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The Serpent's Promise
In The Serpent's Promise, Steve Jones retells many of the biblical tales in the light of modern science. Are we all descended from a real-life Adam and Eve? Are some—or all—of us marked with the molecular equivalent of original sin, and if so what can we do about it? Was the Bible's great flood a memory of the end of the Ice Age? And what can science tell us of the mystical experiences reported by the faithful, or of the origin of faith itself?
Some people deny the power of religious belief, others the findings of science. In this groundbreaking work from one of our great science writers, Steve Jones explores how these mysteries often overlap. He steps aside from the noisy debate between believers and non-believers to show how the questions that preoccupy us today are those of biblical times—and that science offers many of the answers.
At once brilliantly erudite and highly readable, The Serpent's Promise is a witty and thoughtful account of the greatest scientific story ever told.
Some people deny the power of religious belief, others the findings of science. In this groundbreaking work from one of our great science writers, Steve Jones explores how these mysteries often overlap. He steps aside from the noisy debate between believers and non-believers to show how the questions that preoccupy us today are those of biblical times—and that science offers many of the answers.
At once brilliantly erudite and highly readable, The Serpent's Promise is a witty and thoughtful account of the greatest scientific story ever told.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
57 people are currently reading
779 people want to read
About the author
Steve Jones
313 books132 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on the subject of biology, especially evolution. He is one of the contemporary popular writers on evolution. In 1996 his writing won him the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize "for his numerous, wide ranging contributions to the public understanding of science in areas such as human evolution and variation, race, sex, inherited disease and genetic manipulation through his many broadcasts on radio and television, his lectures, popular science books, and his regular science column in The Daily Telegraph and contributions to other newspaper media".
John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on the subject of biology, especially evolution. He is one of the contemporary popular writers on evolution. In 1996 his writing won him the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize "for his numerous, wide ranging contributions to the public understanding of science in areas such as human evolution and variation, race, sex, inherited disease and genetic manipulation through his many broadcasts on radio and television, his lectures, popular science books, and his regular science column in The Daily Telegraph and contributions to other newspaper media".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 19, 2013
There are broadly two ways to write a popular science book. One is, like my book Gravity, to pick a specific aspect of science and really dig into it. The other is to use a theme that allows you to explore a whole range of different scientific topics. I confess I’ve done this as well with the likes of Inflight Science and The Universe Inside You and the approach can be very effective. But there has to be a reason for choosing the framework – and I find Steve Jones’ hook in this particular book – the Bible – a little odd.
The bumf for the book says ‘The Bible was the first scientific textbook of all; and it got some things right (and plenty more wrong).’ I’m really not sure about that premise – I don’t think anyone sensibly would regard the Bible as a scientific textbook. The whole reason, for instance, that Genesis gets away with having two scientifically incompatible versions of the creation story is that it isn’t intended to be a literal, scientific explanation, but rather a contextual, spiritual description. (Which is why those who take the Bible as literal truth have an uphill struggle.) This is a bit like thinking that people thought the Earth was flat in the Middle Ages, because the likes of the Mappa Mundi look like a flat Earth – again, this was a symbolic representation, never intended as a projection of the real world.
In his introduction, Jones takes a slightly dubious path, saying he isn’t attacking religious belief per se, and then setting out to do just that. I’ve nothing against scientists attacking religious beliefs, there is plenty of reason to do so – but they shouldn’t try to weasel out of what they are doing. However, in the book proper he moves away from this (until the last chapter) and gets down to some more interesting stuff.
Rather strangely, and perhaps reflecting Jones’ background in biology, he starts not with the creation, but with humans and the endless lists of descent that are found in the Bible, using this to explore the real genetic, DNA-based possibilities, including the ‘real’ Adam and Eve, separated unfortunately by about 100,000 years, so not exactly on the best of terms. These lists in the Bible are rather dull, and unfortunately the endless seeming discussions of different lines of descent in Jones’ modern-day telling also gets a little tedious.
We then jump back to the creation and some fairly straightforward big bang description – adequate, though rather skimpy compared with the depth he went to on inheritance and DNA. It’s a shame, given Jones makes a big thing of one of the distinctions between religion and science is that religion has a ‘what’s in the book is true’ stance, where science goes on data and method that he doesn’t point out that the big bang is not ‘truth’ but the best accepted current theory, but we’ve all slipped into that kind of easy science writing – it gets a bit boring to keep pointing out the limitations of our knowledge, but it would probably have been worth doing it at the start, just to emphasize this is real science, not the unquestionable word of the science oracle.
Although there is a touch of physics there, even that single chapter soon jumps to a much longer discourse on where life came from. For me there was far too much biology here, fine for a single topic book, but over-emphasised for a book based on such a broad concept. In writing terms, it’s a mixed book. Some of the content has Jones’ trademark storytelling but a lot of it is plonking facts with little flow. Some parts read well, others (often where there’s a lot of mention of DNA) get a touch boring.
In the final chapter Jones comes back to religion itself and does a fair demolishing job, though there is one glaring non-sequitur. He is commenting on wars driven by religion and concludes with a sort of rosy picture of a peaceful harmonious world without religious divides. Yet one of his principle lines seems to run counter to this. He comments ‘For civil wars, like those between nations, there was a striking fit between how long they lasted and how ethnically (and often religiously) divided the nation had become.’ He concludes that Pascal was right to ascribe evil to a religious conviction. Yet look what he has done. Take away the religion and the ethnicity is still there. Is there any reason to suppose that wouldn’t still be an issue, especially bearing in mind that ‘and often’? That’s not science, Dr Jones.
Overall, then, this is the classic curates egg of a book, not really doing what it sets out to do and rambling (I like a good diversion, but this jumps all over) too much for good storytelling, but with some undoubted good bits. It’s not a bad book, but not great either.
Review first published in www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.
The bumf for the book says ‘The Bible was the first scientific textbook of all; and it got some things right (and plenty more wrong).’ I’m really not sure about that premise – I don’t think anyone sensibly would regard the Bible as a scientific textbook. The whole reason, for instance, that Genesis gets away with having two scientifically incompatible versions of the creation story is that it isn’t intended to be a literal, scientific explanation, but rather a contextual, spiritual description. (Which is why those who take the Bible as literal truth have an uphill struggle.) This is a bit like thinking that people thought the Earth was flat in the Middle Ages, because the likes of the Mappa Mundi look like a flat Earth – again, this was a symbolic representation, never intended as a projection of the real world.
In his introduction, Jones takes a slightly dubious path, saying he isn’t attacking religious belief per se, and then setting out to do just that. I’ve nothing against scientists attacking religious beliefs, there is plenty of reason to do so – but they shouldn’t try to weasel out of what they are doing. However, in the book proper he moves away from this (until the last chapter) and gets down to some more interesting stuff.
Rather strangely, and perhaps reflecting Jones’ background in biology, he starts not with the creation, but with humans and the endless lists of descent that are found in the Bible, using this to explore the real genetic, DNA-based possibilities, including the ‘real’ Adam and Eve, separated unfortunately by about 100,000 years, so not exactly on the best of terms. These lists in the Bible are rather dull, and unfortunately the endless seeming discussions of different lines of descent in Jones’ modern-day telling also gets a little tedious.
We then jump back to the creation and some fairly straightforward big bang description – adequate, though rather skimpy compared with the depth he went to on inheritance and DNA. It’s a shame, given Jones makes a big thing of one of the distinctions between religion and science is that religion has a ‘what’s in the book is true’ stance, where science goes on data and method that he doesn’t point out that the big bang is not ‘truth’ but the best accepted current theory, but we’ve all slipped into that kind of easy science writing – it gets a bit boring to keep pointing out the limitations of our knowledge, but it would probably have been worth doing it at the start, just to emphasize this is real science, not the unquestionable word of the science oracle.
Although there is a touch of physics there, even that single chapter soon jumps to a much longer discourse on where life came from. For me there was far too much biology here, fine for a single topic book, but over-emphasised for a book based on such a broad concept. In writing terms, it’s a mixed book. Some of the content has Jones’ trademark storytelling but a lot of it is plonking facts with little flow. Some parts read well, others (often where there’s a lot of mention of DNA) get a touch boring.
In the final chapter Jones comes back to religion itself and does a fair demolishing job, though there is one glaring non-sequitur. He is commenting on wars driven by religion and concludes with a sort of rosy picture of a peaceful harmonious world without religious divides. Yet one of his principle lines seems to run counter to this. He comments ‘For civil wars, like those between nations, there was a striking fit between how long they lasted and how ethnically (and often religiously) divided the nation had become.’ He concludes that Pascal was right to ascribe evil to a religious conviction. Yet look what he has done. Take away the religion and the ethnicity is still there. Is there any reason to suppose that wouldn’t still be an issue, especially bearing in mind that ‘and often’? That’s not science, Dr Jones.
Overall, then, this is the classic curates egg of a book, not really doing what it sets out to do and rambling (I like a good diversion, but this jumps all over) too much for good storytelling, but with some undoubted good bits. It’s not a bad book, but not great either.
Review first published in www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.
December 18, 2017
A whole lot of science and not much Bible.
March 22, 2017
I was SO EXCITED for this book. Tell me about world flood legends! Tell me about psychiatric conditions that induce visions! Theorize me, baby! There was a little of that in the last half, but mostly there was a whole lot of nothing. There are a lot of genealogies in the Bible, so he spends almost 200 pages talking about genealogy and genetics?? It's basically a 400-page ramble with the occasional poetic appeal to a Bible verse, and if I wanted that I could read a Christian textbook.
Worse, he strings together massive lists of examples and narrative syntheses without explaining where he's getting this information. A lot of it seems very suspect to me, with correlation and causation all jumbled together in an unjustified way. Plus unfounded gender stuff about how women are "coy" and "larger" and whatnot because of evolution. It's one thing to anthropomorphize physical processes -- he might be using "coyness" to characterize a statistical trend or whatever -- but he doesn't indicate any distinction between that and individual behavior, so I have no idea which he's talking about.
It was quite readable, and I picked up a few tidbits here and there, but on the whole I don't feel like I learned much because there was no direction and not always solid examples.
Worse, he strings together massive lists of examples and narrative syntheses without explaining where he's getting this information. A lot of it seems very suspect to me, with correlation and causation all jumbled together in an unjustified way. Plus unfounded gender stuff about how women are "coy" and "larger" and whatnot because of evolution. It's one thing to anthropomorphize physical processes -- he might be using "coyness" to characterize a statistical trend or whatever -- but he doesn't indicate any distinction between that and individual behavior, so I have no idea which he's talking about.
It was quite readable, and I picked up a few tidbits here and there, but on the whole I don't feel like I learned much because there was no direction and not always solid examples.
September 3, 2014
I hate to give up on a book, but man, at page 130 I had all of this one I could take.
It's sad, because the last two science books I read were so good. When I saw this at the library, I thought the title was rather clever, and its premise--"The Bible Interpreted Through Modern Science"--sounded interesting.
Unfortunately, it wasn't. It committed the Three Cardinal Sins of a Bad Science Book in my opinion--Dull, Bloated and Boring. The chapters I did finish meandered from here to there, making little sense, and the author seemed to forget his audience would most likely consist of laypeople (or should, if he wants his book to sell). His prose was turgid and unclear, and suffered mightily from Toxic Seriousness Syndrome. (Steve Jones and Ellen Willis are two peas in a pod.)
If anyone says, "Well, you didn't give this book a chance," well, yes, I did. If you can't make your book interesting in the first 130 pages, you're never going to.
It's sad, because the last two science books I read were so good. When I saw this at the library, I thought the title was rather clever, and its premise--"The Bible Interpreted Through Modern Science"--sounded interesting.
Unfortunately, it wasn't. It committed the Three Cardinal Sins of a Bad Science Book in my opinion--Dull, Bloated and Boring. The chapters I did finish meandered from here to there, making little sense, and the author seemed to forget his audience would most likely consist of laypeople (or should, if he wants his book to sell). His prose was turgid and unclear, and suffered mightily from Toxic Seriousness Syndrome. (Steve Jones and Ellen Willis are two peas in a pod.)
If anyone says, "Well, you didn't give this book a chance," well, yes, I did. If you can't make your book interesting in the first 130 pages, you're never going to.
January 10, 2019
Three stars means I liked it! I read The Selfish Gene a few years ago and I like Jones's style. This is an interesting, well written book. I think it suffers from the marketing, really, in that it doesn't actually deliver on the promise of the premise. Jones does not re-tell the Bible through the prism of modern science, he uses Bible myths as a stepping-off point for exploring aspects of science (mostly genetics, as that is his area of expertise).
I really enjoyed it, but I can see how some readers may have felt misled by the cover and title.
I really enjoyed it, but I can see how some readers may have felt misled by the cover and title.
September 13, 2013
Disappointing. Using the Bible to provide a guide and structure to a popular science text was/is an interesting idea yet Jones does not make use of his idea. The Bible should have provided a structure or narrative guide but its nowhere evident in the book.
July 23, 2016
I received a copy of this book through GoodReads First Read Giveaways.
This book suffered from two major problems.
The subtitle and the description lead the reader to imagine a walk through Biblical tales pointing out the science that may be behind them. The promise is not found in the book. The blurb mentions the Great Flood, but in the book we hear not about the Flood but about other water events including modern day events like the Boxing Day tsunami. This was the closest alignment between promise and product. The dietary rules are an excuse to discuss the evolution of taste buds.
The second problem is that the by ignoring this frame of retelling the Bible the book is left without a narrative thread. The subjects of chapters and even within chapters are haphazardly organized and sometimes only tangentially related to each other. This storytelling approach left the reader a bit off kilter most of the time.
Many of the anecdotes were interesting, but light on detail. Endnotes referring the interested reader would have been a wonderful addition. I turned to the internet while reading at least a dozen times for just this reason.
The American preface addition seemed to indicate a backlash in other printings of this book, but I can't imagine any of those who believe in a literal interpretation would be reading this book. I, however, was still surprised and dismayed, to see the beliefs of Catholics most often held out for ridicule by the author. Historical slurs were included incidentally throughout.
The material of the disjointed chapters, style aside, was interesting nonetheless. I did learn some interesting things about animals, evolution, and taste buds.
If you are expecting a scientific explanation for Biblical events you won't find it here. If you are expecting to learn some interesting scientific stories you are in luck.
This book suffered from two major problems.
The subtitle and the description lead the reader to imagine a walk through Biblical tales pointing out the science that may be behind them. The promise is not found in the book. The blurb mentions the Great Flood, but in the book we hear not about the Flood but about other water events including modern day events like the Boxing Day tsunami. This was the closest alignment between promise and product. The dietary rules are an excuse to discuss the evolution of taste buds.
The second problem is that the by ignoring this frame of retelling the Bible the book is left without a narrative thread. The subjects of chapters and even within chapters are haphazardly organized and sometimes only tangentially related to each other. This storytelling approach left the reader a bit off kilter most of the time.
Many of the anecdotes were interesting, but light on detail. Endnotes referring the interested reader would have been a wonderful addition. I turned to the internet while reading at least a dozen times for just this reason.
The American preface addition seemed to indicate a backlash in other printings of this book, but I can't imagine any of those who believe in a literal interpretation would be reading this book. I, however, was still surprised and dismayed, to see the beliefs of Catholics most often held out for ridicule by the author. Historical slurs were included incidentally throughout.
The material of the disjointed chapters, style aside, was interesting nonetheless. I did learn some interesting things about animals, evolution, and taste buds.
If you are expecting a scientific explanation for Biblical events you won't find it here. If you are expecting to learn some interesting scientific stories you are in luck.
August 9, 2014
“The Serpent’s Promise: the Bible interpreted through modern science,” by Steve Jones (Pegasus, 2012). Jones is a geneticist by trade, and a modern atheist, though not of the Dawkins haranguing school. This is a sly book: he examines the philosophical questions which the bible tries to answer. Where do we come from? How was everything created? How do we reproduce? Etc. etc. He points out that these are the basic questions of life, and of course the pre-scientific world would try to answer them, usually with some form of mythic or otherworldly or spiritual explanation. His writing is wry and humane, his explanations clear (though when he got deep into DNA and RNA and X and Y chromosomes to explain heredity I did begin to get lost). It’s doubtful that many believers will read this book; it mostly reinforces the secular view of existence. No surprise: his bio says he was once named “secularist of the year.” Nicely done.
http://pegasusbooks.com/books/the-ser...
July 20, 2014
I'm quite enjoying Steve Jones' other book done in this sort of style, taking the work of Charles Darwin and revising, updating and adding to it. Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. Using some of the central stories of a religion as a gimmick while making it clear how much you look down on people who profess religious belief... ugh. Just, ugh..
Some parts of the science here were interesting, but overall it's nothing I haven't read elsewhere. Mostly it feels like Steve Jones riding his hobby horse, over and over. I've got several more of his books to read, but I'm starting to think he's a one-trick pony.
Some parts of the science here were interesting, but overall it's nothing I haven't read elsewhere. Mostly it feels like Steve Jones riding his hobby horse, over and over. I've got several more of his books to read, but I'm starting to think he's a one-trick pony.
August 25, 2023
Closer to a 1.5, but rounding up in recognition of the spirit with which Jones approached this text.
Other reviews do a nice job of explaining my issues with this book. To condense those notes into as brief as review as possible:
- Jones' chapters are thematically grouped but lack a structural narrative. His focus (and consequently his writing) appears to meandre and linger in cul-de-sacs that do little but pad the page count.
- He has some very interesting concepts, but his writing style distracts from the underlying lyricism of his work, and the utter lack of sources or accreditation distracts from an already tenuously reliable read. He's a scientist, and I wouldn't expect him to have superb biblical knowledge, except for that it seems as though he's skimming the Abrahamic texts and pseudo-history for the things which match what he wants to talk about, rather than forming any useful analysis or comparison.
- His writing style is clearly shooting for gravitasse, but it's so aware of its own attempts at poetry that it falls somewhere in the cringe-worthy abstractism of a tenured professor on a personal side-ramble.
All in all, an exceedingly fascinating premise that Jones doesn't appear to have done the research to back up, with his naturally descriptive and engaging prose bogged down by attempts at poetry.
Other reviews do a nice job of explaining my issues with this book. To condense those notes into as brief as review as possible:
- Jones' chapters are thematically grouped but lack a structural narrative. His focus (and consequently his writing) appears to meandre and linger in cul-de-sacs that do little but pad the page count.
- He has some very interesting concepts, but his writing style distracts from the underlying lyricism of his work, and the utter lack of sources or accreditation distracts from an already tenuously reliable read. He's a scientist, and I wouldn't expect him to have superb biblical knowledge, except for that it seems as though he's skimming the Abrahamic texts and pseudo-history for the things which match what he wants to talk about, rather than forming any useful analysis or comparison.
- His writing style is clearly shooting for gravitasse, but it's so aware of its own attempts at poetry that it falls somewhere in the cringe-worthy abstractism of a tenured professor on a personal side-ramble.
All in all, an exceedingly fascinating premise that Jones doesn't appear to have done the research to back up, with his naturally descriptive and engaging prose bogged down by attempts at poetry.
July 26, 2018
Interesting idea: take Bible literalists literally; see how much of the book’s many empirical claims are anywhere near right, re: cosmogony, hygiene, heredity, migration. Couple cool results –
– but unstructured, often unclear, and tiring, in the main. Minus a half for having no citations for any of its thousand claims.
Today, each [Amish] mother has, on average, half a dozen children, and the community is growing at almost 10 per cent a year… At that rate the Amish could, by the middle of the next century, have a population equivalent to the whole of today’s United States...
Many saints died in ‘the odour of sanctity’, a sweet smell supposed to mark the departure of the soul. The scent is that of acetone, made in the liver as its capital runs out.
– but unstructured, often unclear, and tiring, in the main. Minus a half for having no citations for any of its thousand claims.
March 24, 2019
Amiable discussion of longevity, mortality, medicine, sexual relations, faith as a moral compass, the rise and fall of organised religion through history and most things in between. It didn't "retell the Bible" as advertised - I suspected that was a bit ambitious and often there's just a biblical hook to set a chapter on its way. I appreciated the scientific and irreverent approach encouraged by the author's stated position as unbeliever (although many readers won't: I enjoyed the paperback's introduction which recounts some "fire and brimstone" responses to the first edition). Steering clear of dogma helps keep it entertaining and reminds that it shouldn't be taken that seriously...
December 30, 2019
In going through many of the lower star reviews I see pretty much all my thoughts about this book previously relayed by many others. It is disjointed and the lack of flow makes it uneasy to read. What is most disappointing however, is that the book fails to fulfill the titles promise even in the slightest and this combined with the writing - I just couldn't get through it. I gave up half way through. It is not very often I run into a book I don't finish, even if I am not enjoying it I force my way though till the end but this book lacked both style and substance and I just wouldn't recommend it.
May 25, 2025
Decent 30,000 foot overview of the intersection of religion (mainly Christianity) and genetics. Doesn't go too deep into any one area, so feels a little bit surface-level. Discussions on how religion has affected science and how religion attempted to explain the world before science got there. When our primitive ancestors began telling stories of why the world is the way it is, up to modern wars fought over differing ideologies.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I don't think people with a deep interest in either religion or genetics will find much for them in here. Perhaps better recommended to someone with no knowledge of either?
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I don't think people with a deep interest in either religion or genetics will find much for them in here. Perhaps better recommended to someone with no knowledge of either?
February 8, 2017
The author examines several elements of the Bible in light of human evolution and social science knowledge. I was impressed by the depth of Biblical engagement in a thoroughly secular book, though as a theologian, I had a minor quibble along the way. I recommend this to anyone who wants thoughts provoked about the place of the Biblical narrative in Western culture and why, until that narrative is updated, people will still cling to Genesis and supplemental material in the rest of the Bible as more inspirational than science.
July 19, 2018
The title promises so much, but the content delivers so little. Rather than the Bible retold as science, this book is more a poorly backed up soapbox with a cursory glance to the Bible. The Independent apparently describes this book as “full of wit and panache”, but I found none.
Upon discovering this book on sale for $4, I was interested in the author’s perspective on evolution. Unfortunately, even on sale I feel it was overpriced. You will find much more informative and helpful reads elsewhere!
Upon discovering this book on sale for $4, I was interested in the author’s perspective on evolution. Unfortunately, even on sale I feel it was overpriced. You will find much more informative and helpful reads elsewhere!
May 12, 2018
In truth, I gave up on this book about one quarter the way through. I was just so frustrated with its disjointed presentation, wandering back and forth between topics, frequent unsupported, cryptic or unexplained statements, and almost complete lack of addressing biblical claims in terms of scientific understanding. That said, there were many interesting passages. A good content editor was needed.
November 20, 2021
The poor ratings reflect (not the quality of this super book, but) the inevitable disappointment of religious folks who hoped that a reputable scientist might (finally) reconcile the mind-forged manacles of religion and science.
January 17, 2018
Interesting take on emergence of science through history with reference to the bible as a source or subject list but misleadingly titled IMHO.
August 9, 2022
Jones writes readable books packed with facts. This one loosely takes its inspiration from the Old and New Testament but quickly goes elsewhere, which is perfectly fine.
February 22, 2025
Professor Jones hits it out of the park again. Brilliant and hilarious.
May 25, 2015
I did not enjoy this book.
I bought this book because I saw a really ace talk by Steve Jones which purported to be about this book. The premise is that he is using the Bible to address the big questions, like folds, plagues, life and death. He is trying to update the answers with science.
In the talk I saw he argued that large organized religions came about with the beginning of agrarian farming. He made a point something along the lines of hunter gather gods not needing to judge people (I wish I could read my notes). But the main point is that God (as in the monotheistic sense) began when farming began.
So, I was excited. I’m interested in the bible, I like Steve Jones’ earlier work, and I am also heard about premises that narrow gender roles came about with the advent of agriculture and in hunter-gatherer societies were more equal.
However, what he does in the book isn’t quite what he promises to do. He doesn’t go through key events in the bible but just covers vague topics like disease, food, mental health and then doesn’t really do these topics justice. I also found the book so ruthlessly focused on individuals, with very little focus on interactions between people or groups or empathy. These were only brought up in the last chapter. This theory around agriculture and monotheism isn’t discussed at length in the book just mentioned at the end.
Although he doesn’t really go through the bible and explain it, he does find parallels between the bible and today. For example, the similarities with Noah and the flood and with the current British Governments cuts in flood defenses (p239) and the potential collapse of the insurance industry if there is a flood means it is ‘time for every citizen to build their own financial ark or, if they cannot afford that, to put their trust in God.
The book is also very cynical. There are also lots of broad statements about religions which seem too simplistic.
Anyway, a few things I thought were interesting:
• Mitochondria are only passed on by women, I didn’t understand this (p146)
• Leprosy only infects humans and armadillos.
• P342 discusses experiment where people too mushrooms in a Good Friday service in 1962 called ‘Marsh Chapel’ – many of whom said their moral insights had been transformed.
I bought this book because I saw a really ace talk by Steve Jones which purported to be about this book. The premise is that he is using the Bible to address the big questions, like folds, plagues, life and death. He is trying to update the answers with science.
In the talk I saw he argued that large organized religions came about with the beginning of agrarian farming. He made a point something along the lines of hunter gather gods not needing to judge people (I wish I could read my notes). But the main point is that God (as in the monotheistic sense) began when farming began.
So, I was excited. I’m interested in the bible, I like Steve Jones’ earlier work, and I am also heard about premises that narrow gender roles came about with the advent of agriculture and in hunter-gatherer societies were more equal.
However, what he does in the book isn’t quite what he promises to do. He doesn’t go through key events in the bible but just covers vague topics like disease, food, mental health and then doesn’t really do these topics justice. I also found the book so ruthlessly focused on individuals, with very little focus on interactions between people or groups or empathy. These were only brought up in the last chapter. This theory around agriculture and monotheism isn’t discussed at length in the book just mentioned at the end.
Although he doesn’t really go through the bible and explain it, he does find parallels between the bible and today. For example, the similarities with Noah and the flood and with the current British Governments cuts in flood defenses (p239) and the potential collapse of the insurance industry if there is a flood means it is ‘time for every citizen to build their own financial ark or, if they cannot afford that, to put their trust in God.
The book is also very cynical. There are also lots of broad statements about religions which seem too simplistic.
Anyway, a few things I thought were interesting:
• Mitochondria are only passed on by women, I didn’t understand this (p146)
• Leprosy only infects humans and armadillos.
• P342 discusses experiment where people too mushrooms in a Good Friday service in 1962 called ‘Marsh Chapel’ – many of whom said their moral insights had been transformed.
June 3, 2015
I found this to be a thoroughly fascinating book, a wonderful ramble through our current understanding of cosmology, geology and genetics.
Steve Jones is, on the page as much as on the screen, a fascinating translator of scientific complexity into accessible English. The book is packed with tidbits that I have never come across before and, at times, revelations that overturn the things I'd thought I knew to be true.
I have only one complaint: the subtitle. I'm not at all sure why this is being touted as "The Bible Retold as Science". It suggests that this book will walk through the Bible, comparing and contrasting the stories therein with what science has now learned. At the very least, one might reasonably expect a firm focus on the Bible.
In reality, this is not the case at all. The Bible is, at most, a rather fragmentary framework on which to hang a series of scientific articles. It is true that each chapter uses the Bible as a starting point - the longevity and size of Biblical humanoids, the creation story, and the journey of Exodus, for instance - and there are references to Biblical verses and to theological writings and debates, mainly to illustrate or emphasise a scientific point. Even so, no prospective reader should have any doubts whatsoever that this is a science book, a book that believes quite categorically that science can provide better explanations that can any religion, and ultimately that society will be better if we can "abandon the last great restraint, William Blake's 'mind-forg'd manacles' of organised religion".
Please note, though, that for me at least this doesn't make the book less interesting; it simply means that it isn't quite the book I was anticipating.
Steve Jones is, on the page as much as on the screen, a fascinating translator of scientific complexity into accessible English. The book is packed with tidbits that I have never come across before and, at times, revelations that overturn the things I'd thought I knew to be true.
I have only one complaint: the subtitle. I'm not at all sure why this is being touted as "The Bible Retold as Science". It suggests that this book will walk through the Bible, comparing and contrasting the stories therein with what science has now learned. At the very least, one might reasonably expect a firm focus on the Bible.
In reality, this is not the case at all. The Bible is, at most, a rather fragmentary framework on which to hang a series of scientific articles. It is true that each chapter uses the Bible as a starting point - the longevity and size of Biblical humanoids, the creation story, and the journey of Exodus, for instance - and there are references to Biblical verses and to theological writings and debates, mainly to illustrate or emphasise a scientific point. Even so, no prospective reader should have any doubts whatsoever that this is a science book, a book that believes quite categorically that science can provide better explanations that can any religion, and ultimately that society will be better if we can "abandon the last great restraint, William Blake's 'mind-forg'd manacles' of organised religion".
Please note, though, that for me at least this doesn't make the book less interesting; it simply means that it isn't quite the book I was anticipating.
November 25, 2013
Prob heading for three stars, a library loan, some bits of fascinating stuff, otherwise bit of a gentle meander , musings of a science dude with little or no solid bible connections. Am enjoying it, almost like a novel, easy read, if you can get it cheap, or loan , yay, some parts are amazing but lots of "fireside chats " in between.
There is a review on goodreads by Brian, i clicked like because I like his review and a thorough now by me might be close to that ( if I worked hard )
Ok finished , some real gems at times, the occasional flash of brilliance , lots of meanders and half though out ideas. Hints in places of a Jared Diamond style synthesis yet fails to deliver , any time he mentions genetics , pay attention , his great strength although short on detail, and argghhh no references ! some bits are exceedingly good. But really, how hard is it to provide some citations . Mostly the book feels like a fireside chat with a good mind, tends to waffle and meander , oh, I already said that .
There is a review on goodreads by Brian, i clicked like because I like his review and a thorough now by me might be close to that ( if I worked hard )
Ok finished , some real gems at times, the occasional flash of brilliance , lots of meanders and half though out ideas. Hints in places of a Jared Diamond style synthesis yet fails to deliver , any time he mentions genetics , pay attention , his great strength although short on detail, and argghhh no references ! some bits are exceedingly good. But really, how hard is it to provide some citations . Mostly the book feels like a fireside chat with a good mind, tends to waffle and meander , oh, I already said that .
July 16, 2014
Directionless, meandering and a bit of a trudge to get through. Believe reviewers when they say the subtitle is misleading. It's a nice concept, but he talks about bits of the Bible for a few pages before just going all over the place with his science; so much so that most chapters I couldn't remember what the links between the two were supposed to be.
It's a shame because he's obviously an intelligent guy and has plenty of interesting facts to bring up, but it primarily suffers from a complete lack of structure. Whilst it's fair to say that the Bible was an early attempt at understanding and recording the world around us, he seems to want to placate the religious with his stile of writing, which makes it very difficult to ascertain which bits of the Bible he believes to have any kind of factual basis. I'm more annoyed that he presents two conflicting views and doesn't show an opinion about which is more probable than I would be if he said "I think the Bible is literally true". Too much fence-sitting for my liking and a jumble of ideas. Unlikely to read him again.
It's a shame because he's obviously an intelligent guy and has plenty of interesting facts to bring up, but it primarily suffers from a complete lack of structure. Whilst it's fair to say that the Bible was an early attempt at understanding and recording the world around us, he seems to want to placate the religious with his stile of writing, which makes it very difficult to ascertain which bits of the Bible he believes to have any kind of factual basis. I'm more annoyed that he presents two conflicting views and doesn't show an opinion about which is more probable than I would be if he said "I think the Bible is literally true". Too much fence-sitting for my liking and a jumble of ideas. Unlikely to read him again.
January 20, 2016
Convoluted and confusing - this book needs a thorough edit. Random information about colugos of Asian could be cut, the evolution of DNA should be all together (for example in the first chapter 'Descent From Adam', and flowery language ("The Entry of the Eukaryotes was the overture to the opera of advanced existence") is simply confusing. It is hard to say what level audience this is aimed at. References and scientific language are used without explanation (does everyone know what gametes are?) but also mostly with convoluted analogies implying a non-scientific target audience.
The over-long preface gives the author a chance to air his complaints - "I sometimes wonder whether those who pour their inane doctrine into their pupil's ears ever consider the damage they do". Whether this is right or wrong is irrelevant. It has no place in a serious book on the science of biblical miracles. However he continues to voice prejudices throughout, for example against private education - "ensure that their sons inherit a sense of entitlement as well as the cash."
The over-long preface gives the author a chance to air his complaints - "I sometimes wonder whether those who pour their inane doctrine into their pupil's ears ever consider the damage they do". Whether this is right or wrong is irrelevant. It has no place in a serious book on the science of biblical miracles. However he continues to voice prejudices throughout, for example against private education - "ensure that their sons inherit a sense of entitlement as well as the cash."
May 8, 2016
Having been taught by the man himself, probably the most popular lecturer in the department, I can say Prof. Jones' reputation in science communication is well deserved. He excels at relating science to real life, and deftly provide insights into society and human nature while doing so. His books are easy, yet worthwhile reads, but it is for that reason his books are not among my favourites. (I am, however, going to read his other books more closely related to biology, which seem promising so far.)
In The Serpent's Promise, Jones opens each chapter with an extract from the bible and discusses the science relevant to the topic. I believe this book is highly underrated, people seem to expect a literal 'rewriting' of the bible as science. Instead, this book is an attempt to elucidate the bible's (feeble) attempts at answer what are after all, very human questions.
In The Serpent's Promise, Jones opens each chapter with an extract from the bible and discusses the science relevant to the topic. I believe this book is highly underrated, people seem to expect a literal 'rewriting' of the bible as science. Instead, this book is an attempt to elucidate the bible's (feeble) attempts at answer what are after all, very human questions.
March 9, 2015
Not thrilling from a scientific viewpoint (most of the subjects have already been absorbed into common knowledge), and also mostly void of any deep philosophical content, this book even manages to overlook the correlates between neurobiology and evolutionary sociology, a topic that's so hot right now to the humanities crowd,( except for a brief mention of right side and left side of the brain lighting up).
Aside from plain bad writing.
Here's a good article on the later matter. http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Acad...
If I had to put it shortly, I'd say it's vain, and I just feel duped.
Aside from plain bad writing.
Here's a good article on the later matter. http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Acad...
If I had to put it shortly, I'd say it's vain, and I just feel duped.
October 20, 2013
Although this book was very interesting and I learned a lot of things that I never knew before about DNA, biology, etc., the connections to biblical texts were thin. Steve Jones quoted from the bible and then talked about the science but never put the two together to test whether things mentioned in the scriptures were scientifically possible or not. That connection was what was lacking and would have made for a more thought provoking read.
August 7, 2014
As a religious studies student, I was thrilled to have won this book from a giveaway by Goodreads. Steve Jones took on a big task of dissecting the bible looking for both truths and falsities in regards to science. I don't he did a great job executing that great of a task in his book though. I felt his book was lacking in that the bible didn't seem to be referenced as much as I thought it should.
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