Shattering The Myths Of Darwinism [Paperback]

 

 

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I should start off by stating that I take Milton's word for it when he says he's not a creationist. One simply has to look over his web site and other books to realize that poking about at science is basically his way of making a living. It's reasonable to assume that he no more believes in what he claims in this book than a TV faith healer believes in the "compelling power" of his fist.

No, what Milton is is a schlock author.

I use the term in its original meaning in this case, "strike a blow", by which I mean that I believe Milton writes books that deliberately flatter or upset people in order to sell more copies. This is the basic raison d'etra of modern media, sadly, from the right-wing talking heads on Fox, to violent video games, to titillating music videos and gangsta lyrics. Controversy sells, and if you write for a living, you need to sell books. Whether or not you believe any of it is really besides the point, the cash looks the same to the bank account either way.

And so we come to discussing "Shattering" itself. Let's start our look at this book by flipping to the references section in the back. Notice anything? Like how the _vast_ majority are from the 1960s or earlier? For someone who claims to have discovered all of these problems with evolution and is writing about it now, isn't it just a little bit odd that his arguments are generally the better part of half a century old?

Well that's because Milton didn't really write this book, he "compiled it". Every single argument in this book -- every single one -- is lifted essentially verbatim from earlier creationist literature, most of it from the 1980s. I can't find a single argument in the entire book that he's come up with himself, although he makes lots of noise about doing so in the introductory material.

You could easily have written this entire book by copying passages off of web pages you found in Google and pasting them into a word processor. I mean this in a literal way; simply select any piece of supporting evidence you see in the book, one that has a name attached to it as opposed to the various unsupported claims, and type it into Google in quotes. You'll find hundreds of hits on creationist web sites, all of them eventually tracing their way back to one of the seminal works by Morris (or the ICF in general), and a few slightly more recent ones about the ID argument.

Don't believe me? Type *start here, include the quotes* "Melvin Cook" helium *end here* into Google, and you'll find that Milton's entire Chapter 5 is essentially a re-arrangement of Morris's famous 1985 masterpiece, "Scientific Creationism". Not just the helium part, every single argument that I could find in this chapter ended up tracing itself back to Morris' work. I'm sure he's flattered, imitation being...

Not enough proof? Well try *start* "Joan Ahrens" capetown *end*. You'll notice that while the story that Milton relates is indeed based in reality, the only place where the name "Joan Ahrens" appears is in creationist literature. It's a also a perfect illustration of the "quality" of the average SciCre argument.

And of course there's *start* "Hubert Yockey" *end*, which is particularly enlightening. Nothing too interesting in Chapter 3, where he introduces it, but if you flip to the back of the book you'll note that he mis-quotes the date of publication as 1977, a mistake that appeared in SciCre literature and has since been copied from one knock-off book to another.

In the end the entire book is basically a CliffNotes version of the originals. It seems to have been compiled in the earlyish 90's, so it's fair to point out that Milton couldn't have _actually_ used Google to compile this text. No, he had to do it the old fashioned way, reading someone else's book and typing it in again. I can't help but remember an episode of "Newhart" where Dick is writing a book about "Maintaining Your Harley-Davidson" -a topic he is completely unfamiliar with- created entirely by copying passages from other manuals.

That said, I think Milton is a better writer than some of the more well-known ICF regulars. Morris seems to have a severe case of run-on-wording, and his books are filled with tedious verbiage that really needs a serious editing. Milton does that editing, and in fine form. Overall I also found the book to be very well organized. There's a definite narrative being followed without too much jumping about. Kudos on both points.

So some of you may be surprised to hear me say this, but I really do recommend this book to anyone that's interested in the SciCre debate -- notably the historical ICF arguments from the 1970s and 80s. Just don't take any of it too seriously, I'm not so sure that Milton does either. And that picture of him pretending to be a geologist on the back cover is just *so cute*!

As Richard Milton concedes, this book is heretical. Why? Not because in it, Milton makes statements opposed to Darwinist orthodoxy, but merely because he raises questions about that orthodoxy. They are fair and honest questions, and they deserve fair and honest answers.

Instead, from what I can tell, Milton's many illustrious critics have responded en masse with outrage at being questioned, ad hominem attacks, and/or attempts to silence him. But where are their answers? Indeed, their bizarre reactions alone ought to be enough to arouse the curiosity of anyone about just what might be so threatening in this little book.

I couldn't put it down.

Although Creationists will probably like this book, it's really a fresh, broad survey of the scientific inquiry into evolution and the earth's history. The author has nothing to do with creationism, but he gets verbal abuse anyway from the ivory-tower academic community. Why? Because he says "the emperor has no clothes". Evolutionary theory is a patchwork of speculation and arguments from personal authority. Milton shows this clearly with experimental evidence that has been almost censored because it doesn't fit the most popular theories. Read it with an open mind and it will amaze you. Unless your tenure depends on lockstep acceptance of Darwin's dated dogma!!

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1.0 out of 5 stars full of misinformation
This book is full of mis-statements and errors.

For example, on page 125, he states that male fiddler crabs do not use their large claw to fight fellow males or attract females... Read more

Published on May 13 2004 by Daniel A Goldman

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT a Creationist book
First, I want to dispel some propaganda aimed at Milton and his work. He is not a Creationist, is not anti-science, and is not against the idea of the Theory of Evolution. Read more

Published on Feb 8 2004 by Jon Norris

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling book
I read this book and found it at least extremely provocative.
But if you really want a feel for the mood of the debate of evolution, I suggest you read the reviews for this... Read more

Published on Oct 27 2003 by Longtom

1.0 out of 5 stars Milton: Modern Day Quack
I am astounded to read these complementary reviews of such a blatantly misleading book. The first ridiculous assumption one must make when reading this is that there is an... Read more

Published on July 6 2003 by Adam

5.0 out of 5 stars Brush up your Shakespeare
Um, Cynthia -- Prospero appears in The Tempest, not Winter's Tale, and "The lady doth protest too much" is spoken by Gertrude in Hamlet.

Published on Jan 21 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent unanswered questions about Darwinism
I read this book borrowed from the library about a year ago. Now I am going to buy my own copy, because I have so much trouble remembering all the details he gave from his... Read more

Published on Dec 13 2002 by Cynthia Adams

1.0 out of 5 stars This a poor book!
1- Anyone who is a little familiar with the theory knows that it is adaptations WITHIN species and not AMONG species. Read more

Published on Nov 21 2002 by Emilson Leite

4.0 out of 5 stars A complete critique of the whole Darwinian paradigm
Milton has done an admirable job of weeding through the bluff and rhetoric of the arguments for Darwinian evolution and shows the evidence in nearly ever field of science either... Read more

Published on Sep 1 2002 by Jonathan Happel

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sad Truth About Evolution.
This book is by far the best book I've ever read concerning evolution. After reading this book it's sad that people still believe in this theory. Read more

Published on July 8 2002 by Q.M.

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful Book!
This book is terrible. Yet another failure to try to shatter the Evolutionary theory.

Published on Jun 10 2002

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