The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design (Paperback)

by Christopher Carlisle (Author), W. Thomas Smith Jr. (Author) "Let's face it, these days it is almost impossible to leaf through a newspaper or a magazine without seeing some reference to the debate over..." (more)
Key Phrases: mainstream chemistry, term intelligent design, nonoverlapping magisteria, Richard Dawkins, Michael Behe, The Least You Need (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
An objective overview of the biggest controversy in American education.

Intelligent Design is one of the hottest issues facing parents and educators to day, but it can be hard to separate the facts from the heated rhetoric. This expert and objective guide gets to the bottom of the questions: What is Intelligent Design? Should it replace or complement traditional science? What’s all the fuss about?

• Explains the terms, the controversy, and the involvement of the American courts
• Indispensable guide for concerned educators and parents
• Written by an expert in the field

About the Author
Christopher Carlisle, M. Div., is a professor and the Episcopal chaplain at the University of Massachusetts. He created the popular course BELIEF, which explores the interdisciplinary study of religion and science in the 21st century, and is the co-founder of The God and Science Project.

W. Thomas Smith, Jr., has written four books, as well as thousands of articles for a variety of publications, including USA Today, George, U.S. News & World Report, and BusinessWeek.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha (December 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592575552
• ISBN-13: 978-1592575558
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #836,913 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

297 of 322 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Book Is Far From Objective, May 7, 2007

By	Doug Mesner (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

...Also, it's self-contradictory. In a segment about atheist evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, the authors dismiss Dawkins' arguments entirely on the grounds that Dawkins is a scientist, not theologian, thus he is not qualified to speak (or write) on matters of God. What a convenient method for ignoring his case for a universe without design. Rather unexpected, coming, as it does, from a theologian pretending to write about science.
The book pretends to be a "balanced" look at the Intelligent Design controversy. Nonetheless, the book bulks the argument in such a way so as to give the impression that ID theory is somewhere on balance with Darwinian evolution by putting forward ID claims have long ago been addressed and falsified by scientists. Such claims as "Evolution runs contrary to the 2nd law of thermodynamics" show the willful ignorance of the authors. Many widely available articles explain how this asinine mis-interpretation of entropy depends on a closed system. The authors either have not done their research, or they are intentionally mis-representing the facts.
Every claim made in this book in favour of Intelligent Design has been refuted by scientists. Intellectual honesty demands that these refutations be dealt with if this book is to be considered balanced. This book does not do this.
This is a transparent attempt to make the "teach the controversy" position appear neutral and moderate while pushing the ID agenda.

58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Creationism in new clothes, December 3, 2007

By	John Hedley (Kirkland, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Oddly enough, staunch advocates of Intelligent Design Creationism are likely to consider this book as useless mainstream science advocates do. Intelligent Design fans typically try to hide the well established fact that ID is just a new name for creationism, so a book called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design" that makes so many old, refuted creationist arguments (ones so bad that even many creationists insist they not be used!) just hammers home the obvious reality that "ID" is merely creationism in new clothes. Carlisle and Smith have inadvertently written precisely the book that Intelligent Design advocates are most worried about -- a book that shows that "ID" and creationism are exactly the same thing.

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Finally, an idiot guide that's not being facetious with the title., December 3, 2007

By	R. Wood (pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I see 2 very well qualified scientists with all the necessary degrees in evolutionary and biological sciences wrote this tripe. har har. If the credentials of the 2 authors don't give away the game that ID is nothing but rotting, decrepit religious myth painted over with a fresh coat of "scientific" sounding gloss, which was convincingly proven in the Dover case, then nothing else will. Buy and read this book only if you wish to strengthen your willful ignorance.

P.S. Isn't the 9th commandment, "Thou shall not bear false witness/lie"?