The Devolution of Robert Wright

I found Nonzero - The Logic of Human Destiny a revelation. I was entirely persuaded of its basic premise: that zones of more non-zero-sum interaction will consistently outcompete their smaller and closer-to-zero-sum rivals. In the book's final section, though, Wright sadly devolved into wooly-headed anthropocentrism; for the most part I look at that last section as his Highlander II (which, incidentally, was never made).

The Moral Animal was good, enlightening in parts, but not tightly edited. The structure grated as well: though I enjoyed learning about Darwin, you can't really use one man as an example of evolutionary principles for an entire book without sounding like Johnny One-Note.

Now we have The Evolution of God -- a timely topic, to be sure. But Wright, interviewed on the Colbert show, has not given up his anthropocentrism. He seems to see evidence that the universe has a plan for us. It's as if he took the only truly bad section of his first book and said to himself, "That really needs more attention. I'll write a whole book about it." (As bad as Clone Wars was, imagine an entire movie about Jar-Jar.)

I'll look at the book ... but I'll wait for paperback, read a chapter, and be ready to walk away.