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Wayne's Reviews > Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters

Evolution by Donald R. Prothero
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Book 3 of 2021: Evolution- What the Fossils Day and Why It Matters by Donald R. Prothero

This is a VERY readable and profusely illustrated text on the fossil record showing the evidence for the evolution of animals (microfossils to humsn) in the fossil record. Ostensibly this book was written as a technical treatise to counter the claims of young-earth and intelligent design creationists.

Part I is an exposition of how science is done , how science is different from creationism, the nature of the fossil record, and an explanation and history of evolutionary thought.

I took paleo at Washington State University in the early 80s. Things have progressed in paleo since our memorization of the morphologies of fossils. Cladistics and molecular biology were virtually unknown when I took paleo. While I am somewhat familiar from my reading on vertebrate paleo over the last 4 decades, it was nice to have a detailed overview.

Part II was on the evolution of various taxa from microfossils to humans. It is a fairly ery detailed presentation of the transitional forms of the fossil groups. This was tremendously enlightening to me.

While written to present evidence on evolution from the fossil recotd, this text is in no way a threat to one's faith. Pages xvii-xviii speak to whether evolution can threaten ones faith. Prothero emphatically states NO.

I should point out that while there is no love lost between Prothero and the young-esrth creationists and the intelligent design creationists, he is not anti-religion or even anti-Cheistianity. Prothero was raised in the Christian faith and is sympathetic to the followers of these leaders. Their followers don't know any better. The leaders are essentially "lying for Jesus" because they do know better. In my heyday of refuting creationist beliefs (I was interviewed a few times on a local Christian radio station in Vegas), I found this to be true. I also know sincere believers that are good scientists that honor both their faith and their science. The folks associated with Institute for Creation Science, the Discovery Institute, and Answers in Genesis are not among them.

Why is this important? What does it matter if people don't accept evolution as a valid explanation of the fossil record and the biodivetsity of life? Thomas Jefferson wrote (quoted in the last chapter) that [a]n educated citizenry is the only safe repository of democratic values". As we have seen over the last few years, science matters. The deaths of over 400,000 people in the US from coronavirus attest to the dangers of ignoring science.

Near the end of the book, Prothero quotes Michael Shermer: "Darwin matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the preeminent story of our age, an epic saga about who we are, where we come from, and where we are going" (p. 358).

I'll close my review with a longish quote from St. Augustine (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Book 1 Chapter 19 Paragraph 39):

"Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience.

Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason?"
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Reading Progress

August 29, 2012 – Started Reading
August 29, 2012 – Shelved
August 29, 2012 – Shelved as: science
October 10, 2018 – Shelved as: to-read
December 10, 2018 –
page 23
5.64%
December 10, 2018 –
page 24
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page 34
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page 150
36.76% "T"
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February 1, 2021 – Finished Reading

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