History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins

Average customer rating:

Very little worthy detail, too much name dropping.
Restored my faith in scientists
Genesis: Science Supplants Superstition and Myth
An Excellent Introduction to Prebiotic Chemistry
Great for getting up to date on the new ideas and evidence in this area

Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins
Robert M. Hazen
Manufacturer: Joseph Henry Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 030910310X

Book Description

Life on Earth arose nearly 4 billion years ago, bursting forth from air, water, and rock. Though the process obeyed all the rules of chemistry and physics, the details of that original event pose as deep a mystery as any facing science. By what process did life actually begin? How did non-living chemicals become alive? Where, when, and how did life emerge on the blasted, barren face of our primitive planet?

Author Robert Hazen is one of the world's foremost scientists seeking answers to these questions. As an astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., Robert Hazen has spent many years dealing with the fundamental mechanisms of life's genesis. As an active research scientist, he is experimentally tracing the spellbinding sequence of events that led to the complicated interactions of carbon-based molecules.

Conducting experiments that subject the mix of elements found near deep-ocean vents to the high temperatures and crushing pressures of those lightless depths, he hypothesizes that life may well have begun in such a place, nourished by a rich mixture of minerals and organic compounds and energized by geotectonic forces. Other scientists believe that life may have originated on Earth's surface, where ocean waves repeatedly lapped a rocky shoreline. Theories abound. But with Hazen as our guide, we are witness to the first, tentative steps towards life, then privy to the breathtaking drama that rapidly unfolds.

Genesis throws the debate over life's origins into brilliant relief, tracing the efforts of scientists all over the world as they confront nature's most enduring mystery. We are taken out of the lab and into the field to meet the key players, witness the debates, and participate in the discoveries and disappointments that are leading inexorably to a plausible explanation for the momentous beginning of life. The theory of emergence is poised to answer a multitude of questions - even as it raises the possibility that natural processes exist beyond what we now know, perhaps beyond what we even comprehend. Genesis tells the tale of transforming scientific advances in our quest for life's origins. Written with grace, beauty, and authority, it goes directly to the heart of who we are and how we got here.

Customer Reviews:

Very little worthy detail, too much name dropping........2007-01-24

This book should have been marketed more for casual readers or non-biologists. I bought it after only reading the dust-cover info. and the table of contents. My mistake. If you need a book for a biochemistry class related to abiogenesis, this is not your book. Besides the lack of detail in the processes of life formation, Hazen mentions way too many names. It's nice to know the names of the major players but he throws out so many that I'm tempted to think the honorably mentioned paid him or he wrote this to pay off a debt to them. Read it and you'll even get to learn the names of some of the grads and undergrads that worked in various labs. Boring! Hazen creates too much drama with the details of setting up an experiment when he should be dealing with the results. He tries too hard to make science sound fun and cool, when realisticaly those reading this book will already have a passion for science. The only biology educated folks that should buy this are undergrads that want to know what research is like.

Restored my faith in scientists.......2007-01-04

Robert Hazen has written an amazing book. He explains the concept of 'emergence' in a way that makes me believe he must be a masterful teacher. In fact, the book made me wish I did my PhD thesis research in his laboratory back in the late seventies. Every morning when I drive over the washboard bumps in my gravel driveway, I am reminded of this book (those who have read it will understand why.

Then the author explains the history of origin-of-life research and the instrumentation that made the work possible. At that point, Dr. Hazen presents several dominant theories on whether metabolism, membranes, or RNA evolved first. Having worked with RNA since 1976, back before Molecular Biology was all about knowing what kits to buy, I already knew RNA was much too fragile in the presence of most multivalent cations to have evolved first. Apparently most Molecular Biologists have missed this obvious point, but Dr. Hazen has not.

The author applies a fresh pair of eyes to the subject because he is not a product of the 'academic apartheid' (Lynn Margulis' term from the book jacket) that had plagued Biological Research for the past few decades. He is a geophysicist and does not receive the bulk of his funding from the NIH or NSF. He understands the chemistry of the early Earth and of life far better than most of the 'experts'.

This book is more than just a primer on the emergence of life. He describes, more gently than I would, much of the behind-the-scenes back-biting that is, unfortunately, a part of getting papers published and obtaining grants in science today. Anyone considering a career in research should read those parts and internalize those lessons.

To summarize, the book gets five stars for originality, scientific content, readability, and insights into the realities of modern scientific research. If you only read one book on the origin of life, this one should be it!

Genesis: Science Supplants Superstition and Myth.......2006-10-26

Life on Earth appeared nearly 4 billion years ago, an emergent consequence of properties and processes enabled by chemistry and physics - bursting forth from air, water, rock and the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium systems. The origins of life pose a mystery as deep as any question facing contemporary science. Intrepid researchers are taking increasingly bold steps in an ultimate adventure to understand how prebiotic chemical systems self-organized and crossed the threshold separating life from non-life on our barren young planet. Abiogenesis, the scientific quest for life's origin, is profoundly moving and brilliantly presented in this superb book.

Author Robert Hazen exemplifies the intellect, insight, determination, and sense of adventure that scientists around the world utilize when seeking answers to life's most basic riddles. As a researcher in the Geophysical Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth History at George Mason University, Hazen has spent many years researching the fundamental mechanisms nature utilized to realize life's genesis. His impressive laboratory research has choreographed the spellbinding sequence of events that synthesized many of the essential carbon-based macromolecules that acted as the components and scaffolding from which life emerged.

By subjecting simple and abundant chemicals to the high temperatures and crushing pressures encountered near deep ocean vents, Hazen hypothesis that life may well have begun in such an environment - facilitated and nourished by a teeming mixture of catalytic minerals and organic compounds energized by abundant geotectonic forces. Other scientists believe that life originated on Earth's surface where ocean waves repeatedly lapped vesicle laden rocky shorelines as solar energy and evaporation organized and sequestered prebiotic building blocks. Given our current state of knowledge theories abound, but Hazen is a perspicacious guide who illuminates all of the pathways scientists have proposed as tentative first steps towards life.

"Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins" moves beyond the laboratory and into the field to meet key players, witness the debates, and participate in the discoveries and disappointments that are leading inexorably to a plausible explanation for the momentous beginning of life. Theories of emergence and complexity are poised to answer a multitude of issues - even as they raise the possibility that natural processes exist beyond what we now know, or even imagine. Genesis tells the tale of a transforming scientific adventure in our search for life's origins. This is a profound and numinous book aimed directly at the heart of who we are and how we came to be - it has my highest recommendation. Buy two copies, one for yourself, the second for a friend.

Iris Fry's The Emergence of Life on Earth: A Historical and Scientific Overview is also excellent, and Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth (Princeton Science Library) by Andrew H. Knoll both compliment this book. Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life, Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative, and Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind and Meaning by Christian de Duve are superb and insightful. Finally What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches (Canto) by Erwin Schrodinger and the Origin of Life (Dover Phoenix Editions) by A. I. Oparin are classics in the field.

An Excellent Introduction to Prebiotic Chemistry.......2006-08-04

Hazen interweaves the research areas and participating scientists in the field of prebiotic chemistry in such a way that the reader gains a sense of familiarity with the subject. He gives fair treatment regarding the various opinions of scientists as to the relative importance of various natural methods of producing key compounds.
The book is well written and conveys the sense that an understanding of how life started on Earth is within reach. Those interested in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life will also find the book of value.

Great for getting up to date on the new ideas and evidence in this area.......2006-07-15

The origin of life on earth is still one of biology's great mysteries. Hazen makes it clear that we do not yet know the answers. Many interesting proposals have been made, and new evidence is coming in all the time. No one theory has yet won out.

Creationists have, of course, focused on origin of life research in recent years as showing up the weaknesses of science. I think this book is a useful counterpoint to this. Maybe we don't know it all yet, but the science in this area certainly has not run into any solid roadblocks that require God to get over.

The present situation in origin of life research reminds me of the middle 1800s, when Darwin was working on his theory of evolution by natural selection. At that time, many hypotheses were on the table to explain the diversity of life on earth and in the fossil record. Some hypotheses had more support, some had less; all the proposals had problems. Back then, the creationists were convinced that further study of nature would bring scientists to the solid conclusion that God created the world. Creationists engaged in serious biological research, in the hope that the results would bolster their views. It didn't turn out that way. I suspect the same pattern will hold true in origin of life research. Check back in a few decades.

One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought (Questions of Science)

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The Darwin Credo Reaffirmed
The Darwin credo reaffirmed
Modern evolutionary thought
You must understand the title to not be disappointed
Darwin & The Old Earth Creationists

One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought (Questions of Science)
Ernst Mayr
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674639065

Book Description

Evolutionary theory ranks as one of the most powerful concepts of modern civilization. Its effects on our view of life have been wide and deep. One of the most world-shaking books ever published, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, first appeared in print over 130 years ago, and it touched off a debate that rages to this day.

Every modern evolutionist turns to Darwin's work again and again. Current controversies in the life sciences very often have as their starting point some vagueness in Darwin's writings or some question Darwin was unable to answer owing to the insufficient biological knowledge available during his time. Despite the intense study of Darwin's life and work, however, many of us cannot explain his theories (he had several separate ones) and the evidence and reasoning behind them, nor do we appreciate the modifications of the Darwinian paradigm that have kept it viable throughout the twentieth century.

Who could elucidate the subtleties of Darwin's thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs--A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weismann, Asa Gray--better than Ernst Mayr, a man considered by many to be the greatest evolutionist of the century? In this gem of historical scholarship, Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Charles Darwin's scientific thought and his enormous legacy to twentieth-century biology. Here we have an accessible account of the revolutionary ideas that Darwin thrust upon the world. Describing his treatise as "one long argument," Darwin definitively refuted the belief in the divine creation of each individual species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor.

He proposed the idea that humans were not the special products of creation but evolved according to principles that operate everywhere else in the living world; he upset current notions of a perfectly designed, benign natural world and substituted in their place the concept of a struggle for survival; and he introduced probability, chance, and uniqueness into scientific discourse.

This is an important book for students, biologists, and general readers interested in the history of ideas--especially ideas that have radically altered our worldview. Here is a book by a grand master that spells out in simple terms the historical issues and presents the controversies in a manner that makes them understandable from a modern perspective.

Customer Reviews:

The Darwin Credo Reaffirmed.......2006-02-08

Mayr belongs to the select company who devised, in the Forties, the reconciliation of Darwinism to Mendelian genetics called Neo-Darwinism. One monument to this synthesis is the University of Chicago Centenary volumes published in 1959, where leading lights exalted the vindication of Darwin's theory. In the intervening decades enormous advances in all the sciences bearing on evolution have been made. Does Neo-Darwinism survive? Mayr believes that it does. To establish this improbable case, he begins his effort with a characterization of Darwin's achievement in terms compatible with what he takes to be the current state of evolutionary theory.

A fundamental historical component of the Darwinist credo is that the publication of the Origin marks an abrupt break, styled the Darwinian Revolution, in European thought, not merely in science but across the board, starting with religion and theology. Mayr's proposed characterization of this transformation is specified by four claims.

Claim 1. Darwin >refuted the belief in the individual creation of each species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor <. The wording mirrors Darwin's claim that at the time he published Origin, he knew of no naturalist who disbelieved in special creation. There was an outcry against this historical perversity, including objections from the true originator of natural selection theory (Patrick Matthew, in 1831), and the Oxford mathematics professor (Baden Powell) who from 1835 published philosophical essays defending naturalistic evolution against special creation. By 1850 the concept of naturalistic evolution including the origin of the human species had thoroughly penetrated theology, literature, polite conversation, and even the working class. Darwin was the late-comer whose disciples stole the credit on his behalf.

Claim 2. Mayr states that >Victorian notions of progress and perfectability were seriously undermined by Darwin's demonstration that evolution ...does not necessarily lead to progress... < He produces not a single contemporary witness to this sense of Darwin's meaning. The facts are that the Origin equated adaptation with >improvement < (non-improvers are displaced). The book owed its celebrity in large measure to its scientific >proof < of the nearly universal belief in progress. Indeed the French translation of the Origin bore the title, De l'Origine des especes, ou Des Lois du progress chez les etres organizes. In her Introduction, translator Clemence-August Royer stated that >the doctrine of Darwin is the rational revelation of progress, pitting itself in its logical antagonism with the irrational revelation of the fall <. She related the survival of the fittest theory of organic change to the theory of change developed by free market economics. The same notion was promoted in England by Herbert Spencer. Darwin never repudiated these, for Mayr, gross misunderstandings. Why not? Perhaps because these views were his own.

Claim 3. Darwin pioneered a new concept of science based on >concepts of probability, change, and uniqueness < as against the then dominant methodology based on physical laws and determinism. Oh dear! Darwin's comments on high level methodological issues are sparse. They are also conventional. Far from challenging the Newtonian model, he was anxious to bathe his theory in its prestige, especially after he was directly challenged (and thoroughly intimidated) by Briton's leading physicist, Lord Kelvin. Darwin didn't quantify because he had no head for maths. His one attempt, intended to relate species diversification to geographic distribution, was a flop, from which he was rescued by his friend John Lubbock. He was oblivious to advances in statistical demography, despite their direct relevance to his theory. The quantification of inheritance data was carried out by Mendel in his experimental work on peas and by Francis Galton in his writings on inheritance, whose sophisticated mathematical analysis Darwin admitted he could not follow. The struggle for existence did not figure in Mendel's theory, which was the first statement of the laws of evolutionary stasis. The development of electromagnetism and statistical mechanics owed nothing to the Great Mind.

Claim 4. Darwin was >the first person to work out a sound theory of classification, one which is still adopted by the majority of taxonomists <. Crikey! Darwin's theory of classification amounts to little more than the proposal that it be based on evolutionary descent. The proposal was made by numerous evolutionists and sketches of plausible lines of descent, including the pithacoid origin of our species, were readily available. The first edition of the Origin presented but one descent scenario-of whales from bears-but it attracted such ridicule that Darwin withdrew it in the second printing. His few subsequent proposals of descent, eg, the origin of mammals and of the human species, reiterated proposals made by others. The first attempt at an evolutionary phylogeny stems from Darwin's ardent discipline, Ernst Haeckel, which he based on the >biogenic law < (long since abandoned). Systematics has undergone profound change since 1959, first through Willi Hennig's reconceptualization of classification as cladistics, and then the elaboration of cladism by molecular analysis. (When Mayr wrote this book, his own earlier contributions to systematics had been superseded). To suggest a connection of this development with Darwin's modest contribution is to genuflect before the Holy Father.

These criticisms address statements made in but two pages of the text. The remainder of the book is of like character: Mayr pays no mind to the recent outpouring of history/philosophy of science literature that has placed Darwin in context. Thanks to these advances, we know that his original contributions were few, that his errors and oversights were many, and that he and his True Believer disciples relentlessly campaigned to promote the Cult of Evolution, whose dogmatism sometimes retarded or distorted the growth of evolutionary science. It is sad that this book is a living fossil.

The Darwin credo reaffirmed.......2004-10-20

Mayr belongs to the select company who devised, in the Forties, the reconciliation of Darwinism to Mendelian genetics called Neo-Darwinism. One monument to this synthesis is the University of Chicago Centenary volumes published in 1959, where leading lights exalted the vindication of Darwin's theory. In the intervening decades enormous advances in all the sciences bearing on evolution have been made. Does Neo-Darwinism survive? Mayr believes that it does. To establish this improbable case, he begins his effort with a characterization of Darwin's achievement in terms compatible with what he takes to be the current state of evolutionary theory.

A fundamental historical component of the Darwinist credo is that the publication of the Origin marks an abrupt break, styled the Darwinian Revolution, in European thought, not merely in science but across the board, starting with religion and theology. Mayr's proposed characterization of this transformation is specified by four claims.

Claim 1. Darwin >refuted the belief in the individual creation of each species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor<. The wording mirrors Darwin's claim that at the time he published Origin, he knew of no naturalist who disbelieved in special creation. There was an outcry against this historical perversity, including objections from the true originator of natural selection theory (Patrick Matthew, in 1832), and the Oxford mathematics professor (Baden Powell) who from 1835 published philosophical essays defending naturalistic evolution against special creation. By 1850 the concept of naturalistic evolution including the origin of the human species had thoroughly penetrated theology, literature, polite conversation, and even the working class. Darwin was the late-comer whose disciples stole the credit on his behalf.

Claim 2. Mayr states that >Victorian notions of progress and perfectability were seriously undermined by Darwin's demonstration that evolution ...does not necessarily lead to progress...< He produces not a single contemporary witness to this sense of Darwin's meaning. The facts are that the Origin equated adaptation with >improvement< (non-improvers are displaced). The book owed its celebrity in large measure to its scientific >proof< of the nearly universal belief in progress. Indeed the French translation of the Origin bore the title, De l'Origine des especes, ou Des Lois du progress chez les etres organizes. In her Introduction, translator Clemence-August Royer stated that >the doctrine of Darwin is the rational revelation of progress, pitting itself in its logical antagonism with the irrational revelation of the fall<. She related the survival of the fittest theory of organic change to the theory of change developed by free market economics. The same notion was promoted in England by Herbert Spencer. Darwin never repudiated these, for Mayr, gross misunderstandings. Why not? Perhaps because these views were his own.

Claim 3. Darwin pioneered a new concept of science based on >concepts of probability, change, and uniqueness< as against the then dominant methodology based on physical laws and determinism. Oh dear! Darwin's comments on high level methodological issues are sparse. They are also conventional. Far from challenging the Newtonian model, he was anxious to bathe his theory in its prestige, especially after he was directly challenged (and thoroughly intimidated) by Briton's leading physicist, Lord Kelvin. Darwin didn't quantify because he had no head for maths. His one attempt, intended to relate species diversification to geographic distribution, was a flop, from which he was rescued by his friend John Lubbock. He was oblivious to advances in statistical demography, despite their direct relevance to his theory. The quantification of inheritance data was carried out by Mendel in his experimental work on peas and by Francis Galton in his writings on inheritance, whose sophisticated mathematical analysis Darwin admitted he could not follow. The struggle for existence did not figure in Mendel's theory, which was the first statement of the laws of evolutionary stasis. The development of electromagnetism and statistical mechanics owed nothing to the Great Mind.

Claim 4. Darwin was >the first person to work out a sound theory of classification, one which is still adopted by the majority of taxonomists<. Crikey! Darwin's theory of classification amounts to little more than the proposal that it be based on evolutionary descent. The proposal was made by pre-Origin evolutionists and sketches of plausible lines of descent, including the pithacoid origin of our species, were readily available. The first edition of the Origin presented but one descent scenario-of whales from bears-but it attracted such ridicule that Darwin withdrew it in the second printing. His few subsequent proposals of descent, eg, the origin of mammals and of the human species, reiterated proposals made by others. The first attempt at an evolutionary phylogeny stems from Darwin's ardent discipline, Ernst Haeckel, which he based on the >biogenic law< (long since abandoned). Systematics has undergone profound change since 1959, first through Willi Hennig's reconceptualization of classification as cladistics, and then the elaboration of cladism by molecular analysis. (When Mayr wrote this book, his own earlier contributions to systematics had been superseded). To suggest a connection of this development with Darwin's modest contribution is to genuflect before the Holy Father.

These criticisms address statements made in but two pages of the text. The remainder of the book is of like character: Mayr pays no mind to the recent outpouring of history/philosophy of science literature that has placed Darwin in context. Thanks to these advances in historical knowledge, we now know that his original contributions were few, that his errors and oversights were many, and that he and his True Believer disciples relentlessly campaigned to promote the Cult of Evolution, whose dogmatism sometimes retarded or distorted the growth of evolutionary science. This book is a living fossil.

Modern evolutionary thought .......2003-08-01

The title of One Long Argument can be a bit misleading, as an earlier reviewer mentioned - it is in reference to Darwin's Origin of Species, and Mayr really does not make an argument himself; the book, nonetheless is interesting, if a bit dry.Mayr begins by picking apart Darwin's evolutionary theories (its not one single theory, but actually 5 inter-dependent theories that relate to evolution as a system), before addressing its impact on the scientific community up until the mid - 1970's. Yes, Darwin is still being scrutinized, and not just by the religious set.I found the book a bit dry and difficult to keep my attention. Far too little is discussed about the thinkers before Darwin, and too much is spent on the scientific debate the 50 years after Origins was published. I would have preferred Mayr exploring the implications and impact of the discovery of DNA and microbiology on modifications of natural selection, specicies variation and adaptation instead. Therefore I can only give it 4 stars. In my opinion, a far better book on a related subject is Loren Eisley's Darwin's Century.

You must understand the title to not be disappointed.......2003-03-11

The title "One Long Arguement", it is a reference to part of Darwin's introductory description to The Origin of Species (appearing within Origin itself). This book is not about arguing with Creationists (Thank God ;). I suspect the above reviewers were misled to the point that they felt rating stars must be subtracted. Don't be fooled by title bashers. This is an excellent history and theory primer for the novice and a nice knowledge gap filler for those well-read in the science of evolution and biology.

Darwin & The Old Earth Creationists.......2003-01-22

Creationists have claimed that geology has conspired to support evolution. This book just shows how ridiculous that claim really is. Geologists tossed out the idea of "Flood Geology" long before Darwin arrived on the scene. The idea of an old Earth was developed independently of Darwin. Also interesting is that Darwin was well respected among his fellow scientists, even though they did not initially accept his idea of evolution. His work on the Beagle was considered important, and it alone was sufficent to establish Darwin's scientific reputation. He was already famous (in his day) before his landmark work.

Many scientists in Darwin's time were old earth creationists. In time, many of them were persuaded by the mass of evidence that Darwin had collected, although it would be a long time before natural selection was accepted as the mechanism. So, it is possible to not accept natural evolution and still accept the idea of common descent. Creationists try to argue that evolution is a package deal, that if one idea is out of place or not quite right, then the whole thing should be tossed out. This notion is just wrong, and reading this book will help the reader understand why. In general, creationists exploit the public's poor understanding of the scientific method. While one fact can be enough to completely toss out a theory, what often happens is that old theories get revised to accomdate the new facts. Successful, powerful theories (like Darwins) tend to evolve.

In Search of the Genesis World: Debunking the Evolution Myth
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Makes a monkey out of the evolution myth!

Good book for a quick overview

Creation and Evolution are Faiths

In Search of the Genesis World: Debunking the Evolution Myth
Erich A. Von Fange
Manufacturer: Concordia Publishing House
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0758611005

Customer Reviews:

Makes a monkey out of the evolution myth!.......2007-02-10

Covers a lot of well researched material. Highly recommended!

Good book for a quick overview.......2007-02-02

This is a good book for someone who wants to get a good overview of the problems inherent in evolutionary theory. Just like the first reviewer mentioned, however, too much territory is covered in one book, which means some very important details and documentation is left out. The author mentions that some fish from Denmark were moved a few degrees latitude further north, and they developed an extra vertebrate. He does this to show that environmental changes can cause tremendous physical changes in species - but they are still the same species, which puts alot of doubt on many the fossil record finds. My problem with this is that he does not cite his source, and this is one of those arguments that doesn't necessarily refute evolution - of course, it doesn't help it, either. Anyway, this is a very good book overall and I highly recommend it. Once again, as the first reviewer mentioned, Christianity and creation, as well as evolutionary theory are all beliefs. There is no way around that fact. 4.5 stars.

Creation and Evolution are Faiths.......2006-12-08

This is an examination by a retired science professor looking at what presuppositions and sources best match up with the scientific evidence and ancient history that we observe. For the author, that is the Genesis World of the Old Testament.

He sees evolution as providing no scientific evidence, yet with great bias and shameful attempts at providing such over the years as maintaining their position of only factual, scientific position on origin of life, and all others as false, and unscientific.

He aims to show by a widesweeping look at these contradicting positions the falsity in this canard: creation is factless faith, while evolution is faithless fact. By sequencing through such topics as dinosaurs, fossil record, archaeology, dating methods for age of earth, he provides a challenge to evolution's claims that are biased philosophically without firm scientific evidence. Where is the origin of the species clearly stated with factual scientific evidence? Where is one example of speciation? For only one species, and then for all? Von Fange writes: "Charles Darwin stated that if it could be demonstrated that any complex organism such as the eye, existed that could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, his theory would absolutely break down." Many have shown such, but chided repeatedly as just people of faith, not scientists. More name calling and derision without scientific evidence. Yet they continue to holdup such as Haeckel's Embryo Drawing and Peppered Moths and History of Horse as
as "factual" scientific proof for their model.

This book will aid the reader in seeing the condition of evolution, one that is very tenuous, yet the fraternity strengthens in their outrage and enmity for any who would challenge them as either unintelligent, religious, ancient, or all of the above.

Von Fange possibly trys to cover too much ground too fast, many times listing case after case, which became tedious for this reader. Also, his section on astronomy I found the most lacking, having recently read the excellent "The Privileged Planet." An index of topics, individuals cited as well as Scripture would have been nice. Also, some of the referenced scientific evidence documentation is not included, e.g. fossilized live trees near a present airport. Recommend as well Jonathan Wells "Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design" and "Reading God's World: The Scientific Vocation"

Doing Without Adam and Eve: Sociobiology and Original Sin (Theology and the Sciences)

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Doing Without Adam and Eve: Sociobiology and Original Sin (Theology and the Sciences)
Patricia A. Williams
Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
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ASIN: 0800632850

Book Description

In this provocative new addition to the acclaimed Theology and the Sciences series, Patricia Williams assays the doctrine of original sin with a scientific lens and offers an alternative Christian account of human nature's sinfulness and redemption based on sociobiology.

Focusing on the Genesis 2 and 3 account, Williams shows how its “historical” interpretation in early Christianity not only misread the text but derived an idea of being human profoundly at odds with experience and contemporary science. After gauging Christianity's several competing notions of human nature—Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox—against contemporary biology, Williams turns to sociobiological accounts of the evolution of human dispositions toward reciprocity and limited cooperation as a source of human good and evil. From this vantage point, she offers new interpretations of the problem of evil, original sin, and the Christian doctrine of atonement.

Frank in its assessment of traditional misunderstandings, Williams's work challenges theologians and all Christians to reassess this linchpin doctrine and its implications for Christian theology.

Customer Reviews:

,,,.......2006-01-21

I disagree with the book and the whole concept of sociobiology but God bless her for maintaining her faith.

Average customer rating:

Grad school jargon, grade school depth
my basic instinct
Uprooting the sophistry of nativism
Sigh
this book will open your eyes

Basic Instinct: The Genesis of Behavior
Mark S. Blumberg
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1560256591

Book Description

A panicked mother runs through highway traffic to save her wandering child. A green turtle swims hundreds of miles to return to the beach on which it was hatched. Your child utters her first word. Have you ever wondered what causes you to react in a certain way to a certain situation, and if you would react differently under different circumstances?

From Charles Darwin to Malcolm Gladwell, writers and scientists have been fascinated by what prompts us to snap decisions. In Basic Instinct, neuroscientist Mark Blumberg provides readers with a logical perspective that does not rely on the clichéd explanations that have become so prevalent among scientists and laypeople alike. Blumberg delves into the debate between the nativists and evolutionary psychologists, who believe we are born with an instinctive knowledge about the world, and the epigeneticists, who believe that instincts are built anew in each of us—generation after generation. The result is an entertaining and balanced examination of the role of genes, experience, and evolution in the construction of behavior.

Customer Reviews:

Grad school jargon, grade school depth.......2007-06-21

I suffered through this painfully self-congratulatory work, but feel as though I've actually learned LESS. This book reminds me of stuff I wrote in graduate school: full of the "language" of the field, the jargon that pleases the effete academics who live off their taxpayer-funded salaries and have little interaction with the real world--but ultimately hollow, meaningless, and unenlightened.

The basic question: does instinct come from an instinct gene or from learned (devoloped) behavior?

The answer: [and I'm not kidding] Nobody really knows, but we like to talk about it at length.

Even if you're into developmental or evolutionary psychology I wouldn't waste my time on this one. The text is riddled with multiple logical fallacies. For example, the author confuses a "learning curve" in ONE individual with natural selection involving multiple individuals in a species. A cat has a learning curve when forced to escape from the same maze over and over (wow!). But this is NOT evolution. The "learned" behavior cannot be passed on to that cat's offspring. A learning curve in one individual doesn't equate to increasing physiological or anatomical complexity in the whole species.

Another example of the author's flawed logic: he equates design modification by intelligent humans (e.g. perfecting the design of a bridge or a car) with biological macroevolution (!). Both are supposed to be based on "trial and error," you see. In fact--and this is what is called "Berra's Blunder"--he uses human inventions as an argument AGAINST design. Like many academics lost in the make-believe world of their own theories, the author cannot see the forest for the trees. Apparently the fact that manmade inventions were DESIGNED by INTELLIGENT, yet admittedly imperfect, minds is lost on him. Such inventions did not arise by random, mindless mutations.

If you assume that humans are merely the most evolved animal to date, you're destined to wander into the La Brea Tar Pit that conflates ethology with human psychology--and trust me, you'll never find your way out again. Smart people, lost in the maze of their own illusions and imaginings, have been trying for decades if not centuries to explain how a honeybee with a microscopic brain knew how to create a hexagon-based honeycomb that was so mathematically and structurally superior that the U.S. Air Force mimicked the design in the substructure of fighter jet wings. Yet the answer is always the same: "If evolution is true....we haven't a clue. But thanks for buying my book."

How long until someone asks, "Is evolution ACTUALLY a fact?" or "Should we hang all our hats on a Victorian-era philosophy posited by an amateur naturalist and propped up through the decades by Marxists, atheists, and leftists of every sort?"

Once we answer these questions honestly, we'll have the answer to the origin of instinct.

my basic instinct.......2007-02-06

Basic instinct is probably a good book. Unfortunately I never received it, in spite of the fact tha Amazon has collected the money for it. There is no way of complaining, and every attempt to know where the book is will fail. Only automated replies arrive, but the money Amazon has collected is real. I am very disappointed.

Uprooting the sophistry of nativism.......2007-01-28

When we bandy about such familiar terms as "instinct," "innate" and "inherited behaviors" are we saying anything meaningful, or are we merely using vague catchphrases that give a false semblance of understanding? Blumberg develops his case against nativism in an incisive and cogent way, showing the extent to which research in the fields of developmental psychology, ethology and evolutionary psychology has been an imbroglio of false assumptions, naïve explanations, illogic, and high sounding language, much of it lacking substance. Drawing on eye opening research in animal and human behavior, Blumberg exposes the failings of the nativists and evolutionary psychologists in their search for innate behaviors and neural modules. Blumberg takes us beyond the trappings of language to the intriguing complexity of behavior development and non-genetic modes of inheritance. He shows the falsity of simplistic causal notions such as genes being "programmed for" or "controlling" behavior. He rightly recognizes the wall of opposition he is up against, since the nativist view is a popular sell--we are enamored by easily digested explanations of how our genes determine who we are, our traits, our ability to reason, and our use of language. Contrary to what one reviewer has stated, nowhere does Blumberg suggest that natural selection cannot impact on our genes. What he demonstrates is that the processes are more involved and bidirectional than the naïve conception of organisms as having genes "for" complex behaviors like, for example, a sharp memory or being a good typist. As Blumberg clearly states:

"inheritance does not necessarily implicate genes, and it certainly does not imply genetic determination (unless all one means by this is that genes are somehow involved, which is trivially true of every behavioral trait)."

I am sure Blumberg's ideas will fly over the heads of most nativists emotionally attached to their ideas, but his call for more stringent scientific research and analysis, and his invitation to a deeper appreciation of the complexity of the intersecting events between genes and behavior will be of interest to those who value clear thinking and good science. Every student in psychology and biology, indeed in any discipline, could benefit from this book, for it reveals how easily we can be mesmerized by ideas.

Sigh.......2007-01-17

There is some interesting stuff here, and it is worth reading, but the book seems to be organized around a logical fallacy. Several times Blumberg says that because there can be inheritance that is not encoded in the genes, that natural selection cannot act upon genes. This really is a logical fallacy, and one exploded by Dawkins the The Extended Phenotype and elsewhere. Consider an example. "Genes for typing." Imagine there is suddenly a very strong selection pressure in favor of good typists. This could be for all sorts of reasons -- cultural ones. Ones due to non-genetic inheritance. And clearly there where no keyboards on the veldt or in the trees. Does this mean there are no genes "for" typing? No. Natural selection operates on variation. If some genes make one a lousy typist they will be selected against. And those that make typing easier will be selected for. They will become will be genes "for" typing. Blumberg repeatedly misunderstands this, and so misrepresents the "nativist" argument.

this book will open your eyes.......2005-11-10

It is so easy to be swept up in the stories being told by evolutionary psychologists and nativists about human behavior. But as a dog lover, it is also easy to think that we know more than we do about why different breeds (for example, herding dogs, pointers) behave in the way that they do. This book blew away my assumptions and opened my eyes to these issues with real stories about real research. Great!

101 Signs of Design: Timeless Truths from Genesis (101 Signs of Design)

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101 Signs of Design: Timeless Truths from Genesis (101 Signs of Design)
Ken Ham
Manufacturer: Master Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0890513651

Book Description

This book is a concise and unique blend of quotes, explanations, and examples refuting evolution and promoting creation taken from the writings of Ken Ham. Part of a set of four books comprising a gift set.

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Excellent!!! only if you are interested in the truth...

Genesis: The Evolution of Biology
Jan Sapp
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195156196

Book Description

Genesis: The Evolution of Biology presents a history of the past two centuries of biology, suitable for use in courses, but of interest more broadly to evolutionary biologists, geneticists, and biomedical scientists, as well as general readers interested in the history of science. The book covers the early evolutionary biologists-Lamarck, Cuvier, Darwin and Wallace through Mayr and the neodarwinian synthesis, in much the same way as other histories of evolution have done, bringing in also the social implications, the struggles with our religious understanding, and the interweaving of genetics into evolutionary theory. What is novel about Sapp's account is a real integration of the cytological tradition, from Schwann, Boveri, and the other early cell biologists and embryologists, and the coverage of symbiosis, microbial evolutionary phylogenies, and the new understanding of the diversification of life coming from comparative analyses of complete microbial genomes. The book is a history of theories about evolution, genes and organisms from Lamarck and Darwin to the present day. This is the first book on the general history of evolutionary biology to include the history of research and theories about symbiosis in evolution, and first to include research on microbial evolution which were excluded from the classical neo-Darwinian synthesis. Bacterial evolution, and symbiosis in evolution are also excluded from virtually every book on the history of biology.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!!! only if you are interested in the truth..........2003-11-23

Words can not do justice for this brilliant man, I suggest reading it and allowing yourself to make the own reveiw. I will say this though, anyone invloved in the field of biology should read a copy. Anyone who is not in the field of biology should own a copy!

Book Description

The clash between evolution and creationism is one of the most hotly contested topics in education today. This book, written by one of America's most distinguished science educators, provides essential background information on this difficult and important controversy. Giving a sweeping and balanced historical look at both schools of thought, John A. Moore shows that faith can exist alongside science, that both are essential to human happiness and fulfillment, but that we must support the teaching of science and the scientific method in our nation's schools. This highly informative book will be an invaluable aid for parents, teachers, and lawmakers, as well as for anyone who wants a better understanding of this debate. From Genesis to Genetics shows us why we must free both science and religion to do the good work for which each is uniquely qualified.
Using accessible language, Moore describes in depth these two schools of thought. He begins with an analysis of the Genesis story, examines other ancient creation myths, and provides a nuanced discussion of the history of biblical interpretation. After looking at the tenets and historical context of creationism, he presents the history of evolutionary thought, explaining how it was developed, what it means, and why it is such a powerful theory. Moore goes on to discuss the relationship of nineteenth-century religion to Darwinism, examine the historic Scopes trial, and take us up to the current controversy over what to teach in schools. Most important, this book also explores options for avoiding confrontations over this issue in the future.
Thoughtfully and powerfully advocating that the teaching of science be kept separate from the teaching of religion, Moore asks us to recognize that a vigorous and effective scientific community is essential to our nation's health, to our leadership role in the world, and to the preservation of a healthy environment.

Customer Reviews:

A Disappointing Attempt to Both Recount the History of the Evolution/Creationism Debate, and to Refute Creationism.......2007-05-09

"From Genesis to Genetics" is one of several easy-to-read books about the debate over evolutionary biology and creationism. John Moore, a science textbook writer and emeritus professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside, tackles a difficult set of goals in this work. Written in an accessible style without reference notes--although there is a bibliography for further reading--it traces in broad overview the history of the debate from its origins in the nineteenth century to the recent past, commenting on its major permutations. It does not offer an extended account of the point/counterpoint of the various arguments in the debate.

Moore presents a view from 30,000 feet of the larger landscape of the evolution/creationism debate emphasizing broad synthesis rather than detailed analysis. He seeks to write a general history of the debate between evolution and creationism. But he also seeks to write a defense of evolution and a refutation of creationism. Those two tasks at a fundamental level are mutually exclusive and Moore fails to do either of them justice. As a work of history it takes a straight line trajectory over some two-hundred years of scientific thought, touching on how scientists have dealt with the fossil record, geology and the age of the Earth, the development of biological theory, and more modern themes in the biological sciences such as genetics. Whatever virtues as history "From Genesis to Genetics" might possess, it is a linear overview that excludes any social or cultural factors. Such simplicity baffles historians when reality is always more complex and interesting. Likewise, Moore's discussion of the history of Christianity, the development of creationist arguments, and the nature of higher criticism of the Bible also leaves much to be desired. No doubt, those in creationism's camp will recoil at the one-dimensional depiction of their position relative to religious history and scripture. In seeking also to offer a refutation of creationism and a defense of evolution, the author is equally stereotypical and unsophisticated.

Because it is neither fish nor fowl, I found the book less satisfying than other works on the subject. For those seeking a history of the debate between evolutionists and creationists the best book by far is Ronald L. Numbers, "The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design" (expanded edition, Harvard University Press, 2006). For those seeking a refutation of the creationist/intelligent design challenge a very good book is Mark Perakh, "Unintelligent Design" (Prometheus Books, 2003). For those wanting to read in an unfiltered way about creationism/intelligent design there are many publications; the most sophisticated of those recently published include the many books by William A. Dembski, Michael J. Behe, and Philip E. Johnson.

Found it very useful........2005-11-28

Previous reviewers have indicated that this book is a rehash of high school biology, to over-simplistically paraphrase them. But I needed a rehash of high school biology and how it relates to geological data. The book also introduced to me stuff that was entirely new. Using the book, I was able to put together a rough timeline of how the present-day bible came to be. This timeline is verifiable using other sources, and it is essential for arguing that, if one creation story in Genesis is to be considered, then BOTH contradictory stories in Genesis should be considered. Yes, the book could delve into this and aspects of biology more deeply, but it would have to be 1000 pages long. And yes, it was well worth sacrificing a weekend to read it.

The Creationist View of Science Explored.......2003-01-03

This book describes the way creationists approach evolution. If they can find just one thing that evolutionary biologists have yet to explain, they figure that one thing is enough to throw the whole thing out. Such a view is just wrong, and shows an abysmal understanding - or abuse - of science. There are more than enough transitional fossils to convince a fair minded skeptic, but no creationist would ever agree to classify anything as a transitional fossil. Not Archeoptryx, not Acanthostega (sp?), not the mammal-like reptiles. The beautiful documention of the evolution of the mammalian jaw from the reptilian jaw should convince anybody, but it will never convince a creationist.

Of course, there is a lot that scientists don't know about evolution. But there is a lot that we DO know, and there is just too much evidence to simply toss out evolution. This is a theory that will not go away, although I wouldn't be surprised to see it change as we learn more about genetics.

This book is not written for creationists, but for people who might be sympathetic to their cause. If people would learn more about the nature of science, they would be offended by the utter dishonesty and lack of integrity you find in scientific creationism.

Worth Reading.......2002-04-07

What a breadth of knowledge this man has! What humanity! What generousity of spirit! I read it in one sitting because I found it so fascinating. It was worth sacrificing a weekend.

Shows what evolution explains, but misses the point of faith.......2002-03-29

Why do we need another book that seems to explain 19th century scientific issues to a high school level audience ? The very real and serious undermining of science education that has been accomplished by various cultural movements in the United States seems to have forced us to retreat to this kind of reinforcement of basic scientific reasoning that previously could have been taken for granted.

The core of this book is a quick 20,000 foot high overview of the fossil record, Linnean taxonomy, the common cell structure, vestiges of evoltuon in embryological development, vestigal structures in fully developed organisms, layers of sediment, radiocarbon dating, and modern genetics. We get a good, if very simplified, presentation of the evidence that entire species of living things have appeared and gone extinct over the eons.

Moore also reviews the reasons why Biblical scholars have different interpretations of Genesis. Unfortunately, Moore never seems to fully appreciate why these modern lines of thought might not be convincing and might present a problem for a lot of people.

Between the lines you can sense the real frustration in this book, of science educators faced with the task of trying to teach to an audience relatively unaware of the tradition of causal models and scientific descriptions of the natural world, and better prepared to debate metaphysics than evaluate scientific theories.

Just as the transmission of heritable characteristics through reproduction requires a stable genome, the transmission of culture, whether it be scientific or religious in nature, requires a grounding of trust. The message we get from Moore is that his audience can't even be assumed to trust him that a Biblical narrative has a wholly different character than a scientific decription, they have to see it for themselves. And of course he doesn't trust his audience to even know that much.

Moore explains why each set of findings is better predicted by an evolutionary account than by the account in Genesis, even if it could be reconciled in some way with Genesis as an afterthought. He is more sympathetic to "faith" than anti-religious authors like Richard Dawkins, but he doesn't give his audience much credit at all.

Many aren't ever going to be convinced to stop trying to reconcile Genesis with science in some sense. There's an element of futility in some of Moore's arguments to take a view of faith as something useful and almost quaint.

We see how all sorts of predictions made by evolutionary theory were eventually validated by observations, and how the whole puzzle gradually has come together in the 20th century to eliminate nearly all the pieces that were missing in the 19th century when Darwin and Wallace first proposed a basic natural mechanism for natural selection.

Although it is all pretty much laid out here for them, I can't imagine that very many people who think it is their Christian duty to oppose evolutionary theory will be persuaded very far by this book to learn about evolutionary biology or let their children learn about it. Not because it isn't persuasive logically, but because it doesn't really address their blindspots nor their concerns realistically. It is sympathetic but not empathetic regarding relgious faith, it doesn't adequately address the nagging concern of creationists that naturalism regarding origins undermines morality.

Finally, the book doesn't go very far demonstrating what I think is the main *non-religious* conceptual sticking point of anti-evolutionists; how small variants can possibly accumulate in a meaningful way over time if nothing is guiding each act of selection. It seems fairly common to hear creationists arguing that it is unlikely for random mutations to ever add up to useful variation in structure. Clearly if we are to reach someone with that odd view of the process we have to find a way to describe to them in simple terms how the genome changes and how changes in the genome relate to changes in phenotype.

The most powerful notion of all and the whole point of Darwin's theory is that selective survival of variants cause stable features of the environment to guide the process, even without a plan. We can't expect someone to understand adaptation through natural selection if they are imagining that dinosaurs jumped off of cliffs until one finally achieved a useful mutation and sprouted wings and turned into a bird. This is very close to the account implied by the recent movie "X-Men," and I suspect that many consider this almost realistic.

Richard Dawkins is one of the most talented authors for describing the accumulation of tiny useful features, but Dawkins unfortunately is so hostile to religion that he is one of the least likely people to be read carefully by creationists, although he would be perhaps the most helpful for them conceptually if they sincerely want to understand the argument for adaptation through natural selection.

This is a good book, but if Moore had a more realistic understanding of the profound role of faith in the lives of most of Darwin's detractors and borrowed a few pages from Dawkins to illustrate the piecewise accumulation of features, it would have been even better. The logical structure and explanations for understanding the evidence for evolution are a little easier to follow here than in Ken Miller's "Finding Darwin's God," but that book does a better job addressing creationism more directly.

Of course, even with these changes, this still will not convince many of the "intelligent design" crowd about the importance of evolution in biology. Perhaps Pennock's recent book on "Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics" would be a good supplement as well, if it indeed still makes sense to argue 19th century creationism in 21st century biology classes in order to teach evolution.

Book Description

"Original, delightful, and full of ideas."--Robert Kirshner, Harvard University, author of "The Extravagant Universe"

One of the hottest areas in science today is what we are learning at the place where physics meets biology. Among many revelations from this exciting cutting edge of research, Fred Adams relates an idea that would be a radical change in the way we think of the genesis of life. Specifically, life didn't start as pond scum in some primordial oozing lake, but rather in a deep biosphere underground, protected from the continuous bombardment of the Earth's surface that astrophysicists are now certain must have been occurring when life emerged. The genesis of life was IN our planet, not on it! What are the fundamental laws of physics? What was the big bang? How did galaxies form? How did stars form? How did planets form? How did life evolve? Once there was gravity, was life inevitable? Are we alone in the multiverse? A theory of everything is not just about the universe anymore, now it is about the living multiverse.

Customer Reviews:

Unfair To Book Consumers.......2004-06-17

While this is a good book, it is little more than a re-issue of the author's previous book "The Origins of Existence" (which I enjoyed). I find it disturbing and frankly insulting that the author and publisher do not make this fact more transparent to consumers. Why should readers have to pay twice for the same material? Also, I get a bit turned off by science books that attempt to make parallels (even superficially) with religious scripture, as they (sometimes unintentionally) perpetuate the false notion that science and religion are compatible. At any rate, I would recommend this book or the author's previous book for up-to-date views of contemporary cosmology and "the big picture". But readers beware: they are one and the same!

Well chosen topics, not so well written..........2004-01-23

I like this book. It is enlightening and contains a multitude of information put together in a well defined format.
However...
I found the book quite difficult to read, both because of its use of the language and by the convoluted way the author went about explaining concepts. To give an example, I have studied thermodynamics and have come across dozens of descriptions of entropy but this one seemed the hardest to get through.
Some places you get fed the simplest information. And I understand why, since the author cannot assume every reader have the proper background.
But: You read two paragraphs describing analog vs. digital information, and then you get a sentence like this: "In one theory, the high-energy space-time of the background is subject to quantum fluctuations that cause small portions of the space-time to attain high potential energies for the inflation field."
I don't know if it's just me, but I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to find many people who lack the knowledge of the former concepts but can understand the latter (sentence).
So again, it is a good book, not well written. I'd say read it, but it's not ecstasy.

An old book renamed.......2004-01-01

It appears "Our Living Multiverse" is a reissue of "Origins of Existence". So far, I've been unable to locate where this is mentioned by the publisher. It's a shame such a great book was reissued under a new name without clearly so stating in its description.

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