The Creation

E.O. Wilson, the late biologist who spent decades studying ants and biodiversity, wrote The Creation as an open letter to a Southern Baptist pastor. The book is short. Wilson’s argument is that secular scientists and religious believers should be able to find common ground in the work of preserving what he calls the Creation, the living biosphere.

Wilson grew up in Alabama in a Baptist family, and the letter’s tone is respectful rather than combative. He acknowledges that he and the pastor disagree on the deep questions and proposes that the disagreements need not stop them from working together on what they share.

The science sections are accessible. Wilson was always good at writing for general readers without dumbing things down.

For readers interested in environmentalism, religion-and-science conversations, or Wilson’s larger body of work, this is one of his most personal short books. A good companion to his more comprehensive Half-Earth.