The Splendid Feast of Reason

By S. Jonathan Singer

Book Overview

Jonathan Singer's witty, erudite book is a celebration of rationality and an urgent call to make use of intelligence and reason to better cope with human problems. Emphasizing the importance of rationality's greatest achievement, modern science, Singer-one of the foremost biologists of our era-argues that for the first time in several million years humanity has at its disposal the tools for an objective understanding of the external world. Singer demonstrates that, today more than ever, the fullest exercise of rationality is essential if humanity is to rein in a runaway technology and control an explosion of the human population that together threaten to devastate life on this planet within only a few more generations.

The intrusion of reason and rationality into our largely irrational world has been painfully slow, uneven, and often unwelcome. Singer explains that for rationalists the founding of modern science-which took place only a few hundred years ago-has overthrown many of the myths of conventional wisdom and dogmas of traditional religions. Yet these beliefs still hold sway over the irrational world, obstructing efforts to deal sensibly with the problematic future of mankind.

The core of The Splendid Feast of Reason is an engaging and accessible account of the knowledge that modern science provides. Singer offers an absorbing discussion of how life works, of the nature of reproduction, aging, and death, and of the necessary fragility of the individual life compared to the resilience of life itself. He emphasizes the primary role of the genes in determining the structural organization and the behaviors of living things, including humans. He also stresses the nature and mechanisms of biological evolution, mechanisms that have now been placed in jeopardy because of human ignorance and irrational appetites. Finally, Singer delves into the enigma of the real world with its irrational and chaotic operations and offers suggestions of how a rationalist can not only survive, but thrive in it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520239113
• ISBN13: 9780520239111
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

A Splendid Book!

It is hard to believe that this is Dr. Singer's first book, based on how well-written it is. I hope he is working on a second. I simply can't believe how many great ideas are packed into this one short work. I ended up underlining every 5th line or so. Simply put, this book is for everyone who recognizes the mass irrationality of humanity. It will be comforting to find another rational mind who speaks so directly in praising science and reason, and pointing out the folly of the more visible and "popular" aspects of society. I fear this book will be little read because it is too brilliant and filled with more wisdom than most people will be able to connect with. Let's face it, truely intelligent and wise people can't attract much of an audience in our modern world. Should you be one who longs to read some important and well-crafted lines on the state of humanity; where we went wrong and where we got it right, you couldn't do better than to pick up this gem--one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Amazing, mind opening read

This book was recommend by Discover magazine as a best science book of 2001. It covers the evolution of reason and its application in science. Truely a life altering book. It will make you look at the world in a new, simplified way.