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Review title: Science is bang-on accurate; philosophically stimulating
Product review: One (anonymous) reviewer below tries to take Sawyer to task for discussing flagella (the whipping apendages on cells) in two different contexts, acknowledging not only Michael Behe's concerns about irreducible complexity, but also Lynn Marguilis idea that complex cells formed from various simpler life forms working in concert (an idea Sawyer himself explored in a very different way in his wonderful STARPLEX [Ace, 1996]). But looking at both sides like this is the WHOLE POINT of CALCULATING GOD. Sawyer's goal is clearly to promote dialog, and to show the strenghts and weaknesses both of intelligent design (not creationism, as the other reviewer wrongly stated) and neo-Darwinism. That he can engage in such a dialoge while still telling a literate, captivating story is very much to Sawyer' credit. This book is Hugo Award calibre, and I'd be surprised not to see it on next year's ballot.
