The Science Spell - Making Belief: Essays Towards a Natural, Magical, Intelligent Faith, #1

Science has been so successful at giving us material benefits, that many intelligent people believe it also gives us the best picture of ultimate reality. Unfortunately, that picture is a cosmic bummer: a mechanical universe ruled by laws that care nothing about the human heart. The essays in this book don't question the value of science. In fact, they push critical thinking further than most scientists are used to.
And-in easy, playful prose-they go places our most educated and well-respected citizens generally don't. Refusing to stop at border crossings or check points, Spark's essays roam coyote-like over the terrain not only of science, but of philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, myth, religion, the supernatural, and our own direct experience of the world. In doing so, they explore a paradox: The idea of a universe devoid of magic may itself be a kind of spell.