A question we get asked A LOT is when books from Discovery Institute Press or from Discovery authors will be available as audiobooks. So it’s a pleasure to be able to provide good news on that front. Two recent DI Press books have been picked up by Blackstone Publishing and are now available from Amazon’s Audio service. They are John West’s Stockholm Syndrome Christianity: Why America’s Christian Leaders Are Failing — and What We Can Do About It and my own book, Plato’s Revenge: The New Science of the Immaterial Genome.
Speaking of Amazon, we follow with interest the reviews there, and it’s always welcome to see what readers have to say. I’ll share here the currently listed top review of each book respectively.
“This Book Is a Must-Read”
About Stockholm Syndrome Christianity:
J. and B. Gehrett
5.0 out of 5 stars Important reading for both Christians and non-Christians
This book is a must-read, whether you are Christian or non-Christian. It is well-written, extensively referenced, and very readable.
For Christians, it lays out the way some Christian leaders have endorsed worldly values, subscribing to revisionist Biblical interpretations or to outright disavowal of sections of the Bible. They and their followers then attack faithful brothers and sisters. Any pushback is decried as being unloving or unkind or Pharisaical rather than being accurate.
Similarly in the secular world individuals or groups use this technique. They present their set of facts as deriving from a more principled calling or a higher level of understanding. In fact this is purely a manipulative move to show fraternity with a powerful group and gain personal power and influence.
The author calls out those who are using this method and has solid ideas on how to oppose it. By recognizing this process early, each of us can chart a course to expose it before it makes itself established science/law/medicine/religion or any other field.
“Fascinating! Excellent! Ground-Breaking!”
About Plato’s Revenge:
Greg
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! Excellent! Ground-breaking!
In this book, Klinghoffer explicates Richard Sternberg’s theory of the immaterial genome. The genome is traditionally defined as the molecular machinery (including its instructions or programming) by which a living organism lives, operates and reproduces itself. But recent discoveries have indicated that this machinery is extremely complex and its instructions staggeringly sophisticated, such that the only explanation is that it has been designed by an intelligent agent.
Sternberg certainly subscribes to the theory of intelligent design (ID), but he goes beyond that. The genius of Sternberg’s theory is that he points to the fact that the very essence of the genome is dynamic — constantly in flux. The very molecules (DNA, RNA and many others involved in the process) are constantly being reshaped as directed by the instructions which themselves are continually being re-written. He says, “This kind of circuitry [the coded instructions in the genome] is not fixed like on a standard [computer] processor … It’s dynamic. It’s changing constantly” [p. 64]. Given this fact, Sternberg asks, What is directing this dynamic? The instructions cannot re-write themselves. In answer to this logical question, he posits the necessity of a “purposeful agency” [p. 65] which not only originally designed the genome but which is active in real time to manipulate — to redesign — the genome to meet its ever-changing needs. He says, “There has to be something that’s making the decision[s]” which control the dynamic process [p. 82]. He calls this an “informing principle” which necessarily lies above and beyond the physical genome.
Sternberg’s theory of the immaterial genome is (as he is the first to admit) still in its exploratory stage, but nonetheless he presents enough biological evidence, backed up with authoritative philosophers (no less than Plato and Aristotle), all tied together with strict logic to make a strong case. I look forward to his on-going work.
(Note: My explanation of his theory is inadequate, and I urge everyone to read and study this book because Klinghoffer explains it lucidly.)
Thank you to our other readers for adding their own generous comments. Of course the books are also available in physical formats if you prefer, here and here.