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    Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
    Unavailable
    Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
    Unavailable
    Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
    Ebook264 pages4 hours

    Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

    By Michael Shermer

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A creationist-turned-scientist demonstrates the facts of evolution and exposes Intelligent Design's real agenda

    Science is on the defensive. Half of Americans reject the theory of evolution and "Intelligent Design" campaigns are gaining ground. Classroom by classroom, creationism is overthrowing biology.

    In Why Darwin Matters, bestselling author Michael Shermer explains how the newest brand of creationism appeals to our predisposition to look for a designer behind life's complexity. Shermer decodes the scientific evidence to show that evolution is not "just a theory" and illustrates how it achieves the design of life through the bottom-up process of natural selection. Shermer, once an evangelical Christian and a creationist, argues that Intelligent Design proponents are invoking a combination of bad science, political antipathy, and flawed theology. He refutes their pseudoscientific arguments and then demonstrates why conservatives and people of faith can and should embrace evolution. He then appraises the evolutionary questions that truly need to be settled, building a powerful argument for science itself.

    Cutting the politics away from the facts, Why Darwin Matters is an incisive examination of what is at stake in the debate over evolution.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2007
    ISBN9781429900904
    Unavailable
    Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
    Author

    Michael Shermer

    Michael Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor-in-chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members. Shermer engages in debates on topics pertaining to pseudoscience and religion in which he emphasizes scientific skepticism. Shermer is producer and co-host of the 13-hour Fox Family television series Exploring the Unknown which was broadcast in 1999. From April 2001 to January 2019, he was a monthly contributor to Scientific American magazine with his Skeptic column. He is also a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Shermer was once a fundamentalist Christian, but ceased to believe in the existence of God during his graduate studies. He also describes himself as an advocate for humanist philosophy as well as the science of morality.

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    Reviews for Why Darwin Matters

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Excellent book, well-documented, well-reasoned and goes on the "must read" list for our homeschoolers, if only to learn from Shermer in how to frame and refute the arguments.

      It's not a long read, and covers much material previously published, but I like that Shermer is willing to engage the purveyors of non-science, for while I agree with Dawkins et al that engaging in debate legitimizes what is absurd, someone needs to cogently demonstrate such absurdity.



      He does a good job explaining why science cannot disprove religion but also how religion cannot conscript science to support its aims, for science easily disproves such attempts if that door is opened..



    • 4/5
      A short, easy-to-read book from the editor of Skeptic Magazine. Shermer discusses the difference between the science of evolution and the idea of intelligent design, and explains why the one is taught in science classes while the other is best left to places of worship. This book should be required reading for high school science students (and, in some cases, their teachers).
    • 5/5
      Nicely done, covering most of the avenues of dissent with the unbelievers. A little esoteric at times, but mostly an enjoyable read.
    • 1/5
      The pseudoscience of evolution (i.e. MACROevolution/Darwinism) has no business in science.
    • 4/5
      A short, easy-to-read book from the editor of Skeptic Magazine. Shermer discusses the difference between the science of evolution and the idea of intelligent design, and explains why the one is taught in science classes while the other is best left to places of worship. This book should be required reading for high school science students (and, in some cases, their teachers).
    • 3/5
      I came away from this book with rather tepid feelings. It didn't feel like it flowed very well from point to point, and each point made felt glossed over, with a couple of bare sentences with a footnote. Shermer's survey of evolutionary biology was often unclear, but when he was in his element - that is, the psychology of belief and religiosity - the tone became smooth and easy to read. I especially liked his discussion of the evolution of morality and the Genesis revisit at the end. However, I found his discussion of logical fallacies fell flat, his responses to Intelligent Design arguments felt unsatisfying even to an evolutionist like myself, and he spent so much time referring to other books that I started to wonder what purpose there was in reading this one. I am not sure what the target audience of this book was, but I don't think I was part of it. Still, I do want to pick up some of Shermer's other works that fall closer to his own field of study.
    • 4/5
      I was fortunate to acquire this book the day before I left for a cruise with the James Randi Educational Forum (jref.org), which Dr Shermer attended as a guest speaker. So my copy is autographed! Dr Shermer lays out, with his usual clear language, the logical and scientific reasons why ID is not only just another label for creationism, but is also logically, historically, and scientifically bankrupt. I've loved his books since "Why People Believe Weird Things" came out, and found him to be friendly, personable, and highly intelligent. And a mean poker player.
    • 4/5
      Does exactly what it says on the tin. A whistle stop tour of the main points regarding the intelligent design/creationism movement.We get explanations of the common misconceptions/lies about evolution. A discussion of the motives behind peoples denial of a major branch of modern science and a cogent case for why creationism is bad religion anyway.Quick and easy to read. A great introduction for the topic or a quick summary of the overall situation for those wanting a rational and evidence based approached to it.