Evolution: The Grand Experiment
by Carl Werner
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Book Summary Information
Author: Carl WernerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-08
ISBN: 0892216816
Number of pages: 262
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
Book Reviews of Evolution: The Grand Experiment
Book Review: Evidence for Natural Selection
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Carl Werner has done us a huge favor in writing this book. You learn a lot from it really. There is so much basic information here that people should be aware of in the Evolution debate. His references are very helpful and his writing is pretty fair. He really does do a grand experiment and even has a discussion with leading scientists to get their personal take on their areas of expertise.
For example, on the discussion on one of the supposed ancestors of whales, Rodhocetus, throughout evolution he interviews the discoverer of the Rodhocetus fossil, Phil Gingerich, to see if he himself believed that this was an ancestor of whales like most macroevolutionists believe and he said no. The tail and legs are missing and yet museums still draw in a tail that resembles that of a whale when there is no evidence at all for assuming their tails to be similar to a modern whale's tail.
Also he interviews Dr. John Long, who has written wonderful evolutionary works like The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution on prehistorical fish and is definitely an authority on ancient prehistoric fish. Dr. Long admits to there being lots of "mystery" to the rise of fishes when Werner asks some important but tough questions on the evolution of fishes. This is very revealing and enlightening.
I personally am amazed at how he interviews more non-creationists than creationists and gets some strange answers to some tough questions on macroevolution from macroevolutionists.
Very well balanced book and lots and lots of pictures from museums all around the world. Also he does do a few experiments that even you can try at home such as spontaneous generation, which in the end, does not happen at all. In this sense this book is a bit interactive with it's readers. There is also a bit of detailed discussions on living fossils, evolution of dinosaurs, and other good things.
There is also a DVD set going to come out at some point and also another volume specifically on Living Fossils Evolution: The Grand Experiment: Vol. 2 - Living Fossils.
A Living fossil is just a creature that lived in the distant past and has not evolved much at all (in terms of micro and macro speciation) and is found alive today. Coelacanths are one example of living fossils what did not evolve during their 300 million years (from the Devonian Period) or so of existing even though biologists like Richard Dawkins believe that humans ultimately evolved from them. Read Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution to see what I mean. Also Take a look at Lamarck's historical work on evolution via acquired characteristics due to environment changes, it has a ring of truth for many who believe all species macro evolved and is still prevalent today believe it or not (through concepts like "memes" and also when people talk teleologically on why certain attributes evolved or when they talk about "benefits" of evolutionary change) and God or purposeful mind was in the picture in Lamarck's evolutionary theory: Zoological Philosophy, An Exposition with Regard to the Natural History of Animals and also look at Alfred Russel Wallace's (the "co-discoverer" of "natural selection" with Darwin) Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays.
Here is a synopsis of the book by Chapter:
1. Options for the Origins of Life
2. Spontaneous Generation
3. Acquired Characteristics
4. Natural Selection and Chance Mutation
5. Similarities of Species
6. The Fossil Record and Darwin's Prediction
7. The Fossil Record of Invertebrates
8. The Fossil Record of Fish
9. The Fossil Record of Bats
10. The Fossil Records of Sea lions and Seals
11. The Fossil Record of Flying Reptiles
12. The Fossil Record of Dinosaurs
13. The Fossil Record of Whales
14. The Fossil Record of Birds : Archaeopteryx
15. The Fossil Record of Birds : Feathered Dinosaurs
16. The Fossil Record of Flowering Plants
17. Formation of DNA
18. Formation of Proteins
19. Formation of Amino Acids
20. Evolution: Points of Controversy
Overall, Bravo for Carl Werner! He truly is an honest seeker of truth and a well organized scientist too. This book deserves to get a wide audience.
Micro and macro evolutionists (general "evolutionists" including "creation evolutionists") and micro evolutionists (all "creationists". Yes everyone believes at least in micro evolution [how do you get the varieties of humans i.e. Latinos, Africans, Middle Easterners, Asians and Caucasians from one couple? Or even varieties of finches?]) should read this book and question their beliefs to see it their view of origins of and evolution of life are plausible and warranted by natural evidence and nature alone.
"Read against the grain"
Also another book on evolution that I think is nice and interesting yet annoying when the author goes on a rant about creationists (seriously why can't paleontologists, biologists, and zoologists just state their evidence and stop giving low blows on creationists when they write books to general audiences? Even creationists don't believe half the stuff some authors accuse them them of believing.) is Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters. For a biochemical discussion on the synthesis and plausible, but empirically deficient theories on how life first started please read: The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology. For more details on the rapid diversification of body plans and phyla of species, which contradicts Wallace-Darwinian predictions, please read The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life.
For information on the new evolutionary theory that is going to go beyond Darwin's purposed mechanism and how molecular data has challenged the Wallace-Darwinian gradual evolution by interviews with molecular evolutionary biologists and astrobiologists that feel the need to propose a newer evolutionary synthesis, please read The Altenberg 16: An Exposé of the Evolution Industry and Evolution – the Extended Synthesis.
And also look at the reassessment of the status of evolutionary theory in light of information from the genome in these papers published in journals from the National Institutes of Health where they keep data on genomes from many different species:
"SURVEY AND SUMMARY Darwinian evolution in the light of genomics" and "The Origin at 150: is a new evolutionary synthesis in sight?" both by Eugene V. Koonin. They shed light on what has been both right, wrong and outdated material used in evolutionary biology in light of recent massive molecular data from genomes.
Summary of Evolution: The Grand Experiment
Evolution has been dogma for so long, now many people consider it a foregone conclusion that life arose by random processes. Evolution: The Grand Experiment takes the unusual step of bringing together scientists on both sides of this cultural divide to present their findings. The reader is allowed to make up his or her mind as to which view is supported by the evidence. Intended for a general audience, the book is comprehensive, easy to read, and the conclusions are startling.Christianity Books
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