Four and a Half Billion Years


Book Description

This, my fourth book of poems, has 78 poems, which range from short to long, rhymed to un-rhymed, sonnets, haikus, meditations, and literary thoughts. The poems, penned between 1995 and 2001, are listed in chronological order. They are also listed as 37 long poems, 21 sonnets, and 20 short poems. The book was first published in 2002. I have revised and reformatted it for easier reading and brought it up to current poetical standards. Its emotional range covers love, grief, beauty, nature, joy, relationships, disappointments, humanity, philosophy, sexuality, child abuse, and death. Each poem is introduced by one or more poignant phrases to highlight the mood, broach the subject, and explain the setting. Such introductions facilitate reading and bring out the hidden meanings of metaphors. To understand a poem is to read and re-read it slowly, carefully, and meditatively. You know that you have understood a poem when you feel connected to its words and phrases as if they were old friends. To that end, I wish you would read the last poem first.




Evolution


Book Description

Spanning evolutionary science from its inception to its latest findings, from discoveries and data to philosophy and history, this book is the most complete, authoritative, and inviting one-volume introduction to evolutionary biology available. Clear, informative, and comprehensive in scope, Evolution opens with a series of major essays dealing with the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology, with major empirical and theoretical questions in the science, from speciation to adaptation, from paleontology to evolutionary development (evo devo), and concluding with essays on the social and political significance of evolutionary biology today. A second encyclopedic section travels the spectrum of topics in evolution with concise, informative, and accessible entries on individuals from Aristotle and Linneaus to Louis Leakey and Jean Lamarck; from T. H. Huxley and E. O. Wilson to Joseph Felsenstein and Motoo Kimura; and on subjects from altruism and amphibians to evolutionary psychology and Piltdown Man to the Scopes trial and social Darwinism. Readers will find the latest word on the history and philosophy of evolution, the nuances of the science itself, and the intricate interplay among evolutionary study, religion, philosophy, and society. Appearing at the beginning of the Darwin Year of 2009—the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species—this volume is a fitting tribute to the science Darwin set in motion.




Life on a Young Planet


Book Description

Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, with the very latest discoveries in paleontology integrated with emerging insights from molecular biology and earth system science. 100 illustrations.




The Age of the Earth


Book Description

A synthesis of all that has been postulated and is known about the age of the Earth




The Burning Answer


Book Description

Our society faces a choice. We could be enjoying a sustainable lifestyle but we have chosen not to. In three generations we have consumed half the oil produced by photosynthesis over eight million generations. In two generations we have used half our uranium resources. With threats from global warming, oil depletion and nuclear disaster, we are running out of options. Solar power, as Keith Barnham says, is our necessary solution.Barnham explains that the roots of solar energy lie in a little known equation E=hf, an equation which was coincidentally celebrated (and explained to the world) by Einstein in the same year he discovered E=mc2. He alleges that the former equation has been overlooked in favor of the latter, much to our detriment, and Barnham is here to offer us a solution: We can still turn things around and solar energy is the key.In this provocative, inspiring, passionately argued book, Keith Barnham outlines actions that any one and all of us can take to make an impact now and on future generations. The Burning Answer is a solar manifesto for the new climate-aware generation and a must-read for climate-change skeptics.




Epic of Evolution


Book Description

Along the way he examines the development of the most microscopic and the most immense aspects of our universe and the complex ways in which they interact."--Jacket.




The Dating Game


Book Description

How old is the Earth? At the end of the 19th century, geologists, biologists, physicists and astronomers were all looking for a clock that would provide an answer to this greatest time question of all. Here is the story of one man's vision in developing a geological time scale that would finally lead to an accurate date for the age of the Earth




The Creator Revealed


Book Description

Do current scientific discoveries support or contradict the story of creation in the Bible? Does science give evidence for or against God’s existence? Does it matter what you think about origins, science, and the Bible? Does your understanding of science and creation affect your daily living or your relationship with God? In The Creator Revealed, author and physicist Dr. Michael G. Strauss explores these central questions about science and faith in simple and entertaining language, showing how modern scientific discoveries about the origin and design of the universe proclaim the character of God and agree with the biblical story of creation. For the Christian confronted with possible inconsistencies between faith and science, and for the skeptic who believes modern science has shown that belief in God is unnecessary, The Creator Revealed can demonstrate the glory, power, and wonder of God by looking at science, the Bible, and the effect that truth has on people’s lives. Reconciling the truth of scripture with the truth of science can change your perspective and your life. The message of The Creator Revealed will expand your idea of who God is, increase your faith in him, and provide a way to share this revelation of God in creation with others.




A Brief History of Earth


Book Description

Harvard’s acclaimed geologist “charts Earth’s history in accessible style” (AP) “A sublime chronicle of our planet." –Booklist, STARRED review How well do you know the ground beneath your feet? Odds are, where you’re standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering sheet of ice, rocked by a nearby meteor strike, or perhaps choked by poison gases, drowned beneath ocean, perched atop a mountain range, or roamed by fearsome monsters. Probably most or even all of the above. The story of our home planet and the organisms spread across its surface is far more spectacular than any Hollywood blockbuster, filled with enough plot twists to rival a bestselling thriller. But only recently have we begun to piece together the whole mystery into a coherent narrative. Drawing on his decades of field research and up-to-the-minute understanding of the latest science, renowned geologist Andrew H. Knoll delivers a rigorous yet accessible biography of Earth, charting our home planet's epic 4.6 billion-year story. Placing twenty first-century climate change in deep context, A Brief History of Earth is an indispensable look at where we’ve been and where we’re going. Features original illustrations depicting Earth history and nearly 50 figures (maps, tables, photographs, graphs).




Challenges for Christian Faith


Book Description

The famed thinker and writer, C.S. Lewis, addressed issues that were paramount and pressing for religious persons in his time. In this volume, and in honor of Lewis, experts in their fields examine topics and challenges that face Christians living their faith today. Originally delivered as invited public lectures in a decade-long series--The Annual C.S. Lewis Legacy Lectures at Westminster College in Missouri--they include faith and reason, theological imagination, religion and ecology, the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, antisemitism, Native American spirituality, science and religion, racism and poverty in the ministry and social action of Martin Luther King, Jr., misconceptions of Islam, religious pluralism, and religion and violence. The authors argue that these issues must be acknowledged and confronted in order for Christianity to remain, or to become relevant, in the current century.