Looking to better understand the controversy between those who endorse materialist explanations of the cosmos and those, like the Intelligent Design people, who embrace more teleological views? If so, here are some recommendations for summer reading that might be helpful. Most of these books are accessible to the non-specialist who has a moderate interest in philosophy and/or science although parts of some of them may be a little difficult for some readers.
All of the books in the list reinforce the notion that our universe and life are imbued with purpose although not all of the authors are theists. Indeed, there are deists, agnostics, and, in at least one case, an atheist on the list. Even so, reading them leaves the impression that the cosmos and life must surely have been intentionally engineered.
The following four books provide a philosophical background or overview of the debate between materialist explanations of the universe and non-materialist explanations:
1. The Soul of Science: Nancy Pearcey
2. Total Truth: Nancy Pearcey
3. Science and Its Limits: Del Ratzsch
4. Battle of Beginnings: Del Ratzsch
These works focus on the fine-tuning of the universe:
5. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith: Stephen Barr
6. Rare Earth: Peter Ward and David Brownlee
7. Nature's Destiny: Michael Denton
Paul Davies discusses the difficulties associated with any purely mechanistic or materialistic explanation of the origin of life:
8. The Fifth Miracle: Paul Davies
The following three books are critical of the ability of standard Darwinian theory to explain the structure of living things:
9. Evolution a Theory in Crisis: Michael Denton
10. Icons of Evolution: Jonathon Wells
11. Darwin on Trial: Phillip Johnson
These books explicitly make the case for Intelligent Design:
12. Darwin's Black Box: Michael Behe
13. Intelligent Design: William Dembski
14. The Design Revolution: William Dembski
Any of these can be ordered from Hearts and Minds Bookstore by going here.