A Cloudy View of ‘The Mind’s Sky’?

In her review of “The Mind’s Sky” (Jan. 21), Bettyann Kevles asserts that I speculate “on how extraterrestrials might . . . seed other species with DNA to carry on their destiny” and that I refuse “to accept . . . the possibility that there is no reason” for existence and believe in “some intelligence in space that will give our lives meaning.”

Just for the record, I hold neither of these opinions, and neither appears in “The Mind’s Sky.”

TIMOTHY FERRIS

San Francisco

Bettyann Kevles responds: The quotations I referred to in my review--about the senselessness of the sun exploding leaving no record, or the idea that evolution has to have purpose--suggests to me that there are definitely theological implications to Ferris’ ponderings.