The Science Delusion

By: Rupert Sheldrake

Narrated by: Rupert Sheldrake, David Timson, Jane Collingwood

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The science delusion is the belief that science already understands the nature of reality. The fundamental questions are answered, leaving only the details to be filled in.

In this book, Dr Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, shows that science is being constructed by assumptions that have hardened into dogmas. The sciences would be better off without them: freer, more interesting, and more fun.

According to the dogmas of science, all reality is material or physical. The world is a machine, made up of dead matter. Nature is purposeless. Consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain. Free will is an illusion. God exists only as an idea in human minds; imprisoned within our skulls. But should science be a belief-system, or a method of enquiry?

Sheldrake shows that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns. In the sceptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the 10 fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities.

The Science Delusion will radically change your view of what is possible. And give you new hope for the world.

©2012 Rupert Sheldrake (P)2012 Hodder & Stoughton

Rethink Your Reality

Where does The Science Delusion rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This audio book was narrated by Rupert Sheldrake, so the emphasis and pose was perfect. The message would have been blurred by anyone else

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Science Delusion?

The most memorable part was the consistent way in which the construction of all points of view was built up and then new material added as a logical extension

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This book is a little heavy in places. I didn't listen to all 12 hours in one sitting, but was captured enough to re-visit points when uncertain

Any additional comments?

This book has inspired further reading for myself, and has opened my mind to the current science Dogma. Thank-you Mr. Sheldrake.

Note: Only 4 stars on performance due to an American accent that may have only been rivaled by my Australian attempt at it

Essential read for all honest learners

I was led to this and other, philosophy-of-science-like, books when I started feeling more and more unsettled by scientific views and editorials on a number of topics. The "scientific" materialistic views themselves don't seem to be a problem to me, not only because views are clearly paradigm-bound, but also because in a sense they're a result of potentially the most sophisticated system of knowledge today.

What has been triggering me is the authority what is popularly called science has been arrogating. The more I read, the more it seems that organized science is becoming less and less unlike a form of official truth, which is not bad, but belongs better with religion and political systems.

In such a position, I find it very edifying to learn more about science as a practice and a method (it shouldn't be much more than that), and Rupert's book sheds a lot of light in that direction. I think skepticism about science is as healthy as it is about any other topic.

This book explores a number of assumptions taken for granted. It's understandable that it upsets many. Those who aren't devout "skeptics", though, will find in it a source of light that helps bring about a better perspective of science.

The reason I'm not giving this a 5 is that the book is a little distracted. Rupert brings up his own theory as alternative explanations where current materialistic approaches don't fit, and that of course triggers my own doubts. I don't think his theory is wrong (I haven't read it), I just think that it does not belong in this book. The greatest value of this book is the questions it poses, not answers it may propose.

A classic

Sheldrake sweeps through all areas of established science, giving a thorough rundown of the dogma that scientists mostly unknowingly labor under. He gives a kind but unforgivingly honest view of the current state of affairs in academia, which is one of strict conformism and is conditionally accepting of new ideas. There is a vast conspiracy of silence with regard to observer-influenced phenomena in scientific studies which belies the aforementioned dogmatic ideological framework of materialism/physicalism. Without true reasoned debate, the sciences will flounder.

There will not be any true scientific advancement without a more holistic and interrelated study of natural phenomena. Maintaining the status quo will only serve to keep the current exploitative and unsustainable systems of labor and economy in force and depletion of natural resources an ever present threat. With the Western sciences placed as the epitome of objective knowledge of our world among all societies, it becomes incumbent upon all of academia and laypeople of all walks of life and all cultures to pursue the advancement of a truly holistic understanding of the world.

Finally, he posits the idea of the morphic fields which seems to be an attempt at explaining the vastly interconnected universe in which we live in. It explains parapsychological phenomena, the apparently mysterious self-organizing capabilities of living beings in the formation of organs, bodies, communities, up to planetary and galactic levels of order, and much more. I think this has connections to the Electric Universe theory that is also a similar attempt at formalizing an understanding of the divine force that permeates all living beings and the world around us.

The process of human evolution will need a concerted effort by all to learn and teach others about the ideas that can bring us to a higher and more unified underatanding of the cosmos and humanity's place within it.

Will open up you mind

Would you listen to The Science Delusion again? Why?

Sure, to learn the details again.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Superb reading by Sheldrake himself. The humility and scientific interest can be heard in his voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Important thoughts on science dogmatism

Very important work on thinking critically about whether science became the very dogma it once thought to break. On human arrogance and required humility.