Chapters include topics not often covered, among them: Normal Unhappiness (worth the price of the book itself), Moral Inconsistencies, and The Reality of Choice.

The chapter about "Normal Unhappiness" claims that most people have an emotional thermostat that maintains a "moderately unhappy" setting. When great things happen, they are high for a while, but then settle down to that setting. When tragedy occurs, they tend to get down for a while, and then work up to it.

As a pastor of 22 years who has dealt with people at all levels (visiting the babies at the hospital, teaching kids, counseling, marrying, visiting in the home, the hospital, and conducting funerals), I will vouch that the author has an authentic view of the realities of human nature. It fits with "what is." Go for it.

As far as creation-science books go, Ackerman's book is easily one of the worst. His conclusions consistently cross over into the realm of science-fiction (and really bad science-fiction at that), which only makes sense, since his data and his starting points are also equally into the ream of bad science-fiction. One thing the fundamentalists like to do is ignore actual scientific data, and simply cite other creationists (assuming they even cite anything at all). Since they are, obviously, speaking for God, I guess they don't need footnotes or reproducible science data, or anything else that anyone would need making an argument. And that's what appalls me so much about creation-science (and all fundamentalist theology, actually) - that writers have no need to try to sway their audience, they simply imply that everything they say is true, so why does it need to be cited, proven, or substantiated? I am appalled at books like this because they obfuscate the real issue (of a majestic, mighty, beautifully creative God) to ke! ep their parishioners from actually thinking. I mean, thinking leads to questions, and once they start questioning a fundamentalist theology, they realize it is wrong and bad, and they move elsewhere. So, books like this are excellent resources to keep your laity and your parishioners ignorant, confused, and afraid of the world outside the church, and, therefore, books like this keep their almighty donations in the church.

It's even more bizarre when a psychologist, which isn't even really a scientistic, tries to venture into the realm of using psychology to prove a creationist stance. It's so funny, it's worth reading, but it's so funny, it makes me sad that some so-called Christians actually think this way, and *don't* think it's funny.

Please remember I am saying this as a minister, who serves a church, and who loves the church mightily. But I also believe that evolution is yet another magnificent manifestation of our wonderful creator's process. The Bible is about faithful life for us, and the faithful (and most times unfaithful) lives of our forebears. It is not, and I am very confident in saying this, a science textbook. Evolution does not go against the Bible at all. I don't think that one has to be a creationist to believe we are created in the image of God - I believe God created everything (but not in the strict order given in the two *very different* creation stories ni Genesis), and I also believe that evolution is certainly plausable, and the most likely vehicle for God's creation. Ackerman believes, and I don't know why because he never says it, that if one is an evolutionist, then one cannot possibly believe that we are created in God's image. Well, folks, I am an evolutionist, and I do believe we are created in God's image.

Please, I ask the authors and the followers, please open your eyes and realize that books like this are written to keep you ignorant of truth, incapable of thought, and powerless under your clergy-persons and elders and deacons and other people who benefit from your fear of going to hell.

Read this book **only** because you should know what the creation-scientists are doing. But for all means, don't read this book thinking that you will find something true in it.

"In God's Image After All" unfortunately only serves to continue to perpetuate the world's idea that Christians are obnoxious, ignorant, money-hungry, uncompassionate hypocrites. Huse doesn't offer anything that might make evolution "collapse", but simply serves to further collapse the relevancy of Christianity to today's world, and serves to make my job even more difficult since I must even more diligently apologize for my brethren when speaking with non-Christians to say "No, Christianity is not like that at all - Jesus actually expects us to think for ourselves, and not blindly follow the people who have a financial interest in keeping us ignorant."