Skuds thinks Christopher Brookmyre’s ‘The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks’ might have been written especially for me. In the last few days I’ve had it personally recommended from a variety of sources, and it does sounds like good times:

Integral to the story are discussions on the relationship between science, religion and the paranormal. Many of the arguments for and against religion/spirituality are included but in a more amusing and concise way than normal, making it an ideal book for anyone interested in the debate but lacking the patience to read The God Delusion.

What unsettled me was how persuasive some of the arguments in favour of pseudoscience and Inteligent Design were - but then that’s what makes them so dangerous. Brookmyre is firmly on the side of science, but he manages to write characters who make a good case against.

‘Unsinkable rubber duckies’ is a catchphrase of the great (not to say, Amazing) US skeptic James Randi, in reference to attempts to battle purveyors of pseudoscience, and indeed the book is apparently dedicated to him and Richard Dawkins. I didn’t need any more convincing, but that’ll do it. Definitely a necessary read; I’ll have to pick it up.