This is quite the book! It analyzes the cellular biochemistry as an evidence for the intelligent design of the cell. So this book is bound to create many sparks.
I am not a biochemist, nor is my training in the hard sciences. My background is in history and political science, so I am inept at commenting on the science and the data Dr. Behe musters. I can just review the book as a layman for laymen. C. S. Lewis said, "It often happens that two schoolboys can solve difficulties in their work for one another better than their master can. When you took the problem to a master, as we all remember, he was very likely what you understood already, to add a great deal of information which you didn't want and say nothing at all about the thing that was puzzling you." (Reflections on the Psalms, ch. 1) Moreover, Thomas Jefferson said, "State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules." (Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1787) Dr. Behe is re-examining those "artificial rules" of science.
This book comes in three parts. The first two chapters contain a concise overview of what he is talking about. I found that the first chapters are a book in their own right and provides a perfect overview. He introduces the idea of "irreducible complexity," and his now-famous mousetrap analogy.
The second section deals with the data. Dr. Behe warns "So, as a writer who wants people to read my work, I face a dilemma: people hate to read details, yet the story of the impact of biochemistry on evolutionary theory rests solely on the details." (p. xii) He therefore sets apart the technical text with a small box. He suggests that we skim the section just to get a feel of the ultra-complexities involved in the biochemical processes.
He takes five case studies: cellular cilia and flagella; the blood clotting process; protein production; the immune system; and AMP production. I confess that these sections lost me, even with the semi-familiar diagrams. Basically, the cell isn't homogeneous blob of protoplasm, but is more along the lines of a complex machine along the lines of the space shuttle or an aircraft carrier. However, unlike the carrier, which can operate without paint, all of the screws or elevators, inside the cell each piece of sub-cellular machinery is necessary for the cell to function.
The problem then is for the two theories of evolution, either gradualism or punctuated equilibrium, to account for how this machine got together in the first place. No one has been able to do this.
In the third part of the book, Dr. Behe takes a step back, and does a more philosophical analysis of the implications of the data. He begins with a study of the literature, specifically the "Journal of Molecular Evolution," and "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science," several books, and two college textbooks, and points out that evolution is presented but never explained.
He asserts that "No one at Harvard University, no one at the National Institutes of Health, no member of the National Academy of Science, no Nobel prize winner-no one at all can give a detailed account of how the cilium, or vision, or blood-clotting, or any complex biochemical process might have developed in a Darwinian fashion. But here we are. Plants and animals are here. The complex systems are here. All things are here somehow: if not in a Darwinian fashion, then how?" (p. 187)
Behe says that the evidence points to intelligent design for the cell. He asserts, "The conclusion of intelligent design flows naturally from the data itself-not from sacred books or sectarian belief." (193) To his credit, this is where he stops. I believe that you cannot go from the order in the cell to the Russian Orthodox practice of triple baptism. In some ways, this section is a bit disappointing since if you grant that there is an intelligent designer, the then who or what is he/she/it? For what purpose were cells, and therefore `we" were created? We cannot solve these problems from the data, but this is the Pandora's box that he has opened when he broke the seal on Darwin's black box.
He handles several objections to the idea of intelligent design, that we should not attach any specific theological dogma to the idea. He also refutes several questions, such as the panda's thumb and the blind spot on the retina, plus the issue of vestigial organs. He pitches softball answers to these questions, primarily since they are gross anatomy questions and not biochemical questions.
He brings up, but does not elaborate on the historical aspect of Evolution, which is up my academic alley. Historical data differs from scientific data. For example, I cannot scientifically prove that the Continental Congress ever happened, since it was a singular historic event. We infer from the diaries, journals, letters, newspapers, and documents such as the Declaration of Independence to prove it. But I cannot reconstruct the event here and now. Evolution is also an historical event, so we have to follow historical methods to discover what exactly happened. Paleontology is not a science, but is a branch of history. It fits somewhere between archeology and cosmology.
The last chapter discusses the philosophy of science and the a priori assumption that excludes supernatural explanations for the phenomenon. The problem is that they are trying to avoid a "God of the gaps," which is to say that anything that cannot be explained will always be explained by God's handiwork. The problem is that a "science of the spaces" ensues. It is the same problem but uses different mortar to fill the spaces in the bricks of data. The question is no longer science, but one of philosophy.
Behe has quite a quill. No mumbo jumbo. Easy read!
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
There is a newer edition of this item:
Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
$13.85
(858)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$13.85
(858)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
What do customers buy after viewing this item?
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Top reviews from other countries
awz1
Irreducible complexity of the machines of life
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2017
Steamer
An honest response to the evidence
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2019
