Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA
by Daniel J. Fairbanks
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel J. FairbanksEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-12-13
ISBN: 1591025648
Number of pages: 281
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Book Reviews of Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA
Book Review: A superb book that makes a good but not great case for evolution.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought relics of Eden yesterday and was surprised at how quickly I was able to go through the book and how its interesting its been. So far I've gotten up to page 50 and appreciate how the author has taken a fairly complex topic,molecular markers for evolution, and presented it so well to an educated lay audience.
The books is good but I don't think its great. What the author does is that he likens our DNA to a messy storage attic which may have some useful items but tends to filled with "junk". Both the "junk" and useful stuff are very similar for closer species than they are for less related species. The difference between the "stuff" in the attic increases as species diverge.
Relics of Eden is wonderful in the sense that the author documents changes and similarities between species as proof of evolution. However I feel that if I didn't understand how mutation rates could be used as genetic "clocks" for determining when species split off from one another(A theme that he mentions implicitly but doesn't really go into any detail about, well at least where I am in the book) then I think it would be more difficult to grasp the crux of his argument.
The book is good but I think you really need some background in evolution to fully appreciate what the author is saying and the consequences of his proof and arguments.
I also couldn't imagine handing this book to a creationist and tell him to read it with an open mind. The book is written with the implicit assumption that reader already accepts evolution as the truth. There is nothing wrong with that but most people who buy this book are probably staunch evolutionists to begin with and the author is in effect preaching to the choir.
However if you attempted to bring up some of the points in this book to a creationist I really don't think they would get you anywhere.
I think evolutionists and creationists will always disagree but I do think that's it better to have that discourse citing good rather than bad material.
As a pastor once said during a congregation. He's tired of having people watch the Discovery Channel and telling him what some CGI enhanced documentary said about evolution. Although I disagree with Pastor Mike on quite a few things regarding creationism and genetics I will agree that its alot better for someone to read Relics of Eden than attempt to argue with a creationist based on what they see on the "Discovery Channel". Even now the thought makes my stomach turn.
Summary of Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA
Since the publication in 1859 of Darwin's Origin of Species, debate over the theory of evolution has been continuous and often impassioned. In recent years, opponents of "Darwin's dangerous idea" have mounted history's most sophisticated and generously funded attack, claiming that evolution is "a theory in crisis." Ironically, these claims are being made at a time when the explosion of information from genome projects has revealed the most compelling and overwhelming evidence of evolution ever discovered. Much of the latest evidence of human evolution comes not from our genes, but from so-called "junk DNA," leftover relics of our evolutionary history that make up the vast majority of our DNA.Relics of Eden explores this powerful DNA-based evidence of human evolution. The "relics" are the millions of functionally useless but scientifically informative remnants of our evolutionary ancestry trapped in the DNA of every person on the planet. For example, the analysis of the chimpanzee and Rhesus monkey genomes shows indisputable evidence of the human evolutionary relationship with other primates. Over 95 percent of our genome is identical with that of chimpanzees and we also have a good deal in common with other animal species.
Author Daniel J. Fairbanks also discusses what DNA analysis reveals about where humans originated. The diversity of DNA sequences repeatedly confirms the archeological evidence that humans originated in sub-Saharan Africa (the "Eden" of the title) and from there migrated through the Middle East and Asia to Europe, Australia, and the Americas.
In conclusion, Fairbanks confronts the supposed dichotomy between evolution and religion, arguing that both science and religion are complementary ways to seek truth. He appeals to the vast majority of Americans who hold religious convictions not to be fooled by the pseudoscience of Creationists and Intelligent Design advocates and to abandon the false dichotomy between religion and real science.
This concise, very readable presentation of recent genetic research is completely accessible to the nonspecialist and makes for enlightening and fascinating reading.
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