Dialogues with Scientists and Sages by Renee Weber: book review

Dialogues with Scientists and Sages: The Search for Unity (1986) is a compilation of the views of prominent mathematicians, physicists, biologists, philosophers and spiritual identities. Topics include space, time, matter, energy, life, death, creativity, inspiration, as well as mathematics and science.

Each chapter presents a separate individual and their views, either through interview questions and responses, or written directly by the identity.

These include British quantum physicist David Bohm (1917-1992) whose focus was on understanding the nature of reality in general and of consciousness in particular; German-born Tibetan monk Lama Govinda (1898-1985) on Buddhism; Russian-born Belgium physical chemist Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003), the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry (1977); British-born Indian Benedictine monk and mystic Fr. Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) on Christianity and Hinduism; British biologist Rupert Sheldrake (1942-) on his views of parapsychology; His Holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama of Tibet (1935-); British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking (1942-) on space, time, and cosmology; and Indian sage Jiddu Krishnamurti (1929-).

Due to the conversations, interviews, dialogues, and articles being of considerable length for each dignitary, Weber’s compilation is therefore limited in the range of people representing different nationalities, races, cultures, backgrounds, religions, and gender. Unfortunately there were no further editions. However, it contributes significantly to the debate about science and religion.

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