As a PhD scientist and a Christian I'm always very interested in the combination of faith and science and how others find that balance. The description of Cranley's book intrigued me because it seemed like he would take a tour of different fields and see how God and science can exist together. However, the description of the book was not fully accurate.

Cranley talks about the 'God of reason' and other Christian concepts in the book description, but in reading the book his overall focus is more on monotheism with brief asides into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It felt like false marketing to go into this book thinking it was from a Christian perspective and it was not. The last chapter of the book Cranley makes a case for why he believes in Christianity, but it feels like an aside. The book was also heavily philosophical which I did not expect and it detracted from the Cranley extrapolating on science and religion.

Throughout the book, Cranley presents science first and monotheism second which indicates he's interpreting monotheism through the lens of science. It doesn't feel as much that God created science than science informs how we think about God. Cranley also makes a lot of strong statements that make it sound like he's an authority in all of the fields he talks about when he isn't an authority in biology, cosmology, and philosophy.

Overall, I was disappointed with this book and its misleading advertising. If the description had been followed and more acknowledgement included of Cranley's expertise areas versus those he was speculating on I would have enjoyed it more.

The first part of the book spends a lot of time on ancient philosophy, like the ideas of Plato and Aristotle. It felt a bit heavy to read, but it helped me understand the background. The second part, which talks about the Big Bang, evolution, and the Bible, felt a bit rushed, but it still gave me new things to think about.

The book doesn’t really explain how “the God of reason created science in His image,” but it’s a good place to start if you’re curious about that idea.

This book centered a lot more around philosophy than I expected. I have never viewed this topic from a philosophical perspective and found this very interesting.
The part that centered around science were well done and understandable for those, who have no experience with the topic. I would have wished the author to go more into depth for some topics.
The fables at the beginning of each chapter were not necessary for me personally, but I think a lot of readers will enjoy them. They certainly break up the non-fiction topics and give a short break between more theoretical descriptions.
I also enjoyed the quick nod to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.