The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God Hardcover – December 15, 2003

This book is an amazing testament to the miracle of creation. It is valuable to all who identify with science as a means to understand matter, chemistry, life, physics, & natural laws. This purchase is for a grandson who will be blessed by the thinking and perspectives shared in this book. The book arrived in pristine condition. Thank you to the vendors who offered this bargain, and for the care they took in getting it to us.

The "review" section above contains the following from the late Anthony Flew: "I intend to reread The Wonder of the World at leisure. I was hugely impressed and substantially challenged by it. --Antony Flew - the world's best-known atheist and a critic of theism for more than 50 years." In 2007 Flew penned his final book, "There is a God: How the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind." Flew's "conversion" to theism is well presented in his book, and for those of you who are interested in purchasing Varghese's book will be interested to know that Flew makes it clear in his book that "The Wonder of the World" was a key book that profoundly influenced his move towards theism. In Flew's book, he says of Varghese that "[he] provides an extremely extensive argument of the inductive argument from the order of nature." You may want to read both books along with a third book that Flew credits, "The Existence of God" by Richarde Swinburne.

This a very extensive book with five or six main ideas, The topics and examples are good, but most of the time is overkilling the issues. This work could get the target with half of the pages

I haven't read the whole book yet, but it is a very good read. I will say the book is more enjoyable if you are scientifically inclined. You don't have to be a scientist, just have an interest. I wrote a Paper challenging Steven Hawking's views on God but this guy takes it so much deeper. It is a discussion between a theist and an atheist on the existence of a creator. And the author does not Bible bash. It has been my opinion for a long time that unless someone believes in God, the Bible will do no good in a discussion. This guy shares my opinion on that. Too many times, people want to use the Bible to convince Atheists that God does exist, and that is completely the wrong approach. They have to believe first, then the Bible will do wonders for them, But until they believe, The bible is just a work of Fiction.

As a Christian, a practicing systems engineer, and a seminary student, I share Varghese's sense of wonder and love of both science and faith, but found his book disappointing.Varghese argues for a theism that embraces modern science. He begins by citing seven wonders of the world, and ends with an appendix of no less than one hundred wonders. (He finds eight wonders just in the fine-tuning of the physical constants, for example.) Throughout the book, Varghese insists that these wonders show that only an underlying infinite intelligence can explain the existence of the intelligence that is self-evident in both the laws of nature and the emergence of life and consciousness. The universe really does express the Mind of God.However Varghese projects an awful lot of mind and intelligence into the universe. Even at the level of the proton or electron, he speaks as if they somehow "know" the physical laws that describe their behavior. He sees evolution as intelligence driven, and, like his atheistic opponents, he elevates our human intelligence to extraordinary levels. Varghese is very fond of pontificating, and the book is long, grandiose, repetitive, and unembarrassed to be structured in such a way that it literally has five chapter ones. The "Guru2Geek Dialogues" are really a monologue. There are occasional pauses where the "guru" finally lets the "geek" say something, but only if it ultimately suits the "guru's" purposes.I share Varghese's sense of wonder and embrace of science as fully compatible with theistic faith. Varghese is at his best when he points out how easily some prominent atheists wander out of their scientific expertise to assert their metaphysical/religious views. Unfortunately, he is at his worst when he does the same thing. Over and over, he resorts to claiming that his view is common-sense and obvious, even though he admits his opponents do the same thing.More importantly, Varghese's emphasis on intelligence and intellectual argument tends to reduce theism and God to logical propositions to be disputed, rather than a relationship to be experienced. As St. Anselm famously pointed out, it is our faith that seeks understanding, not the other way around. Do we want to know the Mind of God or experience for ourselves God's heart, "the mind that was in Christ"? [Phil. 2:5-11] For a better and more humble read on this topic, try Jim Trainor's book, Grace: Making Sense of Science and Spirituality.

I first learned of the book reading Antony Flew's words on why he gave up atheism. I don't think this book can be read by an honest mind and hold on to the myth of atheism and evolution. (I belong to no religion). This is an amazing book pacted with knowledge. Every family sending children to today's university or even high school should have it in their library. Great book and well written.

The author states he is not a scientist, but an ontologist. This undoubtedly is true, but he also has an excellent grasp of science from cosmology to quantum physics. I have read many books looking for a scientific perspective on the nature of the Creator and this is clearly the best so far. He avoids the pitfalls of simple anthropic arguments and cuts to the very core of this issue with razor sharp philisophical, ontological, scientific insight. This is a true monumental work of art on the subject of understanding the nature and mind of God through science and ontology. I'd recommend it very highly.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Varghese takes over 300 pages to say what could have been said in 30. He repeats himself over and over again, goes off on tangents with little relevance to the subject. I also found him to be egocentric. Humans were the ultimate proof of an infinite intelligence, animals, nature, and the universe are insignificant and play no role in his arguments. Some of the science was interesting, but don't waste your time with Blah Blah Blah. You either believe in the Creator, which I do, or not.

As a gift.

Wonderful book. It was delivered earlier that expected too.

The rise of Islamic extremism has, in recent years, provoked a strong and highly influential critical backlash from articulate atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Against that background, books such as this, which offer a forensic critique of atheistic arguments, can only be welcomed. Varghese can sometimes be a little too polemical for his own good, given that his objective here is to marshall a set of intellectually powerful and persuasive arguments for belief in God. But when you're trying to provide a counter-weight to Dawkins, who wilfully (and shamelessly) misrepresents the views of great thinkers like Einstein and Spinoza, a degree of invective can perhaps be forgiven. Varghese is also too dismissive of pantheism, which slightly detracts from his overall case. But in general this is a marvellously rewarding defence of classic theism. I found his demolition of reductionist materialism is totally convincing.Ideal holiday reading if you want to go on a spiritual, as well as geographical, journey. With so much darkness and horror around us, it is good to be reminded that the world really is a wonderful place after all.

This is tedious pseudo-intellectual claptrap. Varghese is very well-informed but his style of argument is what you might expect in the 'Body, Mind, Spirit' section of Waterstones. He does not appear to have an academic teaching post anywhere and frankly it shows. There's a lack of critical rigour in his arguments and he dishes up Dan Brown-type rubbish like 'the Matrix' and 'the Four' greatest thinkers. The basic thesis is a version of the Design Argument for the existence of God. But however this is presented it just shifts the problem up a level into the realm of speculative metaphysics where theologians, and writers like Varghese, have free rein to indulge their fantasies. The real mystery is how a distinguished philosopher like Anthony Flew can have been persuaded to endorse any part of the Varghese project.