Required reading material for a recovering Creationist

[Dexter]

I used to think I understood science. Not long ago, I had a rude awakening. I was reading a story, a fan-fiction story, but whose auther is a real-world scientist. In the story, one character was teaching another about the scientific method and they conduct an experiment. The teacher develops several hypotheses and devises tests to distinguishes between them then sends his student out to collect the data they needed. After a couple hours the student returns and rushes to give his teacher the data but the teacher stops him and says that based on his hypothesis, he predicts the data should reflect a certain way. The student was confused and the teacher explained that anything can be “explained” but a good hypothesis can make predictions. And so after predicting the outcome the teacher said, “Now let’s see the data.”

 

And then my brain was flooded with a montage of memories of these words spoken in an Australian accent “...interpret the evidence...” “With our Biblical glasses we can interpret the evidence...” “Athesits interpret the evidence...” “If you look at the evidence through God’s word...” “We all have the same facts. It’s just the lens through which we interpret the evidence. Are you going to trust God’s word or man’s?”

 

Then a thought occurred to me, ‘If Biblical Creation is true, what would I predict the world to look like?’ 

 

And I realized, I don’t know science. Not well enough to actually apply it in my life. And I work in a scientific field! 

 

I was curious if anyone had any book recommendations for a recovering creationist. I am looking for something in practical applied science. Not really interested in pop-sci as I realize know that’s all I ever knew. 

[sdelsolray]

Here's an excellent one:

 

Faith vs. Fact - Why Science and Religion are Incompatible 

by Jerry Coyne