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 Review of the Counter-Creationism Handbook
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  08:04:15  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
This is the review of the book that I wrote on Amazon...



Evolution deniers are rarely scientifically literate.
Generally, they start by deciding on Religious grounds that they refuse the theory of evolution and then start looking for justification to their refusal.

Few of them do so in the right place, science textbook, maybe for fear that they would actually be convinced by the mountain of scientific evidences in favour of the theory of evolution.

Instead, they rely on error ridden pamphlets put forth by like minded deniers, as the 'counter-evolution movement' (from young earth creationists to intelligent design proponents) are so much better at communicating than at doing science.

As a consequence, we often see the same tired arguments being used.
This book compile quite extensively these arguments and, each time, thoroughly, debunk them and show how vacuous they are.

This book is great if you want to debate an evolution denier, or if you are sceptical about the theory of evolution and honestly want to know more about it or are finding that the arguments against the theory of evolution sound reasonable and are wondering if they are scientifically legitimate.

This book should really be required reading for every high school science teacher and education board members everywhere.

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996

HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  18:32:51   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Here's a link to the Amazon page for the Counter-Creationism Handbook.

Thanks for the heads-up! This looks to be a handy and well-timed guide.




Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/05/2009 18:43:27
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard

USA
4574 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  19:20:55   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send H. Humbert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Simon, would you say there is anything special in the book that justifies its $55 price tag? I'm just saying it sounds an awful lot like Talk Origins Index to Creationist Claims, and that's online for free.


"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman

"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie
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Randy
SFN Regular

USA
1990 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  19:54:32   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Randy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by H. Humbert

Simon, would you say there is anything special in the book that justifies its $55 price tag? I'm just saying it sounds an awful lot like Talk Origins Index to Creationist Claims, and that's online for free.




Funny thing H, I just checked Talk Origins without seeing your post for the same Creationist's claims list. Looks like the same Mark Isaak credited at TO and with writing the book.

"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."

"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend

USA
354 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  20:17:13   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Zebra a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by H. Humbert

Simon, would you say there is anything special in the book that justifies its $55 price tag? I'm just saying it sounds an awful lot like Talk Origins Index to Creationist Claims, and that's online for free.


The paperback edition costs $14.93 new, with used copies as low as $8.90. You can look through the paperback edition at this link.

I recently read parts of this book (got it for free from the public library). It's useful for rebutting specific creationist claims as well as supporting scientific claims. It was handier than Talk Origins when I wanted to do some reading on an airplane. It's in bullet/outline form, so you don't have to read it from start to finish but instead can easily select sections you're most interested in. (In fact, I'd suggest not trying to read it from start to finish. Find something with a plot to read that way.)

Final comment: the print in the paperback version seemed small, to my aged eyes (difficult reading, even with bifocals).

[Edited to fix a minor formatting error.]

I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney

*some restrictions may apply
Edited by - Zebra on 03/05/2009 20:17:50
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  20:49:41   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by H. Humbert

I'm just saying it sounds an awful lot like Talk Origins Index to Creationist Claims, and that's online for free.
If you look at the Index's introduction, in the sidebar on the right you will see:
Most of this web site is available in book form as The Counter-Creationism Handbook, from Greenwood Publishing Group.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  20:51:09   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by HalfMooner

...the Counter-Creationism Handbook.
Fixed.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2009 :  21:21:04   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by H. Humbert

Simon, would you say there is anything special in the book that justifies its $55 price tag? I'm just saying it sounds an awful lot like Talk Origins Index to Creationist Claims, and that's online for free.





Yes; the handbook is indeed a paper version of the online site.
(Full disclosure: I bought the handbook because I was going to man a stand and Darwin day and did not have an internet connection handy, but still wanted some references in case some IDiot came to annoy us...)

But, I online paide 9 or so bucks for it. $50? That's crazy!



Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
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