A beautiful and dramatic cover for a rather bland and too frequently superficial text: two pages on Newton, two on Galileo, a little bit on Thomas Kuhn, etc. Of course in this manner the book can manage to touch on quite a range of topics and authors, but cannot present cogent arguments or enough information for the reader to decide.

Although designed as a textbook, its idiosyncrasies greatly diminish its value for the classroom. More time is spent on the presocratics, for example, than on the scientific revolution; several pages each are devoted to discussing particular medieval thinkers, and very few to present-day scientific theories. ("Relevance" was clearly not the highest value in designing this text.)

Regarding the "conflict and reconciliation" in the title, the authors ultimately subscribe to a kind of agnosticism: "Maybe-- maybe not." While conceding the universal importance of science, they seem to find little in religious faith beyond its cultural value, so questions of conflict or reconciliation appear in the end to be of little consequence.

I must admit that I had hopes when I read the publisher's advertisements, but after reviewing the text I will certainly not be assigning it in my course.