A logical book on the reality and truth of evolution. A 'must read'!

books:


	• Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters Donald R. Prothero Columbia University Press, 2007 - 408 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A logical book on the reality and truth of evolution. A 'must read'!

This is a SUPERB and utterly FASCINATING book on the logic and proof of evolution, presented in more or less easy to grasp 'laymans terms'. It is a perfect marriage of undisputed science and fact coupled with superb charts and photos that bolster the beauty and truth of evolution. Most of the latest discoveries and science are discussed as well, in regards to further cementing the proof of evolution. Sadly, the extreme, fanatical, 'out of touch' elements of Christianity have desperately used religion/God as a 'power-play' to attempt to discredit evolution, using nothing but outright lies and 'knee jerk' distortions to try and further their own misguided agendas. Little do they realize that legions of Christians or others who believe in a God, also believe in the truth and logic of evolution. Which of course, makes them appear all the more foolish and delusionary. Prothero literally annihilates their infantile thinking and assertions, and makes them look like the fools that they are! This is one of the best books I have read on the subject, and should be required reading for every high school student in the United States (before more of them become brainwashed by the Creationists and Intelligent Design buffoons and whackos).

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Will this book prove effective?

A society driving an eminent scientist to produce a book such as this is in need of some serious reflective thinking. Prothero's account is not the first such investigation of the clash of science and superstition, but it ranks as one of the most thorough and revealing. Although this is a work of science, it is also a campaign manifesto. The author is eager to expose the fallacies of "Christian" creationism and the duplicitous methods used to foster it. The account may appear strident in some places, but it's too well researched - at many levels - and too well written to dismiss it as purely polemical. Above all, it's a needed work, deserving serious attention.

Evolution, he declares forthrightly, is real. The fossils support it in too many ways to be subjected to doubt. Those who try to erode the idea or dismiss the evidence are mistaken, misdirected and often malicious in their methods. Let there be no uncertainty, the panorama of life is there to see. There are many ways of confirming how animal life has varied over time and Prothero takes us through the analysis tools used to assess the evidence. Radiometric dating should be well understood by now, but creationists still find ways to attempt to challenge it. We learn about taxonomy and cladistics, one of the more arcane aspects of fossil analysis. Molecular analysis, what DNA can tell us about the past is, of course, the fastest growing field in palaeontology.

These tools, applied to the fossils and the environment they were found in, establish the relationships demonstrating that challenging evolution is a meaningless enterprise. Still, the challengers continue to emerge. Prothero's prime target in his account is Duane Gish. The Institute for Creation Research. Gish, who seems to have been around at least since the Noachean Flood, still plods the lecture circuit, where Prothero demolished his presentation at least once. Prothero notes that ICR publications, and Gish's lecture presentations are, at best two decades behind what real research has revealed. Prothero is scathing about those who can write of palaeontology without even gotten their hands dirty doing field work. Even creationism's illegitimate offspring, "Intelligent Design", fares no better in the author's hands. If a "designer" was involved in prompting evolution, It botched the job. Why so many forms of wings, for example, when one or two would suffice? Wings and hands are physically related through what palaeontologists call "homology". As Prothero ably demonstrates, adaptations of similar bone arrangements through time produced wings and hands in various animals. Creationists, who continue to call for "missing links" want the entire process lined out in exquisite detail. That's not likely in the world in which fossils form.

Prothero then describes the emergence of early life. His discussion of the Cambrian Period - once referred to as the "Cambrian Explosion" - and its precursor "The Garden of Ediacara" makes an excellent read. He goes on to the value of invertebrate fossils, most notably the formenifera, in showing the slow, but discernable progress of life over time. Vertebrates, who form the beginnings of our own body plan with a backbone, brain and vision systems, are well depicted. In "The Great Leap Upward", he explains how some of those vertebrates learned to live on land. The lobe-finned fishes led the way, and the recent find of Tiktaalik in Canada, gives much information on how they did it. More significant is the revelation of what body plan changes could lead to dinosaurs, primates, and us.

In his conclusion, "Why Does It Matter?", the author answers the question in two ways. First, he castigates his fellow "Christians" for using deceit and deception in thinking they are reinforcing their faith by deluding others about the validity of evolution. The story of the roots of who we are is too important to dismiss or take lightly. Such tactics must be kept out of classrooms - particularly in the US where Constitutional strictures apply [lucky US!]. Most important of all, he urges, the movement is creating a scientifically illiterate population. In a highly competitive technological world, such a condition bodes ill. Denial of evolution, he notes, reaches into domestic realms such as health care and agriculture. Allowing ideologues influence into the political realm is liable to result bad decisions with long-term effects. How to avoid such ill-considered eventualities? The place to start is here, by reading this book carefully, shedding as much as possible preconceived notions about life and how it works. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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An Excellent Book for learning about Fossils and how they evolved

This is an excellent book, with very good illustrations, that is an excellent introduction to paleontology for any age. The information is up to date, and the author makes a case that we should not abandon reason and evidence to hang on to select sentences in the Bible as being literally true.

To me there is no problem with the belief that there is a God as well as the belief in Evolution, as seen from the fossil record. Who is to say that evolution was not the way creation was started, while the story was simplified in the Bible?

I especially enjoyed the section on the evolution of dinosaurs. My only quibble is that the print was a bit small, as most technical books are.

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Deal with it!

"What the fossils say and why it matters." It is hard to live in the U.S. without hearing or hearing of so-called Creationists claiming things like there are no fossils transitional between species, but I was not well aware until recently of how well funded and how damaging to our school system that they are. They are unabashed with their ignorance and dishonesty and the serious extent to which they are harming the education of our children. Nearly all legitimate scientists ignore them, but not vast millions of children and their parents. So it is important and refreshing to find a "real" scientist in Prothero to explain what paleontology has done over the last century, especially the last 20 years. And it is mind boggling to see the incontrovertible evidence for evolution. As Michael Shermer says: "It happened. Deal with it."

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Over the past twenty years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.

The fossil record is now one of the strongest lines of evidence for evolution. In this engaging and richly illustrated book, Donald R. Prothero weaves an entertaining though intellectually rigorous history out of the transitional forms and series that dot the fossil record. Beginning with a brief discussion of the nature of science and the "monkey business of creationism," Prothero tackles subjects ranging from flood geology and rock dating to neo-Darwinism and macroevolution. He covers the ingredients of the primordial soup, the effects of communal living, invertebrate transitions, the development of the backbone, the reign of the dinosaurs, the mammalian explosion, and the leap from chimpanzee to human. Prothero pays particular attention to the recent discovery of "missing links" that complete the fossil timeline and details the debate between biologists over the mechanisms driving the evolutionary process.

Evolution is an absorbing combination of firsthand observation, scientific discovery, and trenchant analysis. With the teaching of evolution still an issue, there couldn't be a better moment for a book clarifying the nature and value of fossil evidence. Widely recognized as a leading expert in his field, Prothero demonstrates that the transformation of life on this planet is far more awe inspiring than the narrow view of extremists.

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