Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul

by Kenneth R. Miller

Overview

An inspiring book about the power and the passion of science

Few have weighed in on the nation's contentious debate over evolution as effectively as Kenneth R. Miller. In Only a Theory, Miller-the highly regarded scientist who offered expert testimony at the 2005 trial over the teaching of evolution in Dover, Pennsylvania-eloquently shows how "Intelligent Design" collapses at the very moment one begins to take it seriously. Miller shows that the attack on evolution is a broader assault on the skepticism and reason that have fueled America's remarkable scientific advances, and offers an encouraging prescription for how we can save the nation's "scientific soul" to which we owe so much.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143115663
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/26/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kenneth R. Miller is Professor of Biology at Brown University. His research work on cell membrane structure and function has produced more than 50 scientific papers and reviews in leading journals, including CELL, Nature, and Scientific American. Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of four different high school and college biology textbooks which are used by millions of students nationwide. He has received 5 major teaching awards. In 2007 he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received the Exploratorium's Outstanding Educator Award. He lectures widely and has appeared on NPR’s Science Friday and The Colbert Report.

Table of Contents

Only A TheoryPreface

One: Only a Theory
Two: Eden's Draftsmen
Three: Embracing Design
Four: Darwin's Genome
Five: Life's Grand Design
Six: The World That Knew We Were Coming
Seven: Closing the American Scientific Mind
Eight: Devil in the Details

Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

" Demolishes the assertions of advocates of Intelligent Design."
-The Baltimore Sun

" A grass-roots defense of good science education . . . a useful overview of a perilous political attack on the nature of science."
-P. Z. Myers, Nature

" Powerfully argued . . . Miller's perspective as a devout believer will allow his case to resonate with believers and non-believers alike."
-Francis Collins, Director, the Human Genome Project

Editorial Reviews

"Demolishes the assertions of advocates of Intelligent Design."
-The Baltimore Sun

" A grass-roots defense of good science education . . . a useful overview of a perilous political attack on the nature of science."
-P. Z. Myers, Nature

" Powerfully argued . . . Miller's perspective as a devout believer will allow his case to resonate with believers and non-believers alike."
-Francis Collins, Director, the Human Genome Project

From the Publisher

In this powerfully argued and timely book, Ken Miller takes on the fundamental core of the Intelligent Design movement, and shows with compelling examples and devastating logic that ID is not only bad science but is potentially threatening in other deeper ways to America's future. But make no mistake, this is not some atheistic screed — Prof. Miller's perspective as a devout believer will allow his case to resonate with believers and non-believers alike. (Francis Collins, Director, the Human Genome Project and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief)

Francis Collins

Only A Theory is an original and perceptive examination of the causes and effects of the ongoing civil war over evolution in America. A wise and tested veteran of its front lines, Ken Miller makes the compelling case that there is much more at stake in this conflict than one scientific theory - the fate of America's hard-earned scientific prowess is in the balance. Readers are sure to be inspired by this passionate appeal to defend and nourish one of our most important institutions. (Sean B. Carroll, author of The Making of the Fittest and Endless Forms Most Beautiful)

Sean B. Carroll

Ever since the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species 150 years ago, the public controversy over creation and evolution has been fought largely in books. For the past two decades, Ken Miller has been a prominent participant in that debate with his books and lectures. In Only a Theory, Miller takes up the cudgels again in a lively new book that persuasively argues for the theory of evolution, penetratingly critiques the claims for intelligent design, and explains why this dispute should matter to everyone. It may be only a book, but it's a good one. I highly recommend it. (Edward J. Larson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory)

Edward J. Larson

Ken Miller's new book, Only a Theory, is everything we have come to expect from him— informed, witty, and above all deeply serious about matters of concern to us all. He takes so-called intelligent design theory apart, piece by piece, showing it for the sham that it is. In its stead, Miller makes a very strong argument for the truth and beauty of evolutionary thinking and begs that we not keep this wonderful science from our children. Highly recommended! (Michael Ruse, author of Darwinism and Its Discontents)

Michael Ruse

Balanced account of the evolution vs. intelligent design debate. Cellular biologist Miller (Biology/Brown Univ.; Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution, 1999) analyzes the theory and importance of intelligent design in a civil, open-minded manner. While clearly on the side of evolution, he decides "to take intelligent design seriously" and analyze it dispassionately. In doing so, he finds a variety of flaws but also fully understands its appeal. Moreover, he realizes that traditional science is often lacking in its attempt to explain the universe around us and within us. Miller begins by empathizing with those who simply cannot believe that the intricacies of life, let alone the universe, could be the effects of chance. He counters, however, that science is not based on random chance at all: "There is indeed a grand design to life, and it's the very one first glimpsed more than a century ago by a fellow named Charles Darwin." The epochal history of the universe, culminating on Earth with the amazing processes of evolution, provides us with proof that the original design had meaning. And that, Miller argues, is where the scientific community often stumbles, by not answering or even considering the question of whether life has meaning. It does, he replies, and belief in that meaning is indeed compatible with belief in evolution. The author warns that the thrust of intelligent design poses dangers for science as a whole. Having adopted the language of relativism-an ironic development in and of itself-intelligent-design proponents argue that science cannot possibly hold a monopoly on truth, an argument that has the potential to undo the Americanscientific framework. This may seem like a Chicken Little warning to those not steeped in the issue, but Miller is convinced. One of the better books on this emotionally charged subject.

Kirkus Reviews