books:

	The Top 10 Myths About Evolution Cameron M. Smith, Charles Sullivan Prometheus Books, 2006 - 200 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In this concise, accessible, "myth-buster?s handbook," educators Cameron M. Smith and Charles Sullivan clearly dispel the ten most common myths about evolution, which continue to mislead average Americans. Using a refreshing, jargon-free style, they set the record straight on claims that evolution is "just a theory," that Darwinian explanations of life undercut morality, that Intelligent Design is a legitimate alternative to conventional science, that humans come from chimpanzees, and six other popular but erroneous notions.

Smith and Sullivan?s reader-friendly, solidly researched text will serve as an important tool, both for teachers and laypersons seeking accurate information about evolution.

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An invaluable resource on evolution

Humorist Dave Barry remarked once:

"I constantly see evidence that Americans do not understand basic scientific principles. For example, the great mathematician and dead person Sir Isaac Newton (who also invented gravity) proved in 1853 that, no matter how hard you push, you cannot fit an object into an airplane storage compartment if the object is way bigger than the compartment. Americans still do not understand this."

Unfortunately, this is also true about the average American's knowledge about evolution.

Cameron Smith and Charles Sullivan clearly debunk the ten most common accusations made against evolution. Explaining it in layman's terms, Smith and Sullivan set the record straight on things like evolution is "just a theory", evolution is immoral, Intelligent Design is legitimate science, humans come from monkeys and six other claims made by opponents of scientific inquiry.

The book is very well written and researched and is an invaluable source for the average person who wants to read the facts about this topic. I am sure the authors had the fact that many people (my self included) do not remember what they were taught in school since people usually think of science as boring.

This book is sorely needed due to the lack of knowledge, misinformation in the media as well as supporters of creationism and un-Intelligent Design who deliberately lie about evolution and try to present their pseudo-science as fact.

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10 myths is a very interesting read

I was surprised that some of the information I knew as fact, was really a myth! I learned a lot about myself as well as humanity.


Excellent and very readable intro to evolution

"Misconceptions" would be a better word in the title than "myths," but no matter. I give this very readable book five stars because of its educational value. Reading this book is an excellent introduction to the basis and the ideas of Darwinian evolution, as well as providing talking points to refute the specious argument of creationists and "intelligent designers."

The first misconception is in the common interpretation of the phrase "the survival of the fittest." The Darwinian jungle is indeed a jungle (and a savannah, an ocean, a river, a desert, etc.), but the key to survival--being "fit" and successfully reproducing--usually has a lot less to do with how sharp your claws or how great your physical strength. Rather it has to do with how well you can make a living in the environment you find yourself in. Fitness implies such things as a good immune system, the ability to co-operate with other living things, perhaps the ability to eat a wide variety of foods, or an abundant food that will not disappear, and so on. Being able to kick butt big time is probably not a good example of fitness.

Second misconception: "It's just a theory." Yes, and a tiger is just a cat. Or, would you believe that it is very remotely possible that the earth is not round. Or, yes it is possible that only I exist and I am just dreaming up all this stuff. Actually, evolution is as much of an established fact as any theory can be. A theory, by the way, as used by scientists, isn't just an unproven idea. It is "a logical, tested, well-supported explanation for a great variety of facts." The "theory" of evolution is supported by the fossil record and the analysis of the DNA of living organisms. It is demonstrated in our lifetimes by the adaptation of microorganism such as disease bacteria. And perhaps even more importantly, its three main processes of replication, variation, and selection, remain the basis of biological understanding in a host of sciences from medicine to ecology.

Third: There is a ladder of progress (the "great chain of being") from the most primitive to the most advanced organisms (from microbes to us!). Actually the idea of progress is purely an anthropomorphic one; and the idea that evolution has some goal, ditto. Evolution is eternally a phenomenon of the here and now without any concern for the future. True, organisms have become more complex, but that is only because they couldn't have gone in the other direction! A random walk away from a wall will show, as time passes, footsteps at a greater and greater distance from the wall.

Fourth: there is a missing link that is missing. There are intermediate forms that have been discovered; and more will be discovered in the future. The fossil record is necessarily limited since very, very few of the organisms that have ever existed are fossilized. Furthermore, the transformation from one species to the other is not from one fixed type to another but from the observation of a living thing at one moment in time to the observation of another very similar living thing at another moment in time.

Fifth: Evolution is random. Mutations are random, but changes in species are anything but random. The changes are sculptured by the environment.

Sixth: People come from monkeys. We had a common ancestor with chimpanzees some six million years ago, and millions of years before that we and modern monkeys had a common ancestor. Actually if you go back far enough we are descended from pond scum. And so what if we were descended from monkeys? Some people seem to think that our close relationship with other animals is somehow demeaning. Silly.

Seventh: Nature is in perfect balance. Truth is nature is in constant flux. Balance is in the eyes of the beholder. The earth's ecological balance is an ever changing, temporary thing. At one time the "balance" was characterized by most of life finding oxygen poisonous. At another time the balance was a "snowball" earth. Who knows what the future balance will be?

Eighth: Creationism disproves evolution. Creationism is really just a kind of fairy tale, a mythology that appeals to the need of some people to feel close to their idea of God. It's a way of giving a spurious meaning to life.

Ninth: Intelligent Design is science. Actually that would be unintelligent design, and it is not science at all. Instead, ID is creationism in a tux, as some wag put it. The key misconception of ID is that we or any organism was designed. Organisms grow; they evolve. If they were designed by an intelligent designer, one imagines that they would not have as many flaws. ID is a political movement that attempts to acquire the power and prestige of science. It's a yearning for the authoritarian rule of the Dark Ages.

Ten: Evolution is immoral. Evolution is of course amoral or non-moral. What is, is from a moralistic point of view, not necessarily what ought to be. Is does not imply ought. Morality is a human idea. By the way, people who understand evolution are just as moral, or even more so, than the followers of e.g., Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and George W. Bush.

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Great idea, but won't convince the fence-sitters

First of all, those who believe in the power of science to understand the natural world should breathe a sigh of relief. This book is not an attack on the theory of evolution. Thankfully, it is an attempt to disabuse the pro-evolution layman of certain commonly-held misunderstandings about the way evolution works. "Survival of the fittest," for instance, does not require animals to war with each other. A woodpecker can be relatively unfit in comparison to another by dint of a tiny difference in hearing, allowing one bird to catch a few more bugs and have more baby woodpeckers. Human beings are not the pinnacle of creation, though we may be agents of its destruction! That we happen to be the top dog in many of the Earth's ecosystems today is happenstance; evolution has not been toiling for eons to produce us. A little change in the environment, and we would go the way of the dodo.

The final two chapters veer from the book's approach in order to attack both so-called Creation Science and Intelligent Design theory. In particular, the authors go after ID's theory of irreducible complexity -- the idea that certain biological structures -- the eye or the flagellum of of a bacterium -- are far too complicated to have been designed by anything but a divine Creator.

As a pro-evolutionist (and devout theist, I might add), I congratulate the authors on their intent. However, the volume serves more as a reminder to the layman of how evolution can be misunderstood. At only 200 pages, the book is far too sketchy to persuade the doubter that evolution is the best way to explain the disparate lifeforms we encounter on Earth today. From a personal perspective, I have been more persuaded by the books of Stephen Jay Gould, Jared Diamond, Matt Ridley and others. These authors tell the "back story" -- the analysis of the panda's thumb or junk DNA -- that leads the reader to the same conclusions as the author.

As a lay reader who has done a fair amount of reading about the topic, I found this book somewhat wanting. It will neither nourish the devotee of evolutionary science nor persuade the doubter. But it does a decent job of summarizing currently-accepted conclusions about what evolution is and what it is not. And the cover photo of a seemingly-shocked white-faced capuchin (I think!) is adorable.

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Easy to digest, and a good survey of the most important points

Easy to digest, and a good survey of the most important points

Also, nicely quite short as far as these kind of popular science books go. This is good, because the reader will be able to finish "Myths" in a couple short sittings or so. There is not as much detail as the more serious reader will crave, but more writing would obviously make the book longer to get through. The authors clearly are writing this work as a bulwark against religious criticism of the science of evolution and natural selection. This is reasonable, because all the criticism seems to be religiously based. It would probably be helpful if they also pointed out more often that this bulwarking is only needed when opposing schemes try to get foisted onto public schools. If you are reading this book, be aware that the authors do indeed say this, but this message sometimes gets lost in bursts of enthusiasm.

The shortness of details, mentioned above, does have the shortcoming that the points of argument supporting the ten myths do not give much fuel for a debater. It is doubtful that the authors want their readers to become skilled formal debaters from their material, but rather to be confident of the proved value of evolution-based biology. They also would prefer to have more buyers of their book instead! And buy the book indeed is this recommendation, or maybe check out from the local library.

The footnoting is extensive, and to some tastes, a little too many of these notes contain explanation which might better have been put into the main part of the book. Nevertheless, simply get two bookmarks, and this should not be a problem.

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