The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion

I was disappointed in this book on science and religion. After reading This is My God, a superb introduction to orthodox Judaism and a beautiful popular theistic apologetic in its own right, I was expecting similar greatness from The Language God Talks. But, in addition to rambling from random point to random point in his recollection of life, Herman Wouk decides to write in a strangely melodramatic style. One example paragraph: “So, outer space breached! The conquest of a new frontier brilliantly begun! Moon voyage dream of stargazers, poets, storytellers down the ages come true! Cold chaste goddess of the night ravished by an outward-bound primate, and fled for all time weeping to the dark side of the moon! Whither now, Homo sapiens? What does NASA do for an encore in space pioneering. Answer, plenty!” <br /><br />By page thirty, Wouk doesn’t seem to have much to say, except that he admires agnostics scientists, he’s bad at math, and calculus is the language God speaks. I’m reading this all and I’m having flashbacks to college, when I abandoned my plan to major in math and was asked sardonically by my academic advisor, a math professor, “And wither shalt thou goeth with thy English major?”<br /><br />A good chunk of the book is spent giving a sort of creative journalistic overview of the history of modern scientific (or perhaps more accurately technological) conquests. This may be fine if you’re primarily interested in the “science” part of the subtitle, but if you’re expecting, as I was, this long prologue to be some kind of a set-up for the grand theme of “science AND religion,” you’ll be let down. At page 68, we finally arrived at what I thought was going to be the point of the book. The rest of the book, I now thought, was going to be a response to the scientist Feynman’s challenge that “the stage” of the universe “is too big for the drama” of God watching “human beings struggle for good and evil.” So, arrival at point! Considerable introduction at length exhausted, profound treatise on science and religion to commence! Wither will Wouk next guide me, expectant reader? Religious, penetrating writer of fiction and theology, poised to glide his pen across awaiting page? What revelations on the theme of science and religion will he now pour forth? Answer, none! <br /><br />By page 92, he is still talking about the book he is GOING to write. Then, for the next several dozen pages after that he rambles about characters in his various books. These, apparently, are “pictures” that are presumably in some way connected to the grand theme of science and religion. I, unfortunately, had trouble grasping the connection. Finally, in the very last chapter, the book partially redeems itself with a conversation of some religious depth between Feynman and Wouk. (Even if it is clearly contrived and not at all believable as an exchange that even two brilliant men would have.) In the end, however, teiku--the question stands. <br /><br />Now, I respect choosing not to answer a possibly unanswerable question, but why write an entire book to say you aren’t going to answer it? And what exactly was the question that Wouk was going to answer but didn’t answer? I’m not even quite sure about that. <br /><br />One good thing did come out of reading this book. As much as I loved This is My God, and as much as I enjoyed Wouk’s novels The Caine Mutiny and Winds of War and War and Remembrance and Aurora Dawn and City Boy, I was simply unaware that Wouk had written a more serious nonfiction work about Judaism titled The Will to Live On. Since he spends a good thirty percent of this book plugging his other books, I now know! And I will be adding it to my to-read list. <br />

Oh, man -- this is going to be a difficult review to write. I often speak half-jokingly of my deep personal love for <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/9020.Herman_Wouk" title="Herman Wouk" rel="noopener">Herman Wouk</a>, as if it's possible to feel an actual connection to an author you've never seen. But having loved <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/113194.Inside__Outside_A_Novel" title="Inside, Outside A Novel by Herman Wouk" rel="noopener">Inside, Outside: A Novel</a>, which Wouk refers to as his "novel-memoir" (the protagonist is clearly similar to Wouk, and his life follows a similar trajectory), I feel as if I know him even though we've never met. That, and Wouk's 90+ age, make me feel not a little twinge of guilt as I get ready to pan this book.<br /><br />Sorry, Herm, and all due respect and all that, but this book just didn't work for me. My brother affectionately calls this book "The Language God Rambles In," and with good reason. I simply couldn't keep track of the train of thought, if there was one. One minute we're talking about the space race, then we're dabbling in theology, a minute later we're giving a spotty history of some scientific discoveries, and then we're reminiscing over the writing and publishing experience of some of Wouk's books and offering some plot summaries, even excerpts. Wha? <br /><br />Skylar's excellent review (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/105613831">http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...</a>) does an fantastic job of capturing the mishmash that is this book, and I recommend that you give it a read. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the book itself, my undying love for Wouk himself notwithstanding.

Herman Wouk has always been one of my favorite writers. I feel in love with the Caine Munity and then felt that I must read his entire ouvre. His books always ranged from romantic to serious with a lot of fine story telling and impeccable research to entertain and inform the reader. <br /><br />I remember being so impressed with his book, This is My God that I had a religious epiphany. I rededicated myself to Judaism and started living a better life. I always am eager for a new book but realizing that Mr. Wouk is now 95 I was worried that I may never get that next book. <br /><br />Yet, just this month we have such a book, The Language of God. This is only the third non-fiction book that Mr. Wouk has written, all three dealing with religion, but I hesitate to label this book about religion as it is so much more. The book is where science meets religion.<br /><br />Mr. Wouk is a famous member of the Modern-Orthodox movement of Judaism. Yet, his books depict scenes in life that many Orthodox Jews would not openly confront. This book is in that vane, he seeks to show just how science and religion are balanced in his own conscience and he does so quite well.<br /><br />The book is Mr. Wouk’s remembrances of the late great scientist, Richard Feynman (a personal favorite of mine as well). Feynman was famously atheist and not really into fiction writing. He believed that the world offered so many mysteries that there was not time to waste on frivolous pursuits such as fiction.<br /><br />I must say that this is a book that is quite timely. There seems to be a resurgence in the Darwin debates. More and more atheists are being published and there has not really been any rational counter argument that does not seem to be faith alone. Mr. Wouk is the first of the rational faithful to write a book on the need for co-existence between the two worlds. <br />

From My Blog...[return][return][return]I did not know what to expect when I began The Language God Talks by Herman Wouk and all I knew prior to beginning the book is that I enjoyed Wouk's earlier works and he not only met, but also quoted my all-time favourite physicist, Richard Feynman. I am pleased to report The Language God Talks exceeded my expectations. Wouk's book, while concise is filled with very large and abstract ideas. Those interested in mathematics and science will probably gain the most insight from The Language God Talks, after all, according to Feynman and others, the language is calculus. Wouk discusses the lengths he goes to talk to the great minds of the century in his quest for a deeper understanding of how religion and science fit together, piecing together history, literature and science. If one is looking for a straightforward answer, this book may disappoint. However, if one is looking for an intellectual book filled with many deep issues to ponder and then render one's own opinion, this is the book to read. Wouk's book, while deceptively trim and simple sounding, is a series of rather complex philosophical, ethical, and straightforward questions as well as his own reflections from serving in WWII. The book offers up no direct answers rather Wouk points the reader towards several relevant, and at times intellectual, examples or in the scientific world, proofs (not to be mistaken with the proof of something). I highly recommend The Language God Talks to anyone who is looking for an intellectual book that will make one think for oneself rather than turning out pat ideology. The Language God Talks would be a lively discussion group book.

Well written and easy to listen to but super hard for me to follow the points being made.

This book isn't what I expected it to be. I'm not sure exactly what I thought it would be, perhaps similar to an excellent drash I once heard in synagogue delivered by a physicist who explained how Genesis mirrors the Big Bang in terms of how the universe was created (first there was darkness, then there was light, etc etc). Or maybe I thought he would clearly explain how he, and the majority of Jews worldwide, myself included, have no problem reconciling science and religion. Science is the explanation of how the universe works, whether or not a G-d created it. <br /><br />He gets close to these explanations several times, but doesn't clearly state them. There were too many digressions into his life and his books, most of which were not relevant. And those that were, a longer re-writing process might possibly have distilled into the cleanly stated truths that I was waiting for. I suspect that at his impressive age Wouk didn't feel he had the time (or the energy?) to distill this work into what I wanted from it. There were still parts I found very interesting, and I think fans of Wouk, especially Jewish ones, will get more from this book than non-fans. It was very interesting to me to glean that he is not strict Orthodox as I had assumed, but more humanist/agnostic in viewpoint as are most of the Jews I've ever met (again, myself included). There are ethical and cultural dimensions to Jewish life that make it easy to be a practicing Jew and not a "believer" in the Christian sense. <br /><br />His inclusion of an excerpt from "War and Remembrance" as an appendix, a passage which moved me to tears once again, is what Wouk says he sees as essence of the Jewish faith: faith that we do not understand the universe or G-d, that we are too small to understand, that we will endure and study and question and keep patiently waiting to see if G-d ever clearly states G-d's own existence and plan. I would have loved to have seen him state that in non-fiction prose—that's what I mean by this book exploring soaring ideas and not following up by explicitly laying them out in clear language. Still, this book both reinvigorated my connection to Judaism and my curiosity about advanced science I will never understand.

Very well written collection of memoirs by a Jewish novelist on his way of balancing science and religion, and the conversations and experiences that led him there. The actual meat of that balance between science and religion rests in the last chapter, but the memoirs along the way are enjoyable and insightful. I think this book would have been more interesting had I read the authors' novels first and therefore been motivated to hear his memoirs, novel excerpts, and explanations, but as my first time reading his works this was not unpleasant. I greatly enjoyed hearing this science versus religion conversation from a Jewish perspective, since so often such a conversation is dominated by Christian and atheist voices. Overall a good, thoughtful, insightful book.

Have you ever been at a party where you only knew one person who invited you and that person was off socializing with other people? You found yourself just sitting there picking up bits and pieces of conversations around you. It is much like tuning a radio and only hearing a word here or there as you zoom by the frequencies. The conversations are about people you do not know and topics that at first sounded interesting but soon you found out that most of what they were saying was either beyond your comprehension or a series of inside jokes or exclusive mutual experiences. That is pretty much what this book was to me. I got about halfway through chapter seven and decided that this was going nowhere and stopped. I suppose if I had more of a history with the author and his works I would be more interested. Herman Wouk has a wonderful writing style, but in this work, it jumped around way too much for my feeble mind to follow. <br /><br />I hate to be defeated by anything, so I will probably suffer through to the end but that will only happen when I am getting ready to put this book on the pile that will eventually get turned in to the local used book store. Hopefully I will get 50 cents for it. I think what happened here is I was expecting some sort of science versus theology presentation which is how this book started but in the end it was just a collection of reminiscing about his journey and how he wrote his other books.<br /><br />Sorry Herman, but I did not like most of it.

The Language GOD Talks - On Science and Religion by Herman Wouk. Wait, isn't that the guy who wrote Winds of War, and War and Remembrance? I remember the movies, too. And the language GOD talks is...calculus...so says Richard Feynman, someone who doesn't believe in God....or does he? I remember reading the memoir of that wacky genius Feynman, too. <br /><br />Like Wouk's character in the concentration camp, hungrily anticipating Jastrow's last words trying to make meaning of their suffering, I gobbled up this book and was left with an appetite to read all of Wouk's works. I got to meet the brains behind the books, got a glimpse of the author's process, his hidden meanings, his writer's memory, his inability to ever learn calculus. I love him for that. History, literature, science, suffering and faith converge to make this tsumani of thought. I want to read it again. I want to read more.

I'm really wishing they'd let us do half stars -- five gradations seems too narrow, not to mention the fact that an overall rating is of what? But the rating system aside, this writing memoir/essay/remembrance is most intriguing when he is recounting his interactions with Richard Feynman. Really this is a book about language, the language of the story teller versus the language of the scientist. The title comes from a quip from Feynman, calling Calculus the language god talks. Wouk takes the position that narrative is the language god talks and the religious language of story supersedes science. But Wouk admits never understanding Calculus, which is maybe the ultimate irony, since Calculus is about limits -- driving towards infinity but never quite getting there.