Archive for the ‘Non-Fiction: Evolution’ Category

Why Darwin Matters by Michael Shermer

ISBN: 0805081216
224 pages
published in 2006.

I picked this up from my university library last week to have something quick on the subject to read since I’ve been really hungry lately for more information on the subject. There were some good and bad things about this. In my particular case, this book didn’t really present anything to me that I didn’t already know as it was sort of an introductory book on the topic. However, Shermer’s writing is clear, concise and easy to understand, and I probably would recommend this book to someone that was just starting to have questions on the topic.

The book is very anti-Intelligent Design, as is clear from the subtitle on the cover (“The Case Against Intelligent Design”) and it’s good at refuting the standard points that ID proponents tend to launch at evolutionists. Shermer lines them up and knocks them down, and his logic is very neatly fleshed out and easy to grasp. However, this is all regurgitated knowledge from other writers and he presents very little of his own ideas into the text. Once again, though, this is a useful way to approach the subject for a beginner, so I can understand his reasoning.

The only other thing that bothered me was, despite the fact that he is very against teaching ID in schools, he is a little too apologetic towards religion as institution. There was something very Gould about his approach towards science and religion as separate spheres, and while I’m not sure that’s the impression Shermer wanted to give, there was something about his writing that suggested he was not entirely comfortable flat-out dismissing spirituality. I have mixed feelings about this myself, but I don’t think this is something you can sort of hem-haw around about (to borrow an expression from my father).

All-in-all, though, however redundant the book can be when lined up against all of the other Evolution vs. Intelligent Design books on the shelf, it is a decent title in its genre and a gentle approach to the topic for new readers.