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Dawkins & Shermer in SF CA

rgann

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I just came across these announcements and wanted to make sure fellow Bay area Skeptics knew about them.

Richard Dawkins will be speaking in SF on Oct 30 2006 at the Palace of Fine ArtsTheatre.

cityarts.net/n.dawkins.html (i cant post full URLs yet)

Michael Shermer will be speaking in SF Sunday, September 10th, 4–6 pm at
Cody’s Books, 2 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA

Rick
 
I saw this, this morning as well, but didn't think to post it here. Good thinking rgann.

I am hoping the currently scheduled West coast book signing tour gets extended to other areas of the country, like DFW for example.
 
SkeptiKilt said:
Does anyone have a link to Michael's book tour scedule?
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No, but I got an email today with his west coast schedule
Michael Shermer’s
West Coast book tour

Over the next two weeks, Dr. Michael Shermer will be speaking at the following venues and signing copies of his latest book Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design. Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Lecture Series at Caltech. He is the author of Science Friction, The Science of Good and Evil, How We Believe, Why People Believe Weird Things, In Darwin’s Shadow, Denying History, and The Borderlands of Science.
MENLO PARK
Saturday, September 9th, 7:30–9 pm
Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Contact Pam Grange | 650-856-0978 | pam@keplers.com
SAN FRANCISCO
Sunday, September 10th, 4–6 pm
Cody’s Books, 2 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
Contact Melissa Mytinger | 415-773-0444 | melissa@codysbooks.com
PORTLAND
Monday, September 11th, 7:30–9 pm
Powell’s Burnside, 1005 West Burnside, Portland, OR 97209
Contact Michal Drannen | 503-228-4651 x5889 | michal.drannen@powells.com
SEATTLE
Tuesday, September 12th, 7:30–9 pm
presented by Elliott Bay Book Co. at
Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Avenue, Seattle 98101, phone 206-652-4255
Contact Karen Maeda Allman | 206-624-6600 | kmallman@elliottbaybook.com
There will be a $5 charge at the door for this event, to pay for the Town Hall venue.
DENVER
Thursday, September 14th, 7:30–9 pm
Tattered Cover Bookstore, 1628 16th Street, Denver, CO 80202
Contact Margaret Maupin | 303-322-1965 x1269 | mmaupin@tatteredcover.com
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He will also be at Harvard on 10 October
COMING: OCT. 10
THE SKEPTIC
We Humanists celebrate Free Thought throughout the month of October. Its antithesis is, of course, Dogma, in all its various disguises. One of those is Creationism. Amazing, is it not, that two-thirds of all Americans believe Creationism should be taught in our classrooms?

To counter this gross misperception, Michael Shermer, editor of The Skeptic, will speak for us in Hall D of the Science Center on Tuesday evening, October 10 at 6 PM. He has entitled his new book, Why Darwin Matters, published by Times Books.

Here are the words of a prominent reviewer, ScienceReport.net speaking about the book: Darwin spent 22 years struggling with the question of whether to publish his findings. After all, if species could evolve through natural selection, what place was there for God? In 1859, he finally published On the Origin of Species, and only because another researcher, Alfred Russel Wallace, independently came up with the theory of natural selection and was considering publishing it.

Shermer opens with the definitions of a scientific theory, the historical context in which Darwin introduced his theory, and the main tenants of the theory of evolution. He also introduces the foundations of the Intelligent Design philosophy- theologian William Paley's famous watchmaker argument. The 1802 philosophy posited that if you found a watch on the ground, you'd know that it must have a maker because of its complexity. Similarly, because the world is complex, it must have had a designer - God. Both Paley and Darwin sought to explain the world around them, but [while Paley took a top down, religious approach, Darwin started from the bottom with natural selection.] The religious community latched on to Paley's arguments. After much debate, the scientific community went with Darwin.

Shermer provides numerous examples of how 21st Century scientists know evolution happened and how they test their hypotheses. He then tackles the question of why people don't accept evolution, pulling from a speech William Jennings Bryan was set to make, but never did, during the Scopes Trial of 1925 - that evolution implies that there is no God, that it leads to atheism and a life without morality or meaning. Most people don't care about the basic tenets of evolution or the evidence supporting it. They're more upset with the notion that accepting evolution would somehow degrade our humanity and leave us Godless and immoral.

Shermer tries to do three things here: explain why evolution is considered science and intelligent design is not, defend science from those people who want to change its very definition to suit their religious needs, and he shows how you can still believe in God and accept evolution. (This last argument will be of special interest to many of us atheists in the Humanist Community).

(N.B. A Cautionary Word. At press time, this meeting’s precise details were not fully confirmed. Please check on time and place. Call 617.547.1497).
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Julia Sweeney will be at Harvard on 26 October
COMING: OCT.26
HUMANIST COMEDIAN
Julia Sweeney “knocked our socks off.” It happened at the AHA Conference in Tampa last May. Never have I seen a Humanist audience laugh so hard and applaud so long as when we heard Julia Sweeney’s one-woman show, “Letting Go of God.” Her depiction of incidents leading up to her departure from the Catholic Church were so accurate, human, sensitive, and funny we were left gasping at her skill.

Her first break came with appearances on Saturday Night Live
(1990-1994) Soon after she won a hard fought battle with cervical cancer and created a one-woman monologue on Broadway, God said, Ha! to great critical acclaim, turning a sad and difficult experience into a humorous, insightful monologue. It won a Grammy nomination for best comedy album. Also drawn from her experience was a show on adoption, In the Family Way.

The Humanist writes: “Her most recent one-woman show, Letting Go of God, chronicles her journey from Catholic faith to philosophical naturalism in a comical and thought-provoking yet inoffensive manner. On May 13, 2006, Julia Sweeney received the Humanist Pioneer Award from the AHA for her courage in challenging religion and her willingness to publicly express a forthright secular and humanistic outlook in her performances and public life” Now, Julia Sweeney is coming to Sanders Theatre under the auspices of the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard on Thursday, October 26, 8 PM. For tickets, you may call the Harvard Box Office at 617.496.2222.This show will raise necessary funds for Greg Epstein’s fine work for Humanism on this nation’s premier campus.
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Did anyone else catch Dr. Shermer in SF?

I didn't see anyone that looked familier (other than Shermer).
 
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