The Triumph of Evolution: and the Failure of Creationism (Paperback)

~ (Author) "That the United States and the rest of the modern world are fundamentally a secular, technologically based society (albeit one generally committed to the free..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is evolution a religious belief? Is Genesis a scientific report? These are two of the tacks taken by "scientific creationists" to reach their goal of stopping the teaching of evolution in public schools, a goal paleontologist Niles Eldredge claims is purely political. In The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism, Eldredge exposes the deep flaws in creationists' arguments and calls for those who love and respect the scientific process of gathering knowledge to engage their opponents in the culture war wholeheartedly. This brief but powerful book by one of our leading evolutionary theorists is careful not to dehumanize the intellectual and political adherents of "intelligent design theory." It focuses on the importance of teaching all children in our society how science and technology work. To do this, he tells us that we must not muddy the waters by agreeing that science and religion have overlapping domains. Skillfully explaining the theory and the most popular arguments against it, Eldredge arms the reader for battle with creationists. Three appendices offer information on recent court decisions and means to get involved in the continuing struggle for proper science education. It's time to take the creationists seriously, and The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism is a great place to start. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Kansas educators delete Darwin. A Berkeley law professor treats evolution as just another hypothesis. Other high-profile creationists turn up on TV and influence local school boards. What's a science educator to do? Though theorists argue ancillary issues, scientific debates on Darwin's core ideas have been over for a century: Darwin's side won. But the proven theory still requires public advocates. Eldredge (The Pattern of Evolution), a paleontologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, has tangled with creationists before (notably in 1982's The Monkey Business); his new work is mostly an articulate, clear and unstinting brief for evolution by means of natural selection, and for the scientific method against its enemies. Evolution's other public champions often content themselves with explaining its workings: Eldredge does so ably, demonstrating how the fossil record functions as testable evidence for evolution, and what sort of speciations and extinctions it contains. He then dissects specific creationist programs, contending that public figures like Duane Gish and Philip Johnson exhume disproven Victorian geology; that they misunderstand complex structures (like wings and eyes); and that they distort evidence and misrepresent working scientists (among them Eldredge himself) to create a false impression of fair debate. Other biologists simply maintain that science and religion are apples and oranges. Eldredge instead suggests that belief and biology can and should collaborateAnot in the classroom, but in raising public awareness of mass extinctions and other threats to the environment. Readers of all kinds will appreciate his energetic exposition; Eldredge hopes in particular to reach people involved in ongoing political battlesAteachers (and others) confronted with creationist arguments, and students (and others) who don't know what to believe. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805071474
• ISBN-13: 978-0805071474
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,123,737 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 142 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing..., May 24, 2000

By	Evan K. Yeung (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Triumph of Evolution: and the Failure of Creationism (Hardcover)

Eldridge's book is primarily for the "already converted" (of which I am one) who are convinced that evolution occurred. His book gives a cursory overview of the arguments that creationism uses against evolution, but his book really breaks no new ground in this argument. What he states in this book has been already stated numerous times by other authors. Perhaps it is because there doesn't seem to be any NEW arguments for creationist theory (unless you count Behe's molecular irreducible complexity hypothesis). However, from one of the pre-eminent "deans" of evolutionary theory, I would have thought that he would have given more specifics from the scientific literature, including discoveries of feathered dinosaurs, amphibian transitional fossils with gills AND lungs, and the step-by-step transitions of land mammals to whales. I was hoping for more details about new findings on the lineage of hemoglobin, and the development of the clotting cascade and krebs cycle (of which Behe is so fond of)... Eldridge describes in adequate detail the evolutionary lineage of humans, but most of his rebuttal arguments for evolution and the facts supporting it are are very general. Instead of explaining how isotopic dating works, he merely states in essence that "scientists have done it and it works". When explaining the nuances of horse evolution, he summarizes by telling us that individual species got bigger and some of their toes got smaller. He does not show us... only tells us this happened and then trusts us to believe him and scientific data.

Unfortunately, this may not work well in the popular literature. Many other books attacking evolution have relied on statistic after statistic showing the improbability of the origins of life from naturalistic resources, and have drawn on many sources from the scientific literature that supposedly show the validity of their cause. Ultimately, most of their statistics are erroneous, and often their quotes form the literature are out of context. However, the sheer volume of "scientific literature" that they use (if inaccurately) often sways the decision of the reader. Niles Eldridge shows examples where he has been deliberately misquoted by creationists with their own agendas, but without more detailed analyses of data supporting evolution, people may just give up and say "the data support intelligent design" because more hard data, even if erroneous, was offered by creationists.

Eldridge's book is well worth reading as an overview of the arguments against creationism, and a primer on the political aspects of creationism. However, more comprehensive scientific data for evolution can be found in "Scientists Confront Creationism" by Godfrey, and "Finding Darwin's God" by Miller.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good - To A Point, February 25, 2002

By	W. S. Jones "bibliophile" (Noblesville, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Triumph of Evolution: and the Failure of Creationism (Hardcover)

Being a Christian I read this book with the intention of understanding what evolutionists believe more accurately. The snippets of quotes from creationist literature didn't provide me with enough material in context to understand scientific ideas (I didn't think). I was correct.

This book really explained some things to me that I didn't understand before, like how the Linnaean classification system fit within evolution and how punctuated equilibrium was explained. It also gave some answers to the creation scientists' claims (gaps in the fossil record, "kinds" reproducing, etc).

This said, I was actually very happy with the book until I came to Chapter 7, "Can We Afford A Culture War". For a paleontologist (who ostensibly is interested only in communicating "good science") to explain the role religions of the world have in saving the environment and how we can all live together in peace and harmony seems to me a bit of a stretch. I think he should have stuck to the subject.

The author is rightly disturbed by the way creationists discuss several different fields of specialty during a debate when the scientist on the other side of the issue can only discuss his or her specialty. Of course you wouldn't expect a biologist to discuss the fossil record - that's the job of a paleontologist. Yet this is exactly what the author does in chapter 7 - he plays the role of philosopher and theologian by explaining how outmoded the "narrow minded" evangelical Christians will continue to hold back the "true" religion of the universalist.

I would recommend this book to creationists and others sans that last chapter. I also like the new formatting style of leaving a line between paragraphs - much easier on the eyes.

49 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars doesn't articulate the arguments, June 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Triumph of Evolution: and the Failure of Creationism (Hardcover)

I was dissapointed with this book. I was looking for a good book that could really make the case for evolution over creationism. (I am a firm believer in evolution but wanted the book for a creationist friend.) However, instead of really stepping through the logic, the author rests on claims that this issue or that issue has already been thoroughly proven. Although I don't disagree with the author, it hardly makes a compelling case for people who don't already believe in evolution.