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Title: A New Science of Life by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 0-89281-535-3 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: March, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Also read Penrose, Emperor's New Mind
Comment: I strongly recommend mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose and his book "The Emperor's New Mind" for a completely different approach to the conclusion that Mind, at least human sapience, is non-mechanistic in nature, and that current science does not have the facts or theory to explain consciousness at this point in time. He feels, and builds a very strong case for the idea, that quantum physics plays a role in the operation of the brain. I suspect that quantum physics will play an increasing role in the exploration of morphic resonance as well, and that we discover DNA-controlled processes are affected by quantum mechanics.
Penrose's book is interesting in that he does not have a bit of "New Age" orientation about him, yet he comes to some very similar conclusions about the operation of Mind that Sheldrake finds with the processes of Life.
I feel the two books should be read in tandem.
Rating: 5
Summary: Synchronicity tastes good
Comment: Sheldrake is adept at drawing theoretical correlations between various realms of science and life itself in a manner that simultaneously alienates both the poet and the scientist. How can you not love that?
Dealing with those thoughts that transcend modern language and modern scientific methodology will appeal to those readers who really want to gravitate to the cutting edge and not miss a beat.
Anything by Sheldrake is worth the price of admission into a world usually not discussed but often experienced.
Stay curious, be patient, and peer into this man's mind. He is willing to venture into those most curious areas of thought and does so with authority and humor.
Rating: 4
Summary: a gold mine of great ideas and dull writing
Comment: Sheldrake's hypothesis, if correct, would be one of the great scientific discoveries of all time. When I first picked up the book, though I wasn't exactly expecting the author to be a crank, I _was_ expecting him to be a sort of fringe scientist with a very poetic approach to nature.
These expectations were incorrect in two different ways:
1. Sheldrake obviously has an excellent mastery of mainstream science. He is vastly read in the scientific literature and offers plenty of empirical justification for his unorthodox theory. Furthermore, as a professor of philosophy myself, I am deeply impressed by Sheldrake's grasp of key issues of ancient and modern philosophy, which he explains without any trace of either amateurism or pomposity. I do find that the philosophical aspects of the book need to be fleshed out a bit, but Sheldrake's aim seems to have been less systematic than that. Given the swashbuckling nature of his scientific hypotheses, I am a bit surprised at his frequent dismissal of a "metaphysical" approach to the problem of form, especially as he is admittedly unable to tell us much about the _physical_ character of a field. But I don't want to nitpick his philosophy too much, because it is refreshingly broad and deep for a scientist.
2. A more serious problem concerns the disappointingly dry writing style. The book is slow going; the author's prose is anything but glittering. I don't see that this is merely a matter of ornament, either. Darwin, Freud, Lavoisier, and Galileo all wrote irresistibly readable scientific work, and it is my experience that the readability and clarity of these authors has less to do with accidental poetic gifts than with a truly lucid grasp of the inner life of their subject matter. Put differently, even if Sheldrake's theories "turn out to be true", it is unlikely that this book would go down in history as a classic, as its theories are developed with a bit too much vagueness.
There are some books of such obvious world-shaking importance that your reader's adrenaline keeps you awake. This book is not quite one of them. But if you read it, you will find yourself transported into a very different world for hours at a time. It is intellectually liberating, though I think Sheldrake is more of an interesting precursor than a coming scientific Moses.
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Title: The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 089281537X Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness by Rupert Sheldrake, Terence McKenna, Ralph Abraham, Jean Houston ISBN: 0892819774 Publisher: Park Street Pr Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Field : The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart ISBN: 0060931175 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science (2nd Edition with Update on Results) by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 0892819898 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home : And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 0609805339 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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