Monday, August 11, 2008

Peer Review .. Plus Other Notes

Last week, two full years after I submitted my Master's thesis for publication, my paper was submitted to the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. That means I will be facing the dreaded PEER REVIEW soon! I have to say that defending my thesis was one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had, so I am NOT looking forward to this. This will probably reinforce my decision to NOT go for my Ph.D.!

In other news...

I think I should make Bilbo my agent. I get a review of The Design Matrix posted at Telic Thoughts and EE becomes THE place to comment! It almost makes me want to place ads at the asylum, but I don't think I'm ready to be a "blog whore" yet. ;) Thanks to all the new (and old) commenters. Your views and comments are respected and appreciated.

I have posted 4 reviews of The Design Matrix, and I find it interesting that the only post that has NO comments is on the Explanatory Continuum. Does this mean we're ready to discard the Traditional Template and enter a new phase of the age-old debate?

Thank you all for voting on the poll. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis won over Endless Forms Most Beautiful by a mere two votes. OK, I'll admit, one of those votes was mine, so technically Denton's book won by 1 vote.

That said, I am in a little bit of a bind. I find myself wanting to either take a break from reading evo/ID books, or just setting aside Punctuated Equilibrium and Edge of Evolution for something I am more currently interested in reading.

5 comments:

  1. If I knew that you were gonna vote, I wouldn't have bothered :-) If Denton's book is what you wanted to read, just read it!

    I do have a book recommendation for you that is outside those books you seem to be considering. But it is short, and focuses on the science rather than on the religion.

    Doubting Darwin, by Sahotra Sarkar, is the best book on the evolution/ID controversy that I have ever read (and I've read pretty much all of them). Sarkar is both a philosopher and a biologist, with the additional credential of being able to explain mathematical arguments in a truly cogent manner. Read this book. Please.

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  2. "If Denton's book is what you wanted to read, just read it!"

    To me it was essentially a toss-up between the top two. I threw in Your Inner Fish for kicks.

    I shall look at Doubting Darwin, hopefully sometime in the future. Thanks for the recommendation

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  3. I shall look at Doubting Darwin, hopefully sometime in the future. Thanks for the recommendation

    Put it on a "wish list" at Amazon and I'll buy it for you.

    Yeah, it's that good.

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  4. If I was more of a computer geek, I'd type symbols for a "shocked" face ;)

    Do you want to "donate" the money for that book directly to EE? ;P

    Those "emoticons" are the current limit of my geek-itude

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  5. Do you want to "donate" the money for that book directly to EE?

    Sure, as long as you use it to buy the book and then read it sometime.

    Do you have a collection basket? What is the preferred mechanism?

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