Skylight Books, Los Angeles, 8/24/2007

I decide to branch out further in my quest for common sense in science shelving by visiting Skylight Books in Los Feliz, LA. Before entering the store I notice a cat curled up sleeping in the window. This turned out to be a good omen. Cats = Good. Independent bookstores = Good. Cats + Independent bookstores = Fan-bloody-tastic.



This was a small bookstore, so I wasn't surprised to find a small science section. However, not only did I not find a single Intelligent Design nonscience book, but it was packed with great books from Darwin to Gould, Dawkins to Mayr - along with some interesting-looking physics books. The only way you'd know creationism existed in this science section was an Ayala's Darwin's Gift: to Science and Religion.


So, I liked the cosy bookstore cat. I liked the intelligently-designed science section. I especially liked the organization of the store, placing "Nature/Science" next to "Lesbian". This resulted in a little lesbian-creep into science, with a compilation called The New Fuck You: Adventures in Lesbian Reading over the divider into "Science", next to Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee.


Not forgetting my mission to aid bookstores correctly shelve science, I helpfully pop this little lesbian gem into it's proper place.

Moving to the religion section, I saw another fine example of category-clashing, with "Erotica" slap-next to the "Religion/Mythology" shelves.


"Religion/Mythology" is equally well-stocked. The top two shelves are taken up with fairy tales (no comment), and all the ancient holy texts are present, as well as some fascinating tomes dealing with theology and mythology.


Only one ID book is present. The Case for Christ by our familiar friend Lee Strobel.


Since Strobel doesn't even claim to be science, and he always is present in "Religion", I have come to be fond of his non-pseudoscientific books. They are a reminder there is some sanity in this world.

Thoroughly pleased with Skylight books, I make a purchase and head up the road to a coffee shop with free wi-fi to document this successful mission. If you're in LA and want to buy a book - make a beeline to 1818 N. Vermont Avenue and support a great independent bookstore.

~ Ste

The Son Shines on BHB

Aug 16. Irvine, CA.

Having hunted down the elusive Ste (it took weeks, I wouldn't recommend trying it), I managed to convince him to mend his erring ways. Not reshelve books, you say? Hardly. I convinced him to give the clerks at B&N and Borders a well-deserved rest and try one of the other bookstores in OC. And what more natural place to start than the other end of the ID spectrum? We headed down to Sonshine Books in Irvine.


The Idea being, of course, to see how a Christian Bookstore might treat ID books. We were a tad startled by the size of the place, though they sell a good deal more than books. But a first pass through the store came up empty. Then we met Alex, a helpful clerk-cum-theologian who showed us the (small) Creation/Science section. Perhaps not surprisingly, all of the creation science books are in the Creation/Science section. Kudos! These guys are shelving stuff the right way. But far from being lazy biologists, instead of calling it a days work, we took a closer look.

Aside from the accidental but fortunate framing of the photo (which suggests that Creation/Science is a cult or false teachings), the first noticeable feature of this section is the notable lack of books on intelligent design. Where'e Behe? Dembski? Down at the bottom there there's a Strobel book Ste previously found appropriately shelved in the religion section. But none of the big guns.

Just to make sure we weren't missing something, we checked over in bestsellers, but nada. Ste, wary of relinquishing editorial control, moved that last sentence. So don't hold me responsible if it should be above the photo.

Done wrestling over editorial control, we continued to wonder what was up with the lack of ID. My first thought, conspiracy theorist that I am, was that the Discovery Institute or the government or aliens were somehow specifically avoiding selling ID books in Christian bookstores, perhaps to establish a veneer of scientific credibility. But a quick check of the internet tubes finds ID being sold online in Christian bookstores. One can find Behe at christianbooks.com, Dembski at parable.com, and even Campbell at the ever-fundamentalist Michigan State University Press ( no not that Campbell ). OK, OK, to preempt the hate mail and legal battles, I have no idea what other drivel msupress publishes. The point is, Christian booksellers sell ID. So much for conspiracy.

Why then, does Sonshine bookstore not sell the big ID books, the bestsellers, the authors that make it onto Colbert? The short answer is that it's anybody's guess. But, coming back to our friend Alex, we think there are one of two possibilities.

Alex, bless his little cotton socks, endured 10 minutes of conversation with us. And it became clear from talking to him that he wasn't a fan of ID. Though he seemed a conservative Christian, he didn't think there was a conflict between science and religion. One can't test, he posited, whether God is constantly creating. One can't test that the world was created, exactly as we observe it today, 10 minutes ago. He didn't seem at all put off to find out that we were biologists (yes, me too!), and didn't seem to find much conflict between religion and science. In fact, he was rather hostile to the mention of ID or creation science -- anything that tries to mix the two. While he's only a clerk at the store, his attitude was suggestive of the possibility that the store has intentionally avoided ID because of it bastardization of both science and religion. If that's the case, we give Sonshine Books a big two BHB thumbs up!

There is another possibility, one Ste and I personally think the more likely explanation. After perusing the bookstore for some while, it became clear that manliness was an important theme. There were separate sections for boys, teens, and men (we checked, but Dembski wasn't in the boys section either), and gobs of literature about a man's duty to the Lord. As this idea was just occurring to us, the manliest macho evidence possible sprung into being in front of us:


Clearly, these people take machismo seriously. Is it possible, then, that Behe and Demsbki are just not man enough for Sonshine Books? I leave it to you, good reader, to debate this issue. But when considering Intelligent Design, as the mighty Chuck Norris would say "Not in our homes. Not with our kids."

Borders, A different one (promise), 8/06/2007

Now, some people say that Orange County, California is sorely lacking in diversity, and is basically a cultural vacuum. Others say that Orange County is Los Angeles' New Jersey. But I think this is unfair. Just look at the wide variety of bookstores "The OC" enjoys. There's:

Borders, Costa Mesa;
Barnes & Noble, Newport Beach;
Book Soup, Costa Mesa (CLOSED);
Borders, Newport Beach;
Borders, Mission Viejo;
Barnes & Noble, Orange;
Barnes & Noble, Irvine;
Book Baron, Anaheim (CLOSED);
Borders, Tustin;
and not forgetting Borders, Westminster.

I have trouble picking from this embarrassment of riches. So to randomly choose, I set up a map of Southern California on the wall and thrown a dart at it. I come close to obliterating Catalina Island, ending up in the Pacific somewhere. With that in mind I head for Borders in Huntington Beach.

I arrive and make a beeline for "science". In an attempt to widen my mission past the confines of biology, I check out the Astronomy section:


To my delight there is not one problem with the handful books I find. The bookstore has managed to not shelve a single astrology book amongst the science. According to how Intelligent Designista Michael Behe defines science, however, astrology should be considered a scientific theory!

I'm happy that when is comes to the cosmos, this bookstore agrees with science, and not Behe. It seems, though, that this bookstore is mightily confused:


Behe's nonscience (including a copy of Darwin's Black Box) is helpfully relocated to the "Christian Bestsellers" shelf in Religion. They should sell plenty more copies now it's in it pride of place in the correct part of the store:


Note it now shares shelf-space with other intelligent design literature already present by Strobel, and, two shelves down, Dembski's Intelligent Design.

Now, I've seen in other forums on the internets that ID proponents are sometimes labelled "IDiots". Since I believe everything I read on the web, I take this to heart. Look closely, and you'll see Darwin's Black Box next to The Idiot's Guide to The Reformation and Protestantism. I am even doing all the audience-targeting for this store.

I also find a copy of Wells' awful diatribe, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design in biology. This horrible rag doesn't even belong in a bookstore, nevermind in religion.


I remove this nasty tome and reshelve it in politics. I then go and wash my hands.

Another good day's work. Back to the lab to read, write, experiment and generally science-out. Awesome.

~ Ste

Borders, 7/30/2007

I emerge from my hardened command bunker to strike another blow against the forces of stupidity. This time my quest, nay, crusade takes me to Borders in an undisclosed location in Southern California. Shielding my eyes against the piercing glare of the California sunshine, and with gritty determination etched onto my face, I head towards the store.

Let's see how much help Borders needs from this friendly local biologist.

A lot it seems. Behe again:


It really doesn't seem to be selling very well, there's a ton of copies languishing on the shelves. Well, if they were in the correct section of the bookstore, then perhaps people would be buying them! I also try to ignore the proximity to Darwin's Origins because thinking about such scientific sacrilege would only make one angry - and what does Yoda say about anger, kids? Scoffing at Borders' lack of business-sense and lack of shame, these books are helpfully relocated to "Religion". Next!

Earlier today I was browsing the blogs that have kindly (and sometimes not so kindly) linked to this wonderful, altruistic project of mine. I was amused to find one of those links was from William Dembski's blog (a non-evolutionary, non-scientist who is just as bad as Behe, but doesn't sell as many books - link). Even funnier, in typical fashion, the minion that posted about this blog couldn't get her facts straight - what a surprise: "At a blog called “biologists helping bookstores,” a Pasadena-based woman whose handle is Shandon explains how she deliberately misshelved Mike Behe’s Edge of Evolution, and a number of other books - distributing them around the store according to her private tastes."

I remembered this humorous article, and went in search to see how badly the bookstore needed help with Dembski's science-fiction. I couldn't find anything. But, unperturbed, and armed with knowledge of the power of the modern microcomputer, I go and search the store at one of Borders' handy computer stations. Apparently, No Free Lunch was supposed to be in "science". Ah! I found it squeezed in the top corner of the science section:


It's surely not going to sell there, what with it being virtually hidden and mis-categorized. I pick it up and move down to the Theology:Church section to place it where it belongs, where I find a delightful surprise. Another Dembski book, Intelligent Design, is already there!


I place his other book snugly next to it, and Nuns by the mysterious Evangelisti. To see if a secret splinter cell of BHB hasn't already helped Borders, I recheck "Dembski" on the fantastic microcomputer device again. Yep, Borders has his Intelligent Design book in Theology, and No Free Lunch in Science. Borders are clearly a very confused company. I am honored to assist.

Almost hiding on the bottom shelf are two ID books by Jonathan Wells (of the hilarious Discovery Institute), perilously close to Watson's The Double Helix - for frak's sake, have they no shame? These seem to be particularly nasty and specious examples of the nonscience I aim to reclassify.


Before, on my way to the science section, I had a laugh to myself at the "Speculation" section of "New Age" - like they need a subsection. Not being able to stop myself, I helpfully relocate these two books to this far more correct section.


On the far-right of the bottom bookshelf, if you look closely, is also a Pokemon book. I really must train the Junior-Biologist Bookstore Aid Brigade more carefully.

~ Ste

Irvine Barnes & Noble, 7/25/2007

Barnes & Noble in the cultural wastela-, er, heartland of Irvine. I drop by the lone bookstore in the huge outdoor mall, The Spectrum. Bracing myself, I approach the science section.


The science section is tiny, only two small aisles three shelves high, but it doesn't take long to come across a miscategorized book - and it wasn't what I expected. God is not Great by the celebrity atheist Christopher Hitchens.


Seeing as my aim is to re-shelve religion and/or philosophy books to the correct part of the store, I am duty-bound to act. This is a book on atheism from a non-scientist, and it simply does not belong in the science section. Science is a secular process and has nothing to do with the question of the existence, or the non-existence, of a God. It is thus relocated to the Philosophy shelves upstairs. "But what about Dawkins?!" I hear you cry. Dawkins is another well-known atheist, I agree, but he is best known as an evolutionary biologist and his books are strongly evolution-themed.

Let's see what else we can find.

I think I might have picked a bad week to start this quest. Behe's new book must have been just released:


Four copies of The Edge of Evolution were discovered once more in the science section.

I flip a copy and read the back. Here's the beginning of the first quote from the back cover: "Until the past decade and the genomics revolution, Darwin's theory rested on indirect evidence and reasonable speculation..." (Dr. Philip Skell, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at Pennsylvania State University, and member of the National Academy of Sciences). That's not true! I am emboldened by this bare-faced lie from this well-respected elderly chemist, pick up all four copies, and stroll upstairs.

Now, I aim for accuracy in my recategorization, and I was still slightly mad at the lies on the back cover (read the "Editorial Reviews" at Amazon for a sampling), so I sought out the most appropriate section of the store:


Behe's lie-covered volume now rightly resides in the Religious Fiction section (click on the image to see the label). A job well done.

Since the puny science section carried very few science books, there wasn't much other opportunity for other mistakes on behalf of Barnes & Noble. After finishing browsing science, I went to browse the expansive Religion department and got a nice suprise:


A book by Lee Strobel called The Case for a Creator. This book claims to be a scientific investigation on evidence that points to God's existence, and it is shelved correctly in Religion. As I was saying, science is secular, but that doesn't mean it cannot inform people's religion, just as science can inform people's atheism. In fact, it can do this because its a secular process.

How did Barnes & Noble do? Pathetically small science section, the usual Behe books, a non-science atheism book. Not so great. Picked up points with the Strobel book though.

~ Ste

La Jolla Bookstar, 7/20/2007

Bookstar, La Jolla, San Diego. It happens to be Harry Potter release night (hence the big queue). I go and investigate the science section.


An egregious error on behalf of the staff at this popular local haunt has resulted in six copies of Michael Behe's new religion book, The Edge of Evolution, to be set aside books in the "science", and the "evolutionary biology" shelves. Oops! Well, this bookselling company can't be blamed for a little lack of scientific literacy. I mean, it even has the word "evolution" in the title - it must be science, right? Wrong.


I spring into action. Interestingly, their "New Age" section (which, bizarrely, is as large as "science") is in the same aisle as "science", but on the opposite side.

Six copies of Behe's new non-science book are relocated to their rightful place next to Everyday Magic, The Love Spell, and Grimoire for the Green Witch (what is "grimoire" anyway?).



[Note to self: next time place books in alphabetical order by author to further aid bookstore staff.]

I even find a copy of Behe's truly laughable pseudo-science Darwin's Black Box in the "evolutionary biology section"! After chuckling a geeky chuckle for a few seconds it is also helpfully relocated - this time next to the far more appropriate Pop! Goes the Witch - A Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft.

After a thorough scan of the remaining science shelves for other blatant nonsense, I find it all in good order. Mission accomplished. Apart from the Behe error, Bookstar La Jolla did ok.

~ Ste

The start of something beautiful

What's all this about then?

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but some bookstores seem to have a little problem discerning science from non-science.  I'm specifically talking about biology books vs. creationist books.  Sometimes, you will find psuedo-scientific rubbish such as "intelligent design" books next to such authors as Darwin, Mayr, Gould, et al.

Now, before you get all worked-up and charge into your local bookstore demanding to see the manager, pause to realise just how successful creationism has been in blurring the lines of what science actually is in the public's eye.  So successful, in fact, that books whose main argument is that "God did it" enjoy shelf-space with some of the finest minds ever to grace humanity.

This is unacceptable, and something must be done.  Booksellers are not scientists, maybe we shouldn't expect them to be able to discern between science and books desperately trying to wrap themselves in scientific credibility.  I, however, am a scientist - and I can clearly see when an error has been made when stocking the shelves of the science section.

It is my mission to correctly re-shelve books to the appropriate section of the bookstore.  

For example, "Darwin's Black Box", the famous psuedo-science book by the non-evolutionary non-scientist Michael Behe, should not be in the "Evolutionary Biology" section, but something more appropriate, such as "New Age", "Religion", "Christianity", or even "Fiction".  You get the idea.

I call on all readers of this blog to follow my example.  Help your local bookstore correctly stock their science section.  Spread the word.

~ Ste