By Victor J. Stenger, Prometheus Books, $28.00, 345 pages
Some people just try too hard to prove the non-existence of God. The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning explores the concept of “fine-tuning”, the idea that the universe was tinkered with so that life could thrive in it, and more explicitly how this concept has a number of issues. Different cosmological constants are explored, as well as those having to do with quantum physics. Several beliefs dealing with physics are also explored.
This is a hard book to read. Too much time is spent on formulas and jargon, making it read like a physics class. Also, any scientist with a religious background is referred to as an “apologist”. Stenger’s case is made by the end of the book, more or less, but the road to get there takes one through a cloud of some of the most obtuse writing that has been seen in quite a while. The writing gets lost in its own pedantic jargon, and doesn’t come up for air, suffocating the reader in a dense fog. For those that really want a reason to hate religious scientists, this is a great book, but everyone else should avoid it.
Reviewed by Jamais Jochim