Darklighter
June 19, 2008, 12:39 PM
I just wanted to give my review of Donald Prothero's Evolution: What The Fossils Say And Why It Matters (http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-What-Fossils-Say-Matters/dp/0231139624/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213889359&sr=8-1). I'm not sure how many of you have heard of this book as it's reletivaly new (2007), but I highly recommend it.
Since I've always been interested in the more "physical" sciences like well, physics and astronomy, I realized during my deconversion that I need to educate myself on the basics of evolution. In addition to other sources, this book helps to accomplish that extremely well. It's constructed to counter the creationist claim that "There are no transitional fossils", and after reading this book I'm suprised anyone can even utter those words without their God striking them with lightning, since NOTHING could be further from the truth.
Right off the bat, Prothero educates us on just what science is, and what it isn't, and why creationism (or ID for that matter) has no place in science. After briefly talking about the plausibility of abiogenesis, Prothereo lays out the transitions from simple single celled life to multicelled, and then from soft bodied organisms to ones with hard parts. Completely destroying the "Cambrian Explosion" myth, turning it instead into a "slow-fuse". The reason it appears to explode (superficially anyway) is because soft parts don't fossilize well, and that was when hard parts were becoming more common! Then he goes into the transitions from invertebrates to chordates to full-on backbones. From Fish to amphibian (shockingly perfect transitions!). Amphibian to amniotes and reptiles and dinosaurs. Dinosaurs to birds (again... shocking!). Then from amniote to synapsid to mammals. His chapter on the 'Mamalian Explosion' is a particularly satisfying read, touching on the human's favorite mammals: cats and dogs. I was suprised to learn that bears are caniforms and are closely related to... dogs. He then spends some time on some specific cases of the evolution of some of our comtemporary mamalian cousins; like the horse, the rhinocerous, and the girraffids. The latter is particularly interesting because one battle cry of the creationists has been: "Why havn't there been any giraffes found with necks 1/2 as long as they are today?!?!" Well as of just recently... THEY HAVE! He then describes the transition of ancient hippo-like carnivorous mammals to modern whales and dolphins (ask a creationist, "Why did God create whales with non-functional legs?"). And of course, he provides the expected devestating case for human evolution.
Prothero even touches on the weak foundation that creationism rests on in the first place. He debunks the biblical descriptions of creation, and so-called flood-geology, and even touches on the documentary hypothesis.
Prothero is a geologist and a paleontologist. He actually has his hands in the dirt, rocks, and fossils. He is actually researching and making discoveries. Unlike the creationist critics who have no qualifications of their own and must resort to quote-mining and deceit to make their case.
In short, Prothero proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a veritable flip-book of documented transitional forms all the way from single celled organisms to homo sapiens.
How any one could deny this evidence is astounding. How I denied this amazing evidence for so many years is astounding.
~~~~~
Prothereo pretty much refutes every claim that creationists have ever made and explains things in easy to understand terms. And even provides his arguements with a light dose of humour. With my own understanding of evolution being pretty weak, this book has been a gawd-send, and has given me a great desire to deepen that understanding.
If you live your life surrounded by creationists... this is the perfect all-in-one book to have on hand.
Since I've always been interested in the more "physical" sciences like well, physics and astronomy, I realized during my deconversion that I need to educate myself on the basics of evolution. In addition to other sources, this book helps to accomplish that extremely well. It's constructed to counter the creationist claim that "There are no transitional fossils", and after reading this book I'm suprised anyone can even utter those words without their God striking them with lightning, since NOTHING could be further from the truth.
Right off the bat, Prothero educates us on just what science is, and what it isn't, and why creationism (or ID for that matter) has no place in science. After briefly talking about the plausibility of abiogenesis, Prothereo lays out the transitions from simple single celled life to multicelled, and then from soft bodied organisms to ones with hard parts. Completely destroying the "Cambrian Explosion" myth, turning it instead into a "slow-fuse". The reason it appears to explode (superficially anyway) is because soft parts don't fossilize well, and that was when hard parts were becoming more common! Then he goes into the transitions from invertebrates to chordates to full-on backbones. From Fish to amphibian (shockingly perfect transitions!). Amphibian to amniotes and reptiles and dinosaurs. Dinosaurs to birds (again... shocking!). Then from amniote to synapsid to mammals. His chapter on the 'Mamalian Explosion' is a particularly satisfying read, touching on the human's favorite mammals: cats and dogs. I was suprised to learn that bears are caniforms and are closely related to... dogs. He then spends some time on some specific cases of the evolution of some of our comtemporary mamalian cousins; like the horse, the rhinocerous, and the girraffids. The latter is particularly interesting because one battle cry of the creationists has been: "Why havn't there been any giraffes found with necks 1/2 as long as they are today?!?!" Well as of just recently... THEY HAVE! He then describes the transition of ancient hippo-like carnivorous mammals to modern whales and dolphins (ask a creationist, "Why did God create whales with non-functional legs?"). And of course, he provides the expected devestating case for human evolution.
Prothero even touches on the weak foundation that creationism rests on in the first place. He debunks the biblical descriptions of creation, and so-called flood-geology, and even touches on the documentary hypothesis.
Prothero is a geologist and a paleontologist. He actually has his hands in the dirt, rocks, and fossils. He is actually researching and making discoveries. Unlike the creationist critics who have no qualifications of their own and must resort to quote-mining and deceit to make their case.
In short, Prothero proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a veritable flip-book of documented transitional forms all the way from single celled organisms to homo sapiens.
How any one could deny this evidence is astounding. How I denied this amazing evidence for so many years is astounding.
~~~~~
Prothereo pretty much refutes every claim that creationists have ever made and explains things in easy to understand terms. And even provides his arguements with a light dose of humour. With my own understanding of evolution being pretty weak, this book has been a gawd-send, and has given me a great desire to deepen that understanding.
If you live your life surrounded by creationists... this is the perfect all-in-one book to have on hand.