face whiskers. In a 'higher' species, that same sequence exists--but only partly. So humans have the 'whisker' code, but the code is truncated, or cut off at a certain point. It's just there, incomplete, serving no purpose. So if this is the case, the only possibility supporting a creationist view is that god placed a code there to deceive us.
Again, I would have liked some examples. I also would like to know, is there any way scientists could be mistaken about what these dna sequences code for? Is there any possibility that those truncated dna sequences serve some purpose, that we don't know about yet? I really doubt it, but I know that if I have a discussion with a creationist, that will be the response.
 human genomics and God July 1, 2010
Jerry
A well-written, personal discourse of human genomics, evolution, Christian faith, atheism, agnosticism by an outstanding scientist presently our NIH Director, who personally experienced all of the above.
Expanded My Thinking on Creation and God's Love June 20, 2010
Dr. Helena M. Mariades (FLORIDA, US)
What an amazing book! It expanded my own thinking and beliefs about the Book of Genesis, creation, and mostly God's love for humankind. How do you cover a subject like DNA and theology without burdening the reader with too much technical information? As a Christian scientist, he illuminates, educates, and motivates us to deeper understandings of the truthes they share. He was courageous in stating his personal faith and the differences with current creationism, warning to search past curent scientific propositions and his case for theistic evolution. He adds much to this complex dialogue and I hope to hear more from him concerning the spiritual aspects of s personal loving God that spoke this creation into existence for His good pleasure.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 373
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