Ancestors

Written by Prof Heino Falcke on 2024-12-04 at 11:03

Question! I am writing a new popular science book with the working title: „Between Genesis and Apocalypse - the big story of our little world”, from the Big Bang until today. It is an amazing journey to see how the cosmos made our world and ourselves.

Is there anything specific that you would like to see in there? Any surprise insights (or anecdotes), that I could have missed?

Book appears next fall in Germany first, but there is still a chance to tweak things a little.

[#]astrodon #astronomy

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Written by Benjamin Geer on 2024-12-04 at 11:26

@hfalcke @ionica That title would give me the impression that it’s probably a work of Christian theology or apologetics rather than a scientific text, so I would be unlikely to think about buying it. That might or might not be what you want.

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Toot

Written by Prof Heino Falcke on 2024-12-04 at 11:32

@benjamingeer @ionica It is a working title indeed and it may change. This is a science book, but doesn’t shy away from asking also some philosophical questions (I think in a responsible way) and I do play with the motives in Genesis. If that leads you out of your comfort zone, then it might be just the book you absolutely should buy … 😉

But, you are right, this is something to be discussed, but I hope the nature of the book will be clear enough in the end.

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Descendants

Written by Benjamin Geer on 2024-12-04 at 17:00

@hfalcke @ionica For the sake of effective science communication, for an audience including atheists and believers in other religions, I would suggest leaving religion out of the book completely. Otherwise you risk appearing to be trying to use science to promote your own religious beliefs, or to be presenting a biased view of science that’s favourable to those beliefs.

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Written by Prof Heino Falcke on 2024-12-04 at 22:26

@benjamingeer @ionica This is not my experience. My goal is to build bridges between communities and I am quite transparent about my personal believes and background. This has been widely appreciated and was the approach I used in my previous book, which was a #4 bestseller in Germany, was published in an atheist country like China, a Muslim country like Egypt, or other Asian countries like Japan, Corea etc.and read by people from all kinds of backgrounds.

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Written by Ionica Smeets on 2024-12-05 at 07:46

@hfalcke @benjamingeer I agree with you on this, Heino. There are so many books about the universe, I really like how you use your own narrative to connect topics you care deeply about (and I’m an atheist).

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Written by Benjamin Geer on 2024-12-05 at 08:15

@ionica @hfalcke Ionica, would you feel the same way if the author cared deeply about astrology or alchemy?

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Written by Prof Heino Falcke on 2024-12-05 at 08:25

@benjamingeer @ionica You asked Ionica, but I feel this is a misleading question. Both fields make pseudo-scientific claims, which I try not to make. I personally would also strongly resist fundamentalist 7day creationist pseudo-science claims. Should I present poor science, feel free to criticize me - that is not always fun, but part of the science process that I am used to on a daily basis

(But perhaps read „the paper“ first?).

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Written by Benjamin Geer on 2024-12-05 at 08:52

@hfalcke @ionica Thank you for responding, Heino. I'm sure you know that there's currently a Christian social movement that is attacking science on many fronts, especially in the US, with claims that the Earth is 6000 years old and the like, and this has made me very suspicious of any attempt to mix science and religion. I'm sure your book is scientifically rigorous. But even so, if I'm buying a book on science for myself, any religious ideas in it would simply be an annoying distraction. And I wouldn't buy it for my kids, because I wouldn't want them to get the impression that religious ideas are part of science.

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Written by Ionica Smeets on 2024-12-05 at 09:51

@benjamingeer Again, what @hfalcke says. I think it is good to show persons behind science, with their values, views and beliefs. And it's okay that this book will not be for you then.

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