Monkey Girl by Edward Humes

The full title of this book is Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. It is about a legal fight about teaching Intelligent Design in a public school system in Dover, PA. In telling the story about Dover, Hume also gave a thorough history of teaching evolution and creationism in public school systems around the country throughout the 20th century. The book was well-researched and clearly written.


I learned a lot reading this book. I hadn't realized exactly what Intelligent Design (ID) was; I had always said, 'yes I believe in evolution and yes I believe God made the world and those things coexist.' But the followers of ID in the book discount the fossil record, claim the world is just 6000 years old, and believe that people and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time. ID believes that Darwin is wrong and that we didn't come from a common ancestor to monkeys.

In this community, and many of the others mentioned in the book, ID is just a sneaky way of bringing creationism into the classroom. I was absolutely shocked at how openly so many of the people in the story believe that America is a Christian country and how that should inform our public school curriculum. It made me want to join the ACLU immediately.

The book covers several different aspects of the case, including small-town school board politics, the legal fight about ID, and the motives and personalities of many of the main characters. Of particular interest to me was the depiction of a Brown Professor (Ken Miller) who is the author of a biology book considered by the school board and later, a key expert witness for evolution. While I never took any courses with him, he did teach the freshman biology course that influenced me to read Galapagos.

The book also spends some time describing the Discovery Institute, a clever organization founded on the belief that "teaching the controversy" of evolution as a "flawed theory" with "gaps" is the first step in bringing creationism back into science classes. The Discovery Institute is very careful with their positioning and end up withdrawing from this particular case because they believe that the creationists try to position ID too strongly as a religious belief. While the Institute is founded on religious principles and believes that creationism should be taught in schools, they are careful to distance themselves from hyper-religious creationists to keep their reputation scientific and professional.

My favorite part of the book was the last quarter which was excerpts from the transcript of the actual case. The dialogue is fascinating. There are school board members lying under oath, school board members with no knowledge of what ID or evolution is, and lawyers for ID who don't know when they are winning or losing the case. Ken Miller's testimony is passionate and clear.

My only objection to the book is that the author, though purporting to write a journalistic book, didn't seem able to remain impartial as a journalist. His obvious bias towards evolution made me feel like although I agree with him I would rather have read a more balanced book. But then I think, really? would I really have read a book supporting ID? I am not sure.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

I received this book at Christmas last year from my now-inlaws. It's about life in a graphic design office. I enjoyed how well the author was able to capture what it is like to work in an office. For example, he did a great job of characterizing how people gather in certain cubicles to discuss certain things. He also perfectly captured the spirit of everyday occurrences like what it's like to arrive in the morning and get settled with coffee and whatever free bagels are available that day. He used "we" throughout the book, instead of a particular character's identity, to further depict the communal nature of the office. The book made me nostalgic for the office I used to work in; now that I work at home I don't have these interactions.

I was not as captivated by the plot. There is a partner at the firm whose battle with cancer is a mysterious theme to many of the employees. There is also a continuous threat of layoffs that influences the characters' behaviors and leads to the main action in the book. However, it was the familiarity of the office that held my attention, not the storyline. I'm not sure if that was intentional on Ferris' part.

If you've ever worked in a cubicled office (or are interested in what it's like) I think you'd get a kick out of the sociological commentary this book offers. Otherwise, it may not hold your attention.

Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

I've enjoyed Michael Lewis' sports books and decided a while ago to try one of his other topics. This one has been sitting on my shelf for a while.

This book is about Michael Lewis' years working at Salomon Brothers as a salesperson. He intersperses chapters about his experiences working there with characterizations of Salomon Brothers as a company and historical perspectives on different types of financial vehicles. He explains the bond market and its origins in the instantiation of variable interest to address inflation. He also explains how the change in commission policy changed the stock and bond markets. Most interestingly these days, he traces the origins of the mortgage bond market and how mortgages are packaged and sold as investments.

Overall I thought the book was interesting and contained an appropriate level of technical detail to keep my interest and assuage my curiosity.