Darwin Strikes Back: Defending the Science of Intelligent Design

In this the second in a series of books, author Tom Woodward sets out to document the battle raging over the Intelligent Design movement. Many have heard about ID in a tangential way, through the media. Now and again fights with Darwinists flare up and reach the popular consciousness. What Dr. Woodward presents is a trenchant documentation of the conflict between Darwinism and the Intelligent Design movement, a battle being waged at many levels behind the scenes. It would seem to belong only in the halls of academia. The reality is that it involves all levels of society, and the stakes are high. Darwinian evolution is the reigning paradigm in the biological sciences and in fact has affected our cultural thinking in all social spheres. How we think about ourselves, our futures, the education of our children, where our tax dollars go all these questions and many more like them are greatly influenced by the evolutionary model. ID is challenging that paradigm. The evidence of that is set out for the reader in an engaging fashion in this very readable book. This is not a dispassionate correspondence by a casual observer. Rather, Dr. Woodward is clear where his allegiance lies. His enthusiasm comes out on every page. The writing style is clear; the scientific arguments are laid out well, and the insiders view is obvious. I especially appreciated the rhetorical analysis he is able to bring to bear in this discussion. His training as a rhetorician is obvious and is a strength of the work. Resources for further study are discussed. All of this makes for a compelling read to anyone interested in this debate. My interest was piqued to find out more about certain aspects of the debate, for instance, the Cambrian explosion. His position is, by his own admission biased, yet his treatment of the matter remains fair and respectful. As Thomas Kuhn outlined, challenges to a reigning paradigm are never static, quiet events. Part of the process involves the development of a body of literature which records the interchange between involved parties. The Intelligent Design movement is effectively challenging Darwin's theory of evolution and this book is an important component in that unfolding drama.

Thomas Woodward is the leading historian of the Intelligent Design movement and he writes with clarity and understanding about the personalities and issues. He has clearly been in the thick of the debate himself and is superbly qualified to provide this account. He gives fair, though openly partisan, treatment to both sides of the conflict. If you want to get a grip on the subject then this is the book for you.

Unlike some of the reviewers (Grayman & T.Makinson)I have actually read the book. I found it to be well written, balanced, and objective. It is also well documented, allowing anyone who desires to do so, to research the subject further. Too many people, especially on the Darwin side of the issue are not really looking at the issues and evidence in order to be informed and objective. They are simply repeating the same old stories they have been taught or heard. If you desire to post a review of a book at least read it first, then try to be honest and objective about it.

Another excellent book from Professor Woodward! He is the most knowledgeable and informed historian of the Intelligent Design movement today. No one can understand the movement without reading this well documented work. In reading anti-ID books, I find they make the same clearly disproved mistakes over and over. This is one reason why such books have little impact on ID advocates. To effectively critique a movement one must be well informed and document all assertions. This short work is well documented (the foot notes are on page 195 to 211) and well argued. Although some defense of ID is included, much of the book is a history of the movement covering the period that Woodward's PhD thesis left off at. Woodward covers the slanderous claims of ID critics, such as they want to ruin science, are fundamentalists motivated by religion, are dangerous, and must be stopped at all costs. None of these charges are, Woodward effectively shows, documented. No studies have been done of what the average ID advocate thinks or believes. Until these studies are done, allegations such as the above are irresponsible. Where Woodward does cover the science, he writes on the level of a layperson. In short, this book is an easy read packed full of information and insight.

I have previously read Dr. Woodward's excellent history of the Intelligent Design Movement (IDM), Doubts About Darwin, and I am also somewhat familiar with what has transpired in the last decade on both sides of this crucial debate. I term it a crucial debate due to the extra-scientific ramifications of its outcome on the cultures of the world. In Darwin Strikes Back, Woodward not only documents the response of Darwinian evolutionists to the assault in the 1980's and 1990's on their control of the science and education establishments, but he also sets forth the recent scientific evidence that will inevitably lead to the collapse of macroevolution (molecules to man) as a viable hypothesis. While their response to IDM has been somewhat evident through the media's distorted coverage of the debate, the compelling scientific evidence contra Darwinism has not been accurately disclosed to the public. This easy read sets forth with clarity much of that information, utilizing analogies that enable the lay person to easily grasp the scientific information presented. In chapter five, Woodward revisits Dr. Michael Behe's key 1996 book on irreducible complexity (IC), Darwin's Black Box, which has been under serious assault since it was released. He demonstrates that, despite what the scientific and educational elite would lead you to believe, ten years of critiques of IC and further research have actually strengthened IC as a valid argument that speaks directly to one of Darwin's risky predictions in Origin of Species. Chapter seven effectively addresses the relatively recent findings regarding the Cambrian "explosion" in the fossil record. Here complex creatures appear fully formed with no precursors and remain virtually unchanged until the present or extinction. Yet Darwin stated in another risky prediction in Origins that the fossil record should be replete with evidence of transitional forms. The Cambrian "explosion" appears to be a powerful refutation of that prediction and Woodward outlines the efforts to address this serious challenge to macroevolution with clarity for the non-scientist. The missing link discussion may actually be presumptive, as Woodward explains in chapter 12. If microbiology demonstrates the inability of any protein to morph into another, missing links are a moot point. And that's exactly what the recent research set forth in the book demonstrates - that mutation as a method of generating a new multiprotein system is a non-starter. Woodward's conclusions from the evidence he presents will not please proponents of the Darwinian creation story. I am sure much loud, dismissive rhetoric will be aimed at him and his purported motives in writing this excellent work. However, motives in this arena don't matter, science does. And Darwin Strikes Back makes it clear that, much rhetoric to the contrary not withstanding, Darwinian macroevolution persists in the scientific and educational establishments despite the scientific ev