Evolution

Evolution, Second Edition
$108.95
Buyer easy to contact, flexible and helpful. Product received in good time and in great condition

Science, Evolution, and Creationism
$12.95
I read this book just to see what "the other side" was saying. There is plenty of scientific, proven evidence to support Creationism....you just have to look in the right places (Answers in Genesis is one of them). Plenty of former evolution-supporting scientists have come out in favor of Creationism, stating that it makes a lot more since than believing that complex human beings evolved from apes. HELLO? Don't waste your time reading this book.

Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story
$17.00
Perhaps the most fundamental question is: "where did we come from?". This wonderful book addresses that question head on from a secular, scientific point of view, starting with the first life forms on Earth. It walks us through the major evolutionary steps along the path, and ends up with us humans. Along the way, it discusses our ancestors of the period, and what is new about them (forelimbs, lungs, warm bloodedness, walking upright). It also captures critical events in the history of life on earth (e.g. the great dying at end of Permian, just before the dinosaurs). About 2 billion adults on this planet would learn a lot by reading this book, but it is just perfect for little kids. The prose is artfully and clearly written, and the illustrations are simple but appealing. I have never seen a book that teaches our evolutionary heritage more clearly to a young audience! My kids wanted me to read it to them multiple times.

Evolution: The First Four Billion Years
$39.95
Let me start by affirming that I would be regarded as what one author in this book, Eugenie C. Scott, persistently calls antievolutionist (p.370, ff). That label, however, covers the entire spectrum of opponents of Darwinism, who differ in various ways, especially in that only some reject evolution as a whole, while many reject its purported mechanism.

This mechanism is set down firmly in the Foreword by Edward O. Wilson (p.vii): "So solidly have the fields of biology built upon the Darwinian conception of evolution that it makes sense today to recognize it as one of the two laws...that govern our understanding of life. The first law is that all the elements and processes that define living organisms are ultimately obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry... The second law...is that all elements and processes defining living organisms have been generated by evolution through natural selection."

The questioning of natural selection is the most common objection of opponents. Less common is questioning that all is governed by the laws of physics and chemistry, a questioning that comprises virtual heresy. The known argument against natural selection is that organisms are not the implied result of "blind" natural forces, but are the product of "intelligent design". It is not a clear part of this argument that if natural forces alone are not held adequate for the formation of organisms, then an additional creative force should be posited.

This reviewer has consistently tried to call attention to another factor concerning "our understanding of life" (see 2nd paragraph above): that among the "elements and processes defining living organisms" are their live activities, directed at self-preservation. The cause of this goal-directed, purposive, process can justifiably be regarded as a force distinct from the undirected natural forces solely responsible for lifeless events, in agreement somewhat with Henri Bergson's vital force ("���lan vital", pp.446-7 of the book now reviewed), to which "[t]oday, few would openly subscribe".

It should accordingly be reiterated that the foremost law "that govern[s] our understanding of life" is the great property distinguishing it from the lifeless: the purpose of self-preservation. Yet it is sad to say that the index of this massive tome on life includes neither self-preservation nor purpose. I marked the volume for two stars because of its rich scholarship regardless, aided by many illustrations.