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According to a chapter in the forthcoming book, The American University in a Postsecular Age, about the secularization of universities in America, professors in American institutions aren't nearly as anti-God as they're often portrayed. Make no mistake, as a group professors are more atheistic/agnostic than the American public, but the numbers aren't terribly lopsided. According to the chapter in the book by Gross and Simmons, their survey found 23.4% of professors are atheist or agnostic, compared to roughly 7% in the general US population. The percentage of atheists is higher in elite institutions (37%), but so is the percentage of those professors claiming to believe in God (33%) or "Believe in Higher Power or God some of the time" (29%). The rate of professors who believe in God is higher at community and 4-year colleges. Interestingly, professors in my own field of Psychology have the highest percentage of atheists/agnostics along with Biology (61%). Frankly, I expected to see Philosophy up there, too, if not higher. Not surprisingly, the disciplines with the highest rates of belief in God are the non-scientific ones like accounting, finance, elementary education, criminal justice, nursing, etc. 

I was able to find a draft of the chapter by Gross and Simmons (the latter is from George Mason, by the way) describing this survey and its results. There was a short summary published in Harvard Magazine this past summer (Gross is from Harvard). 

I guess I'm a rare bird to be a Psychology professor who believes in God. 

**I'd love to post the figure of results, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a copyright violation.**

I started birding casually several years ago when I wanted something to do while kayaking with my wife and friends. I read Sibley's Birding Basics, bought a decent pair of binoculars, and started going on free birding walks here and there. As with most new hobbies, the flamed burned hot for a while before fading to a spark. I had been meaning to read Mark Obmascik's The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession since it was published in 2004. I finally got around to it on the cruise and I loved it. Incidentally, I picked the paperback at Powell's Books when I was in Portland a few weeks ago--an autographed copy no less. I hate to echo what the book jacket reviews say, but it really is a great story for anyone, whether interested in birds or not. For me, it lit my fire for birding again.

A Big Year in birding is an informal competition where birders attempt to see as many different species as possible within the US limits (set by the American Birding Association) from January 1 to December 31. Few people have the time and resources to attempt a record-breaking attempt, but in 1998 three birders broke the 700-species barrier (note: there are about 675 species native to the US). In fact, 1998 is now considered the biggest Big Year ever because of the large el niño that brought dozens of species within the geographic limits that normally don't come close. It's quite a tale of determination and the human spirit, and entertainingly written.

Even when I wasn't actively birding over the past couple years, I was always mindful to take my binoculars when traveling to places where I might have a chance to see birds. They came in handy on the cruise as I was able to do some birding at Yellow Beach on Pinel Island, St. Martin (French-side). We took an excursion there to snorkel and then I saw several Bananaquits in the trees on the beach. Unless I return to the caribbean, this may have been my first "life bird."

Someone asked me once why I started birding. I simply responded, "because the bow tie just wasn't nerdy enough."

It has been a week since my last post. I was in Stevenson, WA (in the Gorge) for the 2007 Driving Assessment Conference. The conference was great, as was the setting. Before returning to the Portland airport (PDX), my travel companions and I headed to the world famous Powell's Books in downtown Portland. There were nearly as many books as there were tattoos in the joint.

I now have a week at home and work before heading out for a 7-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise with my wife. I'll do my best to post several times before next Saturday afternoon when we depart.

The new moleskine PDA worked well during the conference. I'll continue to post updates on my progress with the it.

BTW, any comments on the trial new blog name?

Quick update:

I'm still off fast food, as long as Pizza Hut doesn't count.

I've been busy at work overseeing the installation of my new driving simulator.

I'm way, way, way behind in my reading for the year.

My wife and I have been busy getting our house ready to sell. Our first open house was this past Sunday.

My friend William started a blog.

Every January I think about making a reading list for the year, but I've never followed through with actually making a list, let alone adhering to one. Rather than compiling a rigid list of books to be read without deviation, it seems better to have several books on the list with flexibility for the inevitable new discoveries and recommendations throughout the year. So, I'm in the process of compiling my 2007 Reading List and I'm looking for recommendations. I'm reading mostly non-fiction these days, but there are some classic fiction books that I've been meaning to read for a while. For example, Andy and I recently talked about reading Atlas Shrugged, so I'm open to such recommendations. However, if you recommend the latest John Grisham or, God forbid, Dan Brown book, you will be immediately banned from this blog. I generally have four categories that I like to read (not necessarily in order): politics/history, current events/interesting non-fiction ala Fast Food Nation, science and philosophy, and apologetics/theology.

Here are some of the books on my list so far:

The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (currently half-way through, and highly recommended reading for my conservative friends (read: my friends))

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity by Ronald Sider

Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner

How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by G. Polya

Belief in God in an Age of Science by John Polkinghorne

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Philosophy of Science by Samir Okasha (very short)

Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?: A Professor And a Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity by Preston Jones (dialog between a Christian professor and Greg Graffin, the front man for the band Bad Religion who got a PhD in evolutionary biology)

Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul by Kevin Corcoran (this seems so bold to me)

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis (author of Moneyball)

The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations by Dietrich Dorner, et al.

Calculated Risks: How to Know When Numbers Deceive You by Gerd Gigerenzer

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Turning Points,: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity by Mark A. Noll

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (fourth book in a fantasy fiction series)

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (I may be the last person to read it)

There are more that I could scrounge up, but this is a good start. I look forward to receiving your recommendations, including any comments on the books I've listed above. I may revise this post if I think of additional must-reads.

I did not intend to let so much time lapse between my last entry and this one, but life circumstances have occupied me in other ways, as most of you know. I've been thinking about posting for a week or so but I haven't been able to come up with a good entry. So, I'm posting this I'm back entry just to get over the hump.

As an aside, I'm really enjoying O'Conner's "Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English." I recommend it, especially if you have some nagging grammar uncertainties or some common vocabulary misunderstandings. O'Conner does a good job of explaining a lot of do's and don'ts in grammar, making it a nice refresher. I suspect that it's the grammarphiles that read this book, though, not the grammarphobes.

I must refer anyone reading this blog to Christianity Today's excellent book review publication Books & Culture: A Christian Review. Although unweildy in size (it's big, not thick), the range of topics covered and the quality of the reviews are excellent. The highest praise I can give B&C is that it is a genuine book review publication, not simply a bunch of Christian reviewers saying nice things about Christian books. The thoughtful reviews are writtten mostly by scholars and writers (including a review in the latest issue by an Economics professor at my institution, George Mason University) who bring depth and breadth of expertise and disposition to their critiques. I particularly like the inclusion of evangelical and Catholic reviewers and books, and every theological variant in between. A broad spectrum of topics are covered, both Christian and secular, though the emphasis is on Christian-oriented books. For example, the July/August 2006 issue has reviews of books on how container ships "changed the world", on lying and Augustinian theology, and most importantly, on Why we no longer believe in sports but should. I have discovered several books through this publication that I might not have otherwise found. I cannot commend B&C to you strongly enough--go subscribe now.