This book is a highly detailed account of alternative schools of religion and science fueled by the power of the Internet. Ironically, the use of mass communication is not really new. Martin Luther‘s Reformation Theses was undoubtedly helped by the invention and use of the printing press!

However, these “religions and sciences” are presented and discussed as cultural phenomena. And the opportunities presented by digital media such as Facebook, Netflix, and the myriad of video games, for example, reach a wide audience.

The author spends a great deal of his book on alternative “religions,” to the point of actually “joining in” to study their dogma and practices. He also discusses what he refers to as “residualism,” that is, the practice of incorporating traditions of well-known religions into a new counterculture.

A major portion of the text is devoted to “Jediism,” based on the mythology of the Star Wars films.

He also mentions the hypothesis that traditional religion is diminished in its effectiveness because of recent scientific innovations that take over many of the functions of “establishment” religion.

The author also takes note of the emerging prominence of artificial intelligence and its implications for alternative views of science and religion.

The author has researched many of these counterculture views of science and religion, but the text will be of interest to those seriously studying such entities. It is definitely not a coffee-table book.