Inside the Mind of God
Details and Description
Description
Who seeing the stunning order in networks linking tens upon tens of thousands of variables can fail to entertain a central thought: if ever we are to attain a final theory in biology, we will surely have to see that we are the natural expressions of a deeper order. Ultimately, we will discover in our creation myth that we were expected after all. —Stuart Kauffman
Now available in paperback, this book offers exhilarating photographs and inspiring words that take the reader on a microscopic tour of a miraculous phenomenon within the human body and elsewhere. This journey utilizes microscopic imagery to document the beautiful and mysterious realm of the tiniest components of life, revealing a symmetry, a perfection, and, ultimately, a revelation.
Illuminating quotes from the finest literary and scientific minds—Pasteur, Tolstoy, Einstein, St. Augustine, Thoreau, Darwin, just to name a few, support the idea that science may prove to be a path to God and that the human brain itself, through what researchers are now calling its "spirituality circuit," is wired to lead us to that path.
With an introduction by Wall Street Journal science editor Sharon Begley, Inside the Mind of God promises to provide further insight into the abiding question: Why is there something, rather than nothing?
Michael Reagan's best-selling book The Hand of God juxtaposed photographs of spiraling galaxies, shimmering nebulae, and luminous stars with the words of great scientists and philosophers to suggest the profound link between the scientific and the spiritual. Inside the Mind of God continues this journey, now into inner space. The stunning photographs and inspiring quotes create a sense of wonder and awe in the miraculous evidence of God's hand in the smallest details of our existence.
Endorsements and Reviews
Reviews
Napra Review—Eastsound, WA
Magnificent photographs of brain and body cell imagery are paired with illuminating quotations from sacred scriptures, literature, philosophers, and scientists to express the wonder of our "inner space."
Publisher's Weekly—New York, NY
In these fantastic photographs, nerve cells in the human cerebral cortex look like a tangle of overgrown vines; sperm clustered over a human embryo are reminiscent of sea urchins and anemones; methionine (an amino acid) resembles a dorm-room psychedelic poster; the influenza virus appears as a Rastafarian’s colorful hat; and female sex chromosomes look like dancing yellow snakes. Quotes from the Bible, scientists, novelists, philosophers, spiritual leaders and others give perspective to the images, while captions provide scientific details. Two main forces-birth and decay-are on display here, and the images and text should resonate with readers dealing with either.
International Journal of Healing and Caring Online
Beautiful photographs of brain cells, brain imaging, molecules of neurotransmitters and much more, with exquisitely chosen quotes of scientists who sit on both sides of the divided opinions about whether the brain is the source of the mind, or whether spirit embodies itself in the brain (mostly emphasizing the latter).
Citizen Times—Asheville, North Carolina
Some of the most intriguing spiritual books in recent years have probed links between science and religion. In this case, book designer Reagan and author Begley, the science editor at the Wall Street Journal, have juxtaposed colorful photos of microscopic life forms with quotes from scholars and Scriptures about the meaning of human existence. The book sparks a sense of awe in the overwhelming diversity of life.
Ralph: The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy, and the Humanities
Some of us are quite fond of pretty pictures, especially those pictures that are spawned by reality. Editor Reagan has collected dozens of colorful shots of facets of humans, including neurons, nerve cells, crystals, cell bodies, embryos, DNA, virus, and agents. These are printed amidst Big Thoughts from the likes of Jonathan Miller ("Illness is not something a person has. It’s another way of being") or Erwin Chargaff ("Science is wonderfully equipped to answer the question ’How?’ but it gets terribly confused when you ask the question ’Why?’") or Paul Tillich ("Being religious means asking passionately the questions of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt") all interjected between beautiful shots of Mitosis, DNA Migration, Embryos, Hodgkin’s Disease cell lines (appears to be cornflakes with milk), Lyme Disease Bacteria (looks like Chinese take-out), Transmitting Neurons (map of the New York subway system), Embryonic Stem Cells (4th of July streamers), Lung Cancer (arbor of grapes).
Science & Theology News
Inside the Mind of God (2002), edited by Michael Reagan, is a coffee-table book of dramatically enlarged pictures of microscopic entities. Quotes from famous literary and scientific thinkers provide meditations on the deeper meaning of science. These "images and words of inner space" journey into the tiniest and most mysterious phenomena - brain waves, nerves, cells and viruses - and suggest their elegant design is the work of a designer.
Scientific and Medical Network, The—Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
This stunning illustrated book combines extraordinary photos of the Microsystems inside the human body with a selection of inspiring quotations from some of the finest scientific and literary minds in history. Sharon Begley’s introduction sketches the debate between science and religion since Paley’s natural theology at the beginning of the 19th century, putting the arguments on both sides and bringing it up to date. One of the sub-themes concerns the imperfections of nature and ’biological evil’, so there are images of viruses, strokes and myocardial infarctions as well as healthy DNA, neurons and macrophages. A wonderful gift as well as material for spiritual reflection.
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith—Volume 57, Number 3
Colorful photographs and inspiring words transport the reader Inside the Mind of God. Reagan has assembled an impressive group of pictures and words to conjure up a sense of awe and wonder at creation and creation’s God. Bacteria, DNA, lung cancer, sperm, adrenaline, protozoa, lymphocytes - they are all pictured here. To highlight the text, luminaries such as Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Harold S. Kushner, and Elie Wiesel are quoted. And quotes from celebrities appear which might surprise you: Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Christopher Reevem Albert Camus, and Rene Dscartes. Richard Dawkins observes that "the essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale." Elton Trueblood thinks "faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation."
This is a wonderful book to give as a gift. It could also serve as a resource for personal devotions. No matter the reader’s view of theology, it will be difficult to ponder the words and pictures in this book without being emotionally and spiritually touched. The reader will be impressed with the magnificence of creation and the Creator.
Anglican Theological Review—Evanston, Illinois
Inside the Mind of God: Images and Words of Inner Space offers page after page of four-color photomicrographic images of cells, anatomical structures, genes, crystallized proteins, and the like. Brain cells look like the fiberglass bats in furnace filters, for instance, if you can imagine tiny irregular blobs mixed in amoung the fibers. Such a screwy tangle of stuff! Who would have thought such a mess is capable of thinking?
Almost every page also includes some pithy little remark from a wide variety of thinkers.
Body and Soul—New York, NY
Edited by Michael Reagan brings the wonder of nature into focus with page after page of striking magnified images of lacy cellular configurations, such as brilliant amino acids, juxtaposed with quotes from the Bible, Tolstoy, and The Tao of Pooh.
Detroit Free Press
Some of the most intriguing spiritual books in recent years have probed links between science and religion. In this case, book designer Reagan and author Begley, the science editor at the Wall Street Journal, have juxtaposed colorful photos of microscopic life forms with quotes from scholars and scriptures about the meaning of human existence. The book sparks a sense of awe in the overwhelming diversity of life.&mdashDavid Crumm
Natural Selection
"Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world," said Arthur Schopenhauer. If seeing is believing, these two small-format coffee-table books will measurably expand those limits, even at a moment’s glance. Pairing cutting-edge photography with provocative quotations by everyone from Albert Einstein to Annie Dillard, Herman Melville to Dr. Seuss and the Pope, they are visual and philosophical odes to the furthest reaches of scientific knowledge - and by extension, odes to the sacred.
The Hand of God is the first and better of the two. Many of its images of outer space are so spare, elegant, and overwhelming, they brought tears to my eyes. Planetary nebula NGC 3132, for example, looks like a glossy geode or divine eye floating in black space, half an incomprehensible light year in diameter. Best savored like wine or poetry, just a page or two will send your imagination reeling across the universe, there to behold both the mystery of creativity and the awesomeness of human purpose. Inside the Mind of God, on the other hand, inverts its lens into the deceptively enormous landscape of molecular biology, presenting microscopic shots of neurons, hormones and viruses, cancer drugs, heart valves, and cybernetic circuits. Like a combination science lab and art show, it both educates and impresses.
Too many coffee-table books just sit there; these, like stars or microscopes, will brighten your vision of reality.
Natural Home
See dazzling pictures of human nerve cells, DNA, and leukemia blood cells. A compilation of many photographs and writings from scientists, novelists, philosophers and theologians, this book searches for greater meaning about our origins and the processes of birth and death.