Published: 3 February, 2012

• Lewis Wolpert’s review of Rupert Sheldrake’s new book, The Science Delusion, Freeing the Spirit of Enquiry can’t really be counted as a review
(Of rats and men and the power of collective memory, January 27).

The choice of reviewer is akin to asking Nigel Farage, head of UKIP, for a balanced view on a new book about the EU.

From my reading of the book, it is clear that Mr Sheldrake is asking pertinent questions about assumptions in the scientific world, which he rather convincingly shows have become unquestioned dogma. For example, the assumption that everything, including humans, is mechanical and purposeless, and all matter is unconscious.  

Mr Sheldrake is not saying, as Mr Wolpert asserts, “that science is a delusion”. Also, while Mr Sheldrake has theories of his own which he has written extensively about in other books, this latest book is not mainly focused on his own theories.

The main thrust of The Science Delusion, a neat play on Richard Dawkins’ book title, is that of a genuinely inquiring scientist.

And haven’t advances throughout history so often been made by those pioneers of science who dared to look freshly and question received opinion?

Chris Parish
MD, EnlightenNext
Windsor Street, N1