Galileo’s Mistake. That title of a book caught my attention. I have always been interested in Galileo’s life and the contributions that he made to science, thus, the title was intriguing. Written by Wade Rowland, Ethics in Communication professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, the book is extremely timely in light the culture war going on between science and religion. Royland’s thesis is that it was a mistake for Galileo to insist that science—and only science—provides the truth about reality. According to the author, Galileo asserted the primacy of science in the territory of truth, thereby straying from purely scientific inquiry into the theological realm—resulting in a war with the Catholic Church. Furthermore, Rowland identifies what he calls the “myth of Galileo,” the understanding that Galileo’s trial with the Church was played out with Galileo “as the paladin of truth and freedom opposing a venal and closed-minded Church. According to Rowland’s research, this was untrue—a myth that has made its way into the history of science (see, for example, Jacob Bronowski’s video series or text, The Ascent of Man–where the myth part of Chapter 6). The concept in this book is important to science education because we have been involved in a battle since the Scopes Trial on the origins and development of life. What is the truth regarding the origin and development of species. Does it remain only in the realm of science, or religion, or is there a way the a holistic view might shed more light on the question of origins? What do you think?