In The Unofficial Guide to Cosmos, contributors Casey Luskin, Jay W. Richards, Douglas Ell, and David Klinghoffer dissect each episode of the new series and explain where Tyson veers from objective science to science-flavored, fact-challenged preaching. Students, parents, and teachers will find this lively compendium a useful counterpoint.

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What They Are Saying

“If there were an international award for continuing to focus on and document cultural and political threats to basic human life and potential–I emphasize human—the winner would be Wesley J. Smith… [In The War on Humans] Smith has now written a riveting expose of this multi-dimensional assault on human beings that for life saving reasons—I kid you not—must be read by human beings beyond their political, religious, and all other affiliations.”

—Nat Hentoff, Syndicated Columnist

“The War on Humans is terrific. Within the world of benign and admirable conservation and ecological-awareness organizations, an irrational and misanthropic ideology has metastasized that in its fanaticism is as dangerous as the fascist and communist crusades of the past century. In The War on Humans, Wesley Smith succinctly exposes the ‘philosophy’ and the aims of this movement, cites its deep unreason, and brilliantly extrapolates the horrors inevitable should it triumph. Sincere conservationists should be concerned if only because anti-humanist thinking has the power, in the social and economic destruction it would create, to discredit even those with humane and reasonable goals of conservation, preservation, clean water, and clean air.”

—Dean Koontz, Bestselling Novelist

“It used to be said of certain kinds of scientific utopians that they loved humanity, but didn’t like any actual humans. Now many scientific utopians don’t even like humanity. Wesley Smith grasps the dangerous paradox of thinkers whose first step in exalting nature is to attack human nature. In order for nature to have ‘rights,’ it has become necessary for humans to have none. This is always the first step toward tyrannical dehumanization of real human beings. We owe much to Wesley Smith for keeping vigil against this deeply anti-human strain of modern thought, for issuing another timely warning before it is too late to avoid another self-inflicted humanitarian catastrophe.”

—Steven Hayward,
Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy, Pepperdine University School of Public Policy

In addition to several essays by Stephen Meyer, Debating Darwin’s Doubt also includes contributions from biologists Richard Sternberg, Douglas Axe, and Ann Gauger; philosopher of biology Paul Nelson; mathematicians William Dembski and David Berlinski; and Center for Science and Culture research coordinator Casey Luskin. In more than forty chapters, these contributing authors explore topics such as orphan genes, cladistics, small shelly fossils, protein evolution, the length of the Cambrian explosion, the God-of-the-Gaps objection to intelligent design, and criticisms raised by proponents of theistic evolution. Anyone who wants to understand the cutting-edge of current scientific debates over modern Darwinian theory needs to read this book.

The Anonymous Us Project 2012 is a report from The Anonymous Us Project, which seeks to serve as a safety zone for real and honest opinions about reproductive technologies and family fragmentation. The project aims to share the experiences of voluntary and involuntary participants in these technologies, while preserving the dignity and privacy of the storytellers and their loved ones.

The Anonymous Us Project aims to fill out the conversation on reproductive technologies. The hope is that it will inspire more truth and transparency and help shape healthier families and happier people. Find out more at AnonymousUs.org.

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Alana S. Newman grew up in and around San Francisco, California. She is an art-school dropout, a musician, a writer, and recently—a mother. She lives in Brooklyn with her Swedish ex-pat husband and daughter and enjoys live music, reading books about gender dynamics, working out in Prospect Park, and preaching the virtues and structural advantages of the traditional nuclear family.

If you need someone to talk to directly about donor-conception, Alana is available privately through Ether and can be reached by dialing: 1-888-MY-ETHER (1-888-69-38437), ext. 04560630.

Ann Gauger is senior research scientist at Biologic Institute. She received her Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Douglas Axe is director of Biologic Institute and received his Ph.D. from Caltech. He previously held postdoctoral and research scientist positions at Cambridge University and the Babraham Institute. Casey Luskin is research coordinator at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He earned his M.S. in earth sciences from the University of California, San Diego, and conducted geological research at the Scripps Institution for Oceanography.

John G. West is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. He is co-editor of The C. S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia and author of The Politics of Revelation and Reasonand Darwin Day in America. He has been interviewed by major media outlets including Newsweek, USA Today, and the New York Times, and CNN, FoxNews, and C-SPAN. He holds a Ph.D. in government from Claremont Graduate University and he formerly was the chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at Seattle Pacific University.

2011 Almanac of Environmental Trends is a “reboot” of a stale franchise—the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, which since 1994 has reported highlights of environmental trends in the United States.

Steven F. Hayward is senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute and the F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in American studies and an M.A. in government from Claremont Graduate School, and has been a visiting professor at Georgetown and Ashland universities. He writes frequently on a wide range of topics, including environmentalism, law, economics, and public policy. His work has appeared in such publications as National Review, Reason, The Weekly Standard, the Claremont Review of Books, and Policy Review. His most recent book is Mere Environmentalism.

The Acton Institute is a non-profit, ecumenical think tank working internationally to “promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.”  With offices in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Rome, Italy, as well as affiliates in four othr nations around the world, the Acton Institute is uniquely positioned to comment on e sound economic and moral foundations necessary to sustain humane environmental and societal policies.

The Commission on Children at Risk is a group of thirty-three children’s doctors, research scientists, and mental health and youth service professionals.  It is an independent, jointly-sponsored initiative of the YMCA of the USA, Dartmouth Medical School, and the Institute for American Values.  The Commission’s principal investigator is Kathleen A. Kovner Kline of Dartmouth Medical School.

In the century and a half since Charles Darwin first proposed his theory of evolution, Christians, Jews, and other religious believers have grappled with how to make sense of it. Most have understood that Darwin’s theory has profound theological implications, but their responses have varied dramatically.

Some religious believers have rejected it outright; others, often called “theistic evolutionists,” have sought to reconcile Darwin’s theory with their religious beliefs, but often at the cost of clarity, orthodoxy, or both. Too few have carefully teased out the various scientific, philosophical, and theological claims at stake, and separated the chaff from the wheat. As a result, the whole subject of God and evolution has been an enigma wrapped in a shroud of fuzz and surrounded by blanket of fog.

The purpose of this anthology of essays is to clear away the fog, the fuzz, and the enigma. Contributing authors to the volume include Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery; Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design; William Dembski, author of The Design Revolution; Jonathan Witt, co-author of A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature; Denyse O’Leary, author of By Design, or by Chance?; and David Klinghoffer , author of Shattered Tablets.

Dr. Jay Richards is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and Director of Research for the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. His previous books include The Privileged Planet; Money, Greed, and God; The Untamed God; and Are We Spiritual Machines? Dr. Richards holds a Ph.D. (with honors) in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. His work has been covered in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal; and he has appeared on many national radio and TV programs.