BOOK REVIEW: The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Doors of Eden is the third book by Adrian Tchaikovsky I have read. The first two books are Children of Time and Children of Ruin and these are some of my favorite books of all time. Tchaikovsky is impressively prolific, but generally I have only taken notice of and consumed his works of hard science fiction. Both Children of Time and Children of Ruin, in addition to being critically acclaimed works of startling imagination, cover somewhat similar conceptual territory. This involves following the discovery and development of alien intelligences that happen to be related to creatures familiar to us on Earth. These kinds of books are sometimes referred to as “uplift” after the now-famous books by David Brin in the Uplift Saga. Evolution and a keen and sympathetic outlook on creatures that most people find “icky” is a common feature of Tchaikovsky’s books (at least the ones I have read so far). He often depicts a surprising developments caused by quirks of evolution and eons of time.

Something similar animates a good portion of The Doors of Eden, but this time the central characters are all decidedly human. In fact, one of the most surprising elements of the book is the author’s choice to center his book around a lesbian romance and the depiction of a trans woman as the ostensible hero who is tasked with saving Life As We Know It. (I'm not complaining, of course, I'm just remarking at how unusual this is for a mainstream science fiction novel.)

The main characters in The Doors of Eden are Lee and Mal, who are two girlfriends with very different backgrounds and views of the world. Lee and Mal have known each other since childhood, and have common (rather odd) interests, that involve seeking out and attempting to document paranormal activity. While on a trip together to Bodmin Moor, Mal disappears after what appears to be actual paranormal activity. Then suddenly four years later, Mal contacts Lee again, but she seems very different. In addition to Lee and Mal, we are introduced to Kay Amal Khan, a mathematical physicist who is working on a theoretical extradimensional model of the universe that the Government seems extremely interested in. Two of the intelligence agents who are tracking Kay Amal Khan are Julian Sabreur and Allison Mitchell, who are colleagues and friends who might want to be more than friends but they are married to other people and their job commitments.

The structure of the book is that it alternates chapters moving forward the plot with relatively short chapters that purport to be excerpts from "An Essay on Speculative Evolution" by Dr. Ruth Emerson that goes into numerous other possible ways intelligent life cold have evolved on Earth. It becomes clear that the "theoretical" extradimensional model of Dr. Khan is actually our reality, and in these other dimensions Earth life evolved in very different ways. Now, for some reason, the separations between the dimensions are getting less rigid and creatures from other realities are entering our reality, trying to address a threat to all existing realities that only someone like Dr. Khan can understand.

Lots of other reviewers were not enamored of the central story and said that they actually enjoyed the intervening excerpts more. My experience was exactly the opposite; I found the evolution passages tiresome and regularly skipped them, to get back to the plot. But this was primarily because I wanted to know how the story ended. I agree with other reviewers that I was not overly enamored with any of the main characters in the book, but I was definitely interested in the overall story.

Overall, I would say that The Doors of Eden should not be the first book you read by Adrian Tchaikovsky. (If you haven't read Children of Time, stop reading this review and immediately obtain a copy of that book and read it--you'll thank me later!) It's a book I appreciate more than I admire. I am glad that the characters are diverse and I'm glad that I read it, but I find it hard to imagine a scenario where I would recommend it to go to the top of anyone's TBR (to be read) pile.

Title: The Doors of Eden.
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Paperback: 445 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: August 20, 2020.
Date Read: January 29, 2021.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★½☆  (3.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.5/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: B+.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Ben Carson Believes In A Religious Test For Public Office

Ben Carson is a retired neuroscientist running for the Republican nomination for President. He has made headlines in the last week for saying things that demonstrate his extreme religious beliefs and his dubious understanding of the U.S. constitution.

"I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that."

Somehow, I don't think Dr. Carson understands (or maybe he disagrees with?) Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz both responded informing Dr. Carson of the existence of the constitutional prohibition on religious tests for elected office in the United States. Cruz said "The Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office, and I'm a constitutionalist." While Mrs. Clinton tweeted her response.

You know you might want to consider your position if both Senator Cruz and Secretary Clinton are both opposing you AND citing the U.S. constitution in support of their (op)position.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Bobby Jindal Gives Evasive Answers To Questions On Evolution

Not sure if this belongs in Godless Wednesday category but it is something I feel like I need to blog about to alert my fellow godless heathens! Governor Bobby Jindal, currently "praying about whether he will run for President in 2016" and former Rhodes Scholar (to study biology and public policy) refused multiple opportunities from reporters to say whether he believes in evolution or not.

Instead, this is what Jindal said:

"I'm not an evolutionary biologist"
and
"I will tell you, as a father, I want my kids to be taught about evolution in their schools, but secondly, I think local school districts should make the decision."
and 
"I told you what I think. I think that local school districts, not the federal government, should make the decision about how they teach science, biology, economics. I want my kids to be taught about evolution; I want my kids to be taught about other theories."

This is the same politician who exhorted his fellow Republicans to "stop being the stupid party"! Until ambitious GOP politicians like Jindal stop issuing dog-whistle messages instead of acknowledging scientific truths ("Evolution is a real biological phenomenon. The climate of the earth is being impacted by man-made activity. A blastocyst is not a human being.") they will continue to be thought of as the group of people who puts faith before fact.

And that is just stupid.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Percentage Of Godless Americans Doubled Since 1999

The ranks of the godless are growing! A recent Gallup poll indicates that up to 19% of Americans say they agree with statement "Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in  the process." Sadly, 42% of Americans agree with the scientifically false statement "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time in the past 10,000 years or so." This is so disheartening for someone who is an academic and who has worked at the National Science Foundation. What are you people thinking?

Between 40% and 47% of Americans over the past 32 years have said the creationist explanation for the origin of human life best fits their personal views. These Americans tend to be highly religious, underscoring the degree to which many Americans view the world around them through the lens of their religious beliefs. Those who adopt the creationist view also tend to have lower education levels, but given the strong influence of religious beliefs, it is not clear to what degree having more education or different types of education might affect their views. 

A number of states have been embroiled in fights in recent years over the degree to which evolution and creationism should be included in their public school curricula. Residents in the South are more likely to believe in the creationist view of the origin of humans than are those living in other regions, making it clear why the fights to have creationism addressed in the public schools might be an important political issue in that region. 

Still, few scientists would agree that humans were created pretty much in their present form at one time 10,000 years ago, underscoring the ongoing discontinuity between the beliefs that many Americans hold and the general scientific consensus on this important issue.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

VIDEO: Creationism is Bad For Kids

Bill Nye (The Science Guy) has published a video explaining the damage to America's future caused by the denial of the reality of evolution. He says that America is the only major country in the world where denial of evolution is more than just a fringe position, and trying to do science while not believing in evolution is like trying to do geology without believing in plate tectonics.
Watch the whole thing for yourself!
Hat/tip to TowleRoad

POLL: 46% Of Americans Believe False Creation Story

Ugh! And we wonder why this country is in such trouble? A new poll from Gallup shows a spike in the percentage of respondents who will tell pollsters that they believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years." This demonstrates a shocking lack of understanding of evolution, basic science and the origin of humanity. A heartbreaking 46% of respondents now associate themselves with this "know nothing" viewpoint, with a mere 32% saying that "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided the process" while only 15% responded correctly that "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process." I'm guess is that people really see this question as a proxy for their belief in God or the Bible and this shows that they want to be perceived as more religious not less, thus explaining the move away from the moderate (but non-sensical) position where they get to believe in Creation and evolution simultaneously. I'd love to see Mitt Romney and President Obama's response to this question.

I would love Gallup to do a poll of what Americans think the age of the Earth is (less than 10 thousand years, more than 10 thousand years, less than 10 million years or more than 10 million years), as well what they think the age of the Universe is (around 10,000 years, around, 10, 000, 000 years or around 10,000,000,000 years).

I guess the National Science Foundation (where I am currently working) has a lot more work to do to ensure basic science literacy among the American populace!

POLL: Most AL, MS Republicans Are Racist Idiots

Today is Republican primary election day in Alabma and Mississippi.

Here are some  poll results of questions asked of Republican primary voters in
 Mississippi:

and Alabama:

which indicate that majorities of respondents in those two states do not believe in evolution (66% and 60%) and believe Barack Obama is not a Christian (88% and 86%).

How else can one describe these results but to characterize them as indicators of bigotry and ignorance?

Hat/tip to Dave Weigel of Slate Magazine.

Gallup Poll Reveals Vast Majority of Americans Are Idiots

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Dec. 10-12, 2010, 

with a random sample of 1,019 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S., selected 

using random-digit-dial sampling.For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence

 that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

A new Gallup poll reveals again that the vast majority of Americans believe in God, and also believe that a "deity" had either full or partial responsibility for creating humans. A plurality of Americans (40%) believe "God created humans pretty much in their present form approximately 10,000 years ago" (strict Creationism) while a smaller percentage (38%) believe that "God guided a process by which humans developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms" (intelligent design-lite) while a mere 16% believe that "humans developed over millions of years, without God's involvement" (science). Happily, this last number is the largest it has ever been, but it is still a disappointing result, since it reflects undisputed scientific fact.

Unsurprisingly, there is a partisan differential between Democrats, Republicans and Independents over who believes what:

Clearly a majority of Republicans (52%) believe that humans are less than 10,000 years with a minuscule 8% believing in God-less evolution, while Democrats and Independents are virtually indistinguishable between 40% believing in God-guided evolution and approximately 20% aligning with the vast body of scientific knowledge on the topic.

And, that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have the 112th Congress with a Republican House majority!