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Rating: 
Summary: BUY THIS BOOK
Review: Every now and then, a Christian book comes along that's an instant classic -- a book that winds up on every evangelical bookshelf in the nation -- a book like "Knowing God" or "Evidence That Demands a Verdict."I'm pretty sure "More Than Meets the Eye" will be one such book. Swenson believes that science actually supports religion -- that it shows us there is in fact a deity, undeniably so; that only a blind man or an idiot could think otherwise in view of the amazing complexity of our world; and, for those already convinced about God, his book also demonstrates that most of us have a concept of God that is pathetically small and inadequate. Tackling such topics as the human body, outer space, and subatomic physics, Swenson amasses such a dazzling array of facts and insights that you can start reading on almost any page and find it very tough to put down. This is the kind of book you buy for everyone you know, believer and unbeliever alike. It's absolutely fascinating, and essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Irresistible!
Review: I began this book with a certain cynicism. I heard the author on the radio, found him to be both brilliant and enjoyable, so I bought the book. One problem: I've never enjoyed things scientific. Wow, what a great surprise! This book presents what I'll call "intimate science" so engagingly that I soon dropped my long-held objection to reading about science and enjoyed the read. As a believer, I most appreciated the deeper understanding of the limitlessness of God which this book fosters. (I find it amazing that the "official" reviewer of this book suggests that Swenson stretches credulity when he asserts that God could hear a billion prayers at once! She has missed the key point which leaps from these pages: God is without limits -- we view him through the eyes of finite mortality.) If you are a "seeker" -- read this book. If you like science -- read this book. If you don't like science but love theology and genuinely good writing -- read this book. If you are trying to develop a stronger "apologia" for the faith -- read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Love-Hate
Review: I had a love-hate relationship with this book. Its content is really fascinating; it collects amazing facts and anecdotes about everything from the human body to modern research in physics. But its writing style was ludicrously and distractingly over-Christian; I groaned audibly at the segue from a discussion of the mysterious dynamics of the inner ear to a reminder that we should use our ears to listen because "softly and tenderly Jesus is calling." So cheesy and unnecessary! The fascinating details of anatomy and molecular function are pure theology and need no superficial pseudo-spiritual commentary to make them "Christian," and I can't recommend this book to many people for that reason. I found its content riveting and compelling in SPITE of the writing style.
Rating:
Summary: Read with caution...
Review: I started to read this book and immediately loved it, but by the end, I was a little bit annoyed by the author seeming to miss his entire point in some passages. There are many good points about the book, but there are equally as many bad points. All in all, the book is in the middle. I wouldn't recommend it, but I won't tell you not to get it either. Here are a few things I noticed about it--good and bad, and whether it sounds like it's worth the read (and the money) is up to you. Good points---The author's goal was to show the sovereignty and power of God in science, and I applaud him for that, because I agree whole-heartedly with it! He did a great job in many places on showing the complexity of creation, and he really got my attention in a lot of his chapters. He does not get technical, or boring, in fact, he makes science interesting, and he incorporates his messages on what it should teach us about God very well, most of the time. Over all, you can't walk away from the book without at least a sense of the sovereignty of God in creation, and you can't walk away from some chapters without realizing the awesome power of the Lord. Bad points---There are many times and places where the author talks about theories as if they were facts. I walked away with a few pieces of information and soon found that there was little proof for them, or that there was not so sound a case as he had put down. This is probably because the book is designed for average, ordinary people, not people who want to hear every argument against everything he talks about and the way that scientists derived every little bit of information. I really didn't want to read this book to encounter a bunch of arguing about theories either, and I appreciated that he left that out. However, he took it too far and went to the point that he distorted a few things in science (as far as the average person reading it would take it to mean). The other bad point about this book, which is what I found intolerable, is that he begins to limit God with science, which is the exact opposite of what the book is intended to do! For example, on his chapter about the Brain and the Nervous System, he talks about a machine that scientists are trying to create that reads people's minds by tracing their brain waves. Here is the portion of his book where I think he erred: "I have never personaly stumbled over this issue of God's ESP, nor entertained doubts. But I have from time to time wondered, "How does He do it?" Now we have perhaps the beginnings of a mechanism in biophysics that explains one possible scenario that God could use, should He choose to do so. (And this is not to say that God in fact needs such a mechanism.)" Then he elaborates on that thought. Now, I realize that he does acknowledge that God doesn't need such a mechanism, as he puts it, but if not, then why go into it? The fact is that if we always have to have evidence even where evidence is not needed, as he admits it, we start to rely on sight instead of faith. We begin to look for a scientific way that God does everything. That becomes apparent when he is talking about Einstein's theory of relativity, and how time stops at the speed of light. He wonders whether God will speed us up to the speed of light in the New Jerusalem to stop time, slow us down when he wants us to go forward in time, and go even faster than the speed of light when He wants to go backwards in time. Now, for me, that starts to sound as if God is beginning to be put into scientific boundaries, even if the author does say that these things aren't needed. We start to expect God to work within science and forget about the fact that even science is subject to God. He created light and science and is completely outside of it, as well as time. I know that the author agrees with that, and he doesn't put God within any boundaries (I assume), but his writings could easily influence some people to do so, which is exactly the opposite of what he intended. The only complaint I have with the author himself and not with the book itself, is where in one passage he interprets a matter spoken of in Scripture with science rather than Scripture, and as could be expected when this is done, the outcome he reaches is Biblically incorrect. He tries to explain away predestination when explaining time and how God could see into the future without breaching the laws of science. This is a Biblical matter and not a scientific one. I believe in complete sovereignty of God, including the sovereignty of God in salvation, and I believe in predestination because it's what I've found in the Bible. The tendency in his book to explain religious matters with science should be taken into consideration when reading it. May God bless his people!
Rating:
Summary: Read with caution...
Review: I started to read this book and immediately loved it, but by the end, I was a little bit annoyed by the author seeming to miss his entire point in some passages. There are many good points about the book, but there are equally as many bad points. All in all, the book is in the middle. I wouldn't recommend it, but I won't tell you not to get it either. Here are a few things I noticed about it--good and bad, and whether it sounds like it's worth the read (and the money) is up to you. Good points---The author's goal was to show the sovereignty and power of God in science, and I applaud him for that, because I agree whole-heartedly with it! He did a great job in many places on showing the complexity of creation, and he really got my attention in a lot of his chapters. He does not get technical, or boring, in fact, he makes science interesting, and he incorporates his messages on what it should teach us about God very well, most of the time. Over all, you can't walk away from the book without at least a sense of the sovereignty of God in creation, and you can't walk away from some chapters without realizing the awesome power of the Lord. Bad points---There are many times and places where the author talks about theories as if they were facts. I walked away with a few pieces of information and soon found that there was little proof for them, or that there was not so sound a case as he had put down. This is probably because the book is designed for average, ordinary people, not people who want to hear every argument against everything he talks about and the way that scientists derived every little bit of information. I really didn't want to read this book to encounter a bunch of arguing about theories either, and I appreciated that he left that out. However, he took it too far and went to the point that he distorted a few things in science (as far as the average person reading it would take it to mean). The other bad point about this book, which is what I found intolerable, is that he begins to limit God with science, which is the exact opposite of what the book is intended to do! For example, on his chapter about the Brain and the Nervous System, he talks about a machine that scientists are trying to create that reads people's minds by tracing their brain waves. Here is the portion of his book where I think he erred: "I have never personaly stumbled over this issue of God's ESP, nor entertained doubts. But I have from time to time wondered, "How does He do it?" Now we have perhaps the beginnings of a mechanism in biophysics that explains one possible scenario that God could use, should He choose to do so. (And this is not to say that God in fact needs such a mechanism.)" Then he elaborates on that thought. Now, I realize that he does acknowledge that God doesn't need such a mechanism, as he puts it, but if not, then why go into it? The fact is that if we always have to have evidence even where evidence is not needed, as he admits it, we start to rely on sight instead of faith. We begin to look for a scientific way that God does everything. That becomes apparent when he is talking about Einstein's theory of relativity, and how time stops at the speed of light. He wonders whether God will speed us up to the speed of light in the New Jerusalem to stop time, slow us down when he wants us to go forward in time, and go even faster than the speed of light when He wants to go backwards in time. Now, for me, that starts to sound as if God is beginning to be put into scientific boundaries, even if the author does say that these things aren't needed. We start to expect God to work within science and forget about the fact that even science is subject to God. He created light and science and is completely outside of it, as well as time. I know that the author agrees with that, and he doesn't put God within any boundaries (I assume), but his writings could easily influence some people to do so, which is exactly the opposite of what he intended. The only complaint I have with the author himself and not with the book itself, is where in one passage he interprets a matter spoken of in Scripture with science rather than Scripture, and as could be expected when this is done, the outcome he reaches is Biblically incorrect. He tries to explain away predestination when explaining time and how God could see into the future without breaching the laws of science. This is a Biblical matter and not a scientific one. I believe in complete sovereignty of God, including the sovereignty of God in salvation, and I believe in predestination because it's what I've found in the Bible. The tendency in his book to explain religious matters with science should be taken into consideration when reading it. May God bless his people!
Rating:
Summary: Love-Hate
Review: This book does a wonderful job of pointing out miracles of God as discovered by modern science. Swenson presents the complexity of the universe from a Christian world-view and masterfully mixes orthodox commentaries into his discussions of human anatomy and physiology, and modern physics. Multiple scientific thoughts are explained well enough to be understandable and intriguing but without the intricate detail of a science textbook. This book is very edifying for Christians with a passion for science and technology and would likely be a good evangelism tool for presenting a Christian world-view to a scientist or engineer that does not yet know the Lord.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating blend of science and theology
Review: This book does a wonderful job of pointing out miracles of God as discovered by modern science. Swenson presents the complexity of the universe from a Christian world-view and masterfully mixes orthodox commentaries into his discussions of human anatomy and physiology, and modern physics. Multiple scientific thoughts are explained well enough to be understandable and intriguing but without the intricate detail of a science textbook. This book is very edifying for Christians with a passion for science and technology and would likely be a good evangelism tool for presenting a Christian world-view to a scientist or engineer that does not yet know the Lord.
Rating:
Summary: Start your journey here
Review: This book will take you to the smallest known reaches of science and in the process expand your horizons exponentially. Don't be fooled into thinking scientists know everything there is to know for the deeper they dig, the less the established laws of science apply. There are dimensions where the concept of Jesus being here, there and everywhere become relevant and what we consider possible and impossible is thrown on its ear. Properly applied, the study of physics is a gateway to the realm of the Divine and this is the book to start you on your journey. --Moza.
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