Product Description

Who seeing the stunning order in networks linking tens upon tens of thousands of variables can fail to entertain a central thought: if ever we are to attain a final theory in biology, we will surely have to see that we are the natural expressions of a deeper order. Ultimately, we will discover in our creation myth that we were expected after all. —Stuart Kauffman

Exhilarating photographs and inspiring words take us on a microscopic tour of a miraculous phenomenon—the human body—leading to a sense that our existence is no accident. This photographic journey into inner space utilizes microscopic imagery to document the beautiful and mysterious realm of the tiniest components of human life—brain waves, nerve endings, cell structures, acid crystals—revealing a symmetry, a perfection, and, ultimately, a revelation.

Illuminating quotes from the finest literary and scientific minds—Pasteur, Tolstoy, Einstein, St. Augustine, Thoreau, Darwin, just to name a few—support the idea that science may prove to be a path to God and that the human brain itself, through what researchers are now calling its "spirituality circuit," is wired to lead us to that path.

With an introduction by Wall Street Journal science editor Sharon Begley, Inside the Mind of God promises to provide further insight into the abiding question: why is there something, rather than nothing?

Three years ago Michael Reagan’s best-selling book The Hand of God juxtaposed photographs of spiraling galaxies, shimmering nebulae, and luminous stars with the words of great scientists and philosophers to suggest the profound link between the scientific and the spiritual. Inside the Mind of God, continues this journey, now into inner space. The stunning photographs and inspiring quotes create a sense of wonder and awe in the miraculous evidence of God’s hand in the smallest details of our existence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1330370 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"You can observe a lot just by watching," remarked Yoga Berra, and he was most likely only referring to what one can see with the naked eye. There's a world of intricate beauty to be found beneath human skin, and in this compact and brilliantly illustrated book, Reagan presents mesmerizing color photographs of DNA samples, crystals of progesterone, leukemia blood cells, X chromosomes, cancer cells, embryos and other wonders of inner space. In the introduction, Wall Street Journal science editor Sharon Begley discusses different views of God's presence in nature. For the past 150 years, she says, some people have seen evidence in nature of God's mind, while others adhere to the Darwinian tenet that nature as we know it has arisen by chance, random mutation. Begley herself infers a sacredness in nature even apart from any consideration of God. The book-largely images-leaves the reader to decide. In these fantastic photographs, nerve cells in the human cerebral cortex look like a tangle of overgrown vines; sperm clustered over a human embryo are reminiscent of sea urchins and anemones; methionine (an amino acid) resembles a dorm-room psychedelic poster; the influenza virus appears as a Rastafarian's colorful hat; and female sex chromosomes look like dancing yellow snakes. Quotes from the Bible, scientists, novelists, philosophers, spiritual leaders and others give perspective to the images, while captions provide scientific details. Two main forces-birth and decay-are on display here, and the images and text should resonate with readers dealing with either.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Michael Reagan is the president and founder of Lionheart Books. Before founding Lionheart, he was the head of Turner Publishing, where he was responsible for a number of bestsellers, including Moonshot, Dinotopia, and Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book. Templeton Foundation Press published the paperback edition of The Hand of God in the fall of 2001 (please see page 9.) He lives with his wife and their three children in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sharon Begley is the science editor at The Wall Street Journal and was formerly a senior editor at Newsweek magazine. She and her husband live in Pelham, New York with their son and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and poetic ... and that's just the pictures
Pairing startlingly beautiful photographs of the most minute aspects of life -- neurons, cancer cells, adrenaline, anthrax bacillus, embryonic stem cells, sperm and egg, DNA and more -- with great thoughts of scientists, clergy, philosophers, writers, political leaders and artists is utterly ingenious in this book.

For example, a gentle blue photograph of a breast cancer cell appears beside a quote from Mother Teresa: "I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."

This book not only offers a glimpse inside the human body and related "landscapes," but also a glimpse of great thinking. I found myself marveling at the photographs and mulling the ideas that appear with them.

Beautiful pictures, lovely words, but . . .
The idea of this book, if I understand it, is "to suggest the profound link between the scientific and the spiritual" through the juxtaposition of beautiful pictures of "inner space"--in this case of cells, organs, and crystals--with quotes about faith, mystery and belief.

The book starts with a fine essay by Sharon Begley, science editor of the Wall Street Journal. She discusses the thesis that God must exist because of the perfection of the workings of nature--the famous argument from design. She presents some of the arguments for and against it with considerable balance. She also writes about the concept of "biological evil"--the implications of the existence of "evil" things such as disease-causing organisms and cancer cells. She goes on to describe brain-scanning experiments that may help explain how the brain of a meditator or Sufi dancer might create a sense of loss of self and unity with the universe. She concludes by inviting the reader to "see the sacred in the science of life," hoping that the book's microphotographs will bring life's "sacred depths ... to the surface for everyone to appreciate."

The photographs, of neurons and sperm cells, DNA molecules and chromosmes, stem cells and embryos, are remarkable and beautiful. To me they made many of the scientific findings I read about far more real. And the quotes, from spiritually minded scientists like Einstein, poets, philosophers, writers and mystics, were also beautiful. I particularly liked one from Annie Dillard. "The extravagent gesture is the very stuff of creation... The whole show has been on fire since the word go!"

I consider myself to be fascinated with science, and more than casually interested in the great questions that religion addresses as well. I'm as prone to feeling awe at the night sky, the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada or the inner workings of a cell as the next person. Still, for reasons I can't quite figure out, this book didn't bring those two areas any closer for me. I almost feel apologetic, as if I should have felt the awe and mystery that Begley and editor Michael Reagan set out to evoke. In the end, I found the book more puzzling than enlightening, more frustrating than inspiring.

It seems like such a good idea, however, that I hope it will work better for other readers than it did for me.

Robert Adler, author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation (Wiley, 2002).

Stunning photography! Thought provoking!
Page after page, the photographs compiled by Michael Reagan are a microscopic tour of the universe within us all. Beautifully colored photos of almost every part of the human body are here: synapses, DNA, the human embryo during early cell division, cancer cells, and AIDS. There is also a small section of substances used during religious ceremonies of each major religion.

Certainly this book may never convince everyone of God's amazing work or the existence of God at all. But the book leads the reader to acknowledge that beneath the simplest substance, the most mundane aspect of ourselves, is a huge, intricate and orderly universe which, although invisible to the naked eye, exists just as surely as we do. Strongly recommended.