The Universe: Order Without Design by Carlos Calle
(out of 5 stars)
Physicist Carlos Calle offers a modern view of the current landscape of physics in The Universe. While Calle's effort is a solid history of physics and related theories, his book seriously disappointed in delivering arguments for his primary thesis, namely that the reality of nature shows that there is no need for a designer to create the order we see.
The first 150 pages or so are a history of physics, including the various players and theories discussed in almost every other popular physics book. No new territory is covered here, and while the effort is solid, there is really no reason for experienced readers of physics books to even bother reading this part. The final sections of the book look at modern events and ongoing developments in physics which are pushing the edge of what we know and what we can know.
Calle's book would stand nicely on its own if it were presented as an updated look at the world of physics and its history. However, I ordered this book new, which I rarely do, because its subtitle clearly stated the book would argue that reality shows the order and complexity we see has no need for a designer. There are lots of arguments to be made on this behalf, especially those dealing with fine tuning and the Goldilocks Zone. But, instead Calle muddles through most of this with only hints toward the stronger arguments.
His treatment of the mysterious and contentious cosmological constant is outright terrible. Repeatedly, he admits that physicists really don't know why it is there and offers competing theories for just what the constant represents. He argues at one point that it is antigravity, yet offers not one shred of evidence that this is so. He brings up inflation theory and string theory as backbone for his effort, and supplements parts of cyclical model and eternal inflation as needed in his discussion. Even if true, there is no proof of many of these theories and they certainly can't offer any solid reason to believe that order does not require design. If you are going to claim there is no need for a designer, picking and choosing parts of unverified (and in some cases, unverifiable) theories as you see fit is a poor way to show that you are correct.
Physicists and physics readers have long accepted that the science will always be 'in the dark' about a great many things, but to spend the entire book letting us know that we "just don't know" much of anything is an extremely poor way to support your thesis.
Victor Stenger, in his book God: The Failed Hypothesis takes the same stance that Calle adopts, yet offers strong evidence for order without design. There are numerous ways to establish this, but Calle does what amounts to a magic trick by filling the reader with nifty physics tidbits and then saying this means order can come about without design. I believe the premise, but Calle has not convinced me with his arguments. There are so many gaps in his logic (as read from the book, at least) that anyone arguing on behalf of the need for a designer would certainly find numerous ways to use this book as proof that physics can't offer anything better than religion in answering the big questions.
So, what to rate The Universe. If it stood on its own as an overview and history of cutting-edge physics, this would be a solid effort worthy of a read and a four-star rating. The author is well-versed in his subject and writes in an easy to follow style even during some of the more abstract theories. However, I picked this book up expecting a strong argument to be made based on the book's subtitle, and I imagine I am not the only one to make this mistake. Poorly titled books are terribly unfair to the reader and in this case seriously misrepresent the ultimate contents of the work. Calle says repeatedly that no designer is needed, but he really offers no systematic proof of his argument. So, I give this book three stars. Four star content weighed down by a two star delivery of the book's primary purpose.
