Quantum Gods by Victor Stenger
(out of 5 stars)
Quantum Gods is physicist Victor Stenger's answer to the emergence of new age gurus who propose proof of God is available thanks to quantum mechanics. In this rebuttal, Stenger takes on the manifestations which range from ones resembling the Old Testament Christian God to those which are more on the traditional deist side (with a new age twist or six).
Having just read Stenger's previous book, God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist, I probably should have waited a bit before picking this one up. I was somewhat disappointed in this effort for lots of nit-picky reasons despite the fact that the book is actually fairly successful at debunking the physics-based arguments of the new age God theories. As much as I liked Failed, my expectations were likely too high going into this latest work.
Stenger's mode in this effort is much different as he is forced to launch into a 100-page explanation of basic physics and quantum behavior in order to ground the reader in the real facts as known to real physicists. Being one who has a good grasp of physics theories, I was generally bored by this section, especially since its aim was only to educate on the basics, not offer any new information. Great stuff for a reader new to physics (and undoubted well-appreciated), but tedious for me.
However, Stenger had no choice given the rebuttal he must make. The new age gurus claim that quantum theory supports ideas that aren't actually backed up by quantum theory. Stenger goes to great lengths to explain the important details of the various theories and what exactly they predict, but I'm afraid I'm not the only reader that lost the overall thesis of the book for long sections. Quantum physics isn't a subject easily summed up in a chapter, so his need to explain the ideas was a given, but I feel it could have been more readily integrated with his central thesis.
The last part of the book feels rushed, as if Stenger didn't really bother to use all that information he presented earlier to prove his points. Most of the rebuttal feels like an afterthought, one which should have been integrated into the discussion as he proceded rather than left for mopping up after the long section of basic intro to the quantum.
He does directly counter many of the specific cases he brings up, but despite a reasonable introduction at the beginning of the book which presents some of the new age arguments, I never got a very good feel for what Stenger wanted to argue. Yeah, I get that he is knocking down various quantum physics-based God 'proofs', but the effort felt quite scattershot and without much central narrative. In contrast to Failed, which was a straightforward assault on the basic assumptions of a Judeo-Christian-Islamic God, I feel Stenger took on too many opponents in one go, with too much basic information to explain to the reader, leaving his overall effort muddled despite his near-flawless logic.
Stenger doesn't even really address the 'search for cosmic consciousness' that is in his subtitle, leaving that mostly to the greater discussion of God. His inclusion of chaos and complexity theory was a good basic intro, but I thought of numerous ways that could have been used to explain things in a more direct manner.
Overall, I remain disappointed in this effort, but I applaud Stenger for taking it on. The Quantum Gurus are among the most successful at taking advantage of the public's ignorance of physics, and it is admirable that someone is willing to point out just how blatantly wrong the gurus are. I do wish, however, Stenger had presented his case more directly by explaining a bit of physics then offering why that bit of physics clearly refuted specific points rather than holding off most of the rebuttal until long after the physics arguments had drawn out for 100 pages.
I admit I might simply be basing some of this review and rating on the fact that I really enjoyed Failed, so please consider other reviews as they come in before deciding on passing on this book. If you don't have a basic feel for quantum physics but want to learn, you'll get much more out of this book than I did and it will be worth the effort to read. Three stars, but recommended to anyone who wants to understand just why the new age gurus claiming quantum physics proof of God are dreadfully wrong.
