Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

Intelligent design

I was struck by the basic dishonesty of the book. His quotes were partial and when you looked up the original, they meant the opposite of what Behe said they did. His three examples of irreducible complexity had been shown to be quite reducible by the time the book came into print. He neglected to point out that all the proteins that he was saying were unique were actually members of large families and that it would have been relatively simple to evolve something satisfactory from one of the relatives followed by refining mutations. He tried to make it seem as if the eye, bacteria flagellum and the clotting sequence would totally fall apart if even one part were missing when he should have known that it just wasn't so. After all, there are numerous types of bacteria flagella that are of various stages of complexity and the organelles making up the flagella have counterparts that have other functions, various light sensitive organs from simple to complex in different animals exist, and even people with hemophilia often survive to reproduce so lack of some of the clotting factors isn't always a death sentence.

When someone uses deceit to advance an argument, it is a strong signal that the argument is false.

6 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

A credible challenge to the status quo

This is an excellent book. If nothing else it is worth while for the short, but adequate for a mildly interested reader, introduction to how life works at the most basic biochemical level. The book then goes on to make a very strong argument, that while there may be plenty of testable evidence for evolution at the macro level, there is none that can explain how the basic functions of life got started in the first place. In this respect, the origin of life, Darwin¿s theory breaks down. The book shows convincingly that the necessary functions of a cell are so complex and interdependent, that numerous, successive, slight modifications could not possibly be the driving force in the initial creation of life¿s basic functions. Given the often irrational rabid response from those on the pure Darwinian side of the argument, I think this book exposes an embarrassing hole in what most of the scientific community would like to consider as the unassailable theory of life.

5 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

Gain a good understanding of Intelligent Design

If you are reading this then you are interested in Intelligent Design and Evolution. Darwin's Black Box is an excellent read to learn about Intelligent Design theory.

What surprises me most about the Evolution/Intelligent Design debate is how ignorant and threatened each side is about and by the other. Most people on both sides of the issue issue seem to want to remain blissfully unaware of what the other side actually believes. It seems that they have gone to school and gained all their education in the media where they have learned sound bites and cliches about what the other side believes. There is much anger but little open minded learning and research. Seems that as long as both sides can "shout the other down" with these the cliches, sound bites and hostility than they feel everything will be alright and we won't have to do the dirty business of thinking deeply about our assumptions and what we were taught.

Darwin's Black Box is an excellent book to read if you actually want to learn what the theory of Intelligent Design is all about. Michael Behe is a respected biochemist with many academic papers to his credit. I will say that there is quite a bit of poor science out there that starts with a believe and bolsters that believe with "facts" that in many cases turn out wrong. This book is not one of those. In this book Behe does an excellent job of laying out in plain language what ID is all about and the concept of "Irreducible Complexity". Since Behe is a biochemist he uses examples from the field of biochemistry. When you are finished with this book you will have a better understanding of the basic ideas of Intelligent Design.

One last word...ID has been attacked by evolutionists and science using much emotion and rhetoric. I often wonder if any of these people have actually read this material for themselves? If true Intelligent Design does indeed have some pretty grand implications. These things are certain...

(1) Behe is not a raving lunatic

(2) this book has far more reason and science meat in it that the evolutionists want to give credit

(3) this is not a book that was written by a person that started with a belief and then collected "facts" around the belief.

Read this book if you are interested in challenging what you understanding as truth and becoming better educated about Intelligent Design.

4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Science, this book ain't.

This book makes sense to people who don't understand what he's talking about and take his arguments to be both accurate and true. But in truth, any structure that is "irreducibly complex" probably has another function, which he hasn't bothered to learn. In short, the book explains the difference between a philosopher and a scientist, which appears to be the conception of an idea, and researching whether or not the idea has merit.

4 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Now I can sleep at night

Intelligent design is a theory any 6-year-old can conjure up as a means to believe in a supernatural being. Amazing that this book is written by a scholar since it is based on deductive reasoning that wholly lacks substance. It's a good book for skeptics and a good means to prevent people from thinking logically by just fabricating a story that is not based on fact or reason. If you are a scientist, scholar, or even a thinking person, this book provides a means to stop you in your tracks. Shame!

3 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

A Ph.D doesn't make you smart.

Despite Behe's best efforts, he cannot put together an argument that can stand up to a slightest challange. He proposes this notion of irreducible complexity, but cannot support the idea with anything solid. The author uses complexity to confuse the reader, so that they will follow his religous ideology, since its easier to understand. I found this work to be very dissappointing when I first read it several years ago. Even as an undergraduate, I could easily propose alternative hypotheses to explain the complex mechanisms that Behe uses to bolster intelligent design. Just because one lacks the creativity or intelligence to see complex mechanisms as a product of evolution, does not mean that a superior being must have been responsible.

3 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

If you're curious about the origins of life...

This book is the perfect non religious contradiction to evolution. If you have a hard time believing that the planet and all its inhabitance fabricated out of nothing, but you don't want to read a bunch of religious based books, this is the book for you. It quite simply uses science to logically and scientifically contradict evolution and the very foundation it is built upon.
Fantastic book for all you curious people out there. Highly recommend it.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Well Said

Behe puts together quite a compelling argument against Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Darwin admitted that his theory would not hold up if living organisms could be proven to have irreducibly complex components. Behe presents several examples of irreducibly complex systems in animals, insects and humans.

2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Accessible Presentation

As a pioneering work, Darwin's Black Box does a highly credible job of stating some of the problems intrinsic to neo-Darwinian theory. For a more recent and more erudite coverage of many of the same arguments, you might want to look at The Design Revolution by William Dembski.

2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

creation

Behe's book is written in a way that someone who is not a scientist can understand his concepts. Many science books like this are not only dry to read, but write as if their audience is the scientific community. Behe keeps the reader interested and use humor to keep the book fun. Because of Behe's style,his ideas are easily remembered and can be used intelligently by a layman in evolutionary debate.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Lies for fools

Behe's pseudoscientific claptrap has all been thoroughly discredited by legitimate researchers, Federal judges, and the reading public. Reading this book to gain knowledge of biology would be akin to consulting an astrologer for help in astronomy. Spend your money elsewhere.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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