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Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin Of Animal Life And The Case For Intelligent Design (2013)

by Stephen C. Meyer(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062071475 (ISBN13: 9780062071477)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

HarperOne

review 1: I thought I should at least have read one ID book, just to see what these people think. It is ultimately not very interresting actually. All sorts of outdates theories are brushed off (no one really thinks of the Cambrium in terms of an explosion anymore), a lot of flimsy information theory is introduced (which, on close reading, mostly shows the author's intellectual limits) and the author seems to have missed the bus on quite a lot of current genetics. There are plenty of technical reviews by competent people who point out the sometimes fairly basic mistakes the author makes to be found on the web (I like the one by Don Prothero). But what is most puzzling is the strange logic underlying the book. Suppose the author is right and the Cambrium explosion nor the evolution o... moref new traits and species can be explained with current neo-Darwinian insights. The only thing that he would have proved then is that there is something seriously wrong with evolution biology. He has not shown that nature is designed. It is not a case of either Darwin or design. Darwin could be wrong, but that does not automatically imply Paley is right.
review 2: Meyer seems determined to show what happens when one wanders across the hallway and starts poking around in another person's cupboard--interesting, even apparently provocative things will be found. But without adequate context, background, and insight, these things are easy to misunderstand or misrepresent. This Meyer does too frequently, and the mistake is not addressed by seeking out and engaging the best arguments of the opponents--though I do believe that Meyer thinks he has done so. The book reads, however, too much like the sort of thing he takes to task in his opponents: a conclusion is determined, and the book researched to support it. This sort of thing is common in this arena, however, and so the reader should perhaps not be too harsh in judgment. Nonetheless, the conclusions reached are not nearly so well supported as Meyer believes, and his failure to recognize same weakens both his argument and, unfortunately, his credibility as built by his work here.This book is useful to prod thinking from other perspectives, but it is not dispositive, and a reader should not consider it so. That said, there are many who could help move the debate along by engaging Meyer. Too many of those so capable, however, shun the debate, refusing to "dignify" what they see as religious nonsense. But they will then bemoan the confusion/ignorance of those who think or believe as Meyer and others do. To them I say one can't have it both ways. Richard Dawkins will never persuade a Christian of anything beyond perhaps the day of the week, and following his lead will not win converts. Likewise, Christians bemoaning the anti-religious campaigns of science should seek peaceful, reasonable discussion, acknowledging at the beginning that some of what they think true could be wrong. (Scientists sometimes need reminded of this, too.) Believers in an omnipotent God of the Judeo-Christian sort should recall that they claim that all truth is God's truth, from wherever it may first be heard. And human understanding, while remarkable in its abilities and capacity, remains an imperfect tool. less

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