Kevin's Weblog

I’ve flipped through this book in stores a few times previously, and a month or two ago I finally picked up a copy. It’s a series of 1-3 page essays by various scientists, writers, and philosophers answering the question, “What do you believe is true even though you can’t prove it?”.

Overall, I think the book is worthwhile, although it seems that you could read most or all of the essays online at The World Question Center (for some reason, in a complete different order from the book, though.) Occasionally it gets a bit repetitive as the editor has chosen to group similar answers together, and occasionally an answer seems overly specific to the author’s personal research or just seems to miss the point of the exercise entirely. For example, one has to wonder if Freeman Dyson falls into this category or if he was just feeling ornery when he wrote his disappointingly uninteresting response.

Personally, the most interesting essay for me came from Susan Blackmore, perhaps because I might have been inclined to give the opposite answer. That is, although I can’t prove it, and all my understanding of science argues to the contrary, I believe in free will. However, after reading her essay, I had to contemplate whether I really believe in free will, or merely want to believe it. At some point, I’ll have to think and write more on this subject.

I’ll probably hang onto this book for a while so I can re-read parts of it. Although you can read it fairly quickly, you could also spend years dissecting each of the essays in turn. For that, I think this is a book worth having around.

The book is volume 2 in the “His Dark Materials” trilogy, started by “The Golden Compass”. While I read it pretty voraciously, I didn’t find it as engaging as the first book. It suffers from the typical shortcoming of the middle book in trilogies. Most of what happens in this book is setting up for the climax to come in book 3, and while there’s the beginning of the explanation of some of the mysteries of the first book, it doesn’t achieve the same sense of wonderment.

This book has been highly recommended by a number of friends, and I finally got a chance to pick it up and start reading. I definitely recommend it myself as a fun, engaging piece of fantasy. Although intended as children’s literature, it has enough substance to satisfy an adult. Although you’ll probably be drawn to read it quickly, it’s worth paying attention as you go as there’s a fair bit early on which is referenced again later in the book.