"Exposing Darwinism's Weakest Link" Book Review

It's June 15th, time for the Non~FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 15th, we will featuring an author and his/her latest non~fiction book's FIRST chapter!

The feature author is:

Kenneth Poppe

and his book:

Exposing Darwinism's Weakest Link: Why Evolution Can't Explain Human Existence

Harvest House Publishers (March 1, 2008)

MY REVIEW:

Actually, my husband is the science / history buff in our family so I asked him to read and review this book as I thought his insight would be deeper than mine in this subject matter. Here is his input...

I admit I approached the book "Exposing Darwinism's Weakest Link" from a position as a Creationist and was naturally favorably predisposed to the subject matter. The author Kenneth Poppe is a biology instructor, consultant and DNA reseacher who has written on the subject in the past and has a wealth of knowledge to impart. He has so much knowledge in fact, that his passion and knowledge for the subject at times has a tendency to cloud the points he is trying to make, especially early in the book.

The subject of where we all came from and how man has attempted to explain it through Darwinism is one which has divided the science and religious communities into opposing camps since Mr. Charles Darwin put his theories into print in "The Origin of Man" some 150 years ago. I believe the subject is of prime importance because of the implications af the answer. If Darwin is right and we are desended from the sludge to monkeys and into man than we are little more than animals who rely on instinct, souless and without a future. There is no good and evil, and we can hardly be held accountable for our actions since we are nothing more than apes who can communicate through speech. On the other hand if there is a larger plan for us and a Creator than we have a hope and a future, and we are held to a higher standard. It is a social, scientific, moral, and religious issue.

Thank God pure science is on the side of Creationism.

I believe this book and others like it NEED to be read by those who are bombarded by the religion of Darwinism day after day in the nations school system and in the media. It will help provide a clearer picture for those who are undecided and give ammuntion for those who believe we are more than intelligent banana eaters.

The book itself can be a hard read at times. As the stage is set early in the book the author seems to bounce around between points he is trying to make, making it somewhat disjointed. He really hits his stride in the middle and will provide the reader with some "wow" moments as he drives home truths that a Darwinist would be hard pressed to combat. Although many of his points are somewhat technical in nature, you can tell they are well researched and based on cold hard fact instead of conjecture. I must point out that Mr. Poppe does have what might be termed a different take on the timeline for creation, one that some may not agree with but that he certainly makes an interesting case for. The end of the book has a geologic timeline and a list of resources for those interested in more on the subject.

In all I found the book "Exposing Darwinism's Weakest Link" to be extremely well researched by an expert and it contains a variety of valid arguments. Anyone with an interest in the subject should read it, but I believe it can provide most anyone with a clearer picture of an important subject.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A career biology instructor, Kenneth Poppe holds a doctorate in education and taught in secondary schools for more than 25 years. He is now senior consultant with the International Foundation for Science Education by Design (www.ifsed.org). In addition to working in teacher education and assisting in DNA research of stream ecology, he has authored Reclaiming Science from Darwinism.

Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (March 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0736921257
ISBN-13: 978-0736921251

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

The majority is not trying to establish a religion or to teach it—it is trying to protect itself from the effort of an insolent minority to force irreligion upon the children under the guise of teaching science.

—WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN


BRYAN WAS THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PROSECUTION AT THE 1925 “SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL” IN DAYTON, TENNESSEE THAT MADE EVOLUTION A HOUSEHOLD TERM. THE ABOVE WORDS ARE FROM HIS
WRITTEN CLOSING STATEMENT, WHICH WAS NEVER READ IN COURT.

1

EXAMINING YOUR FAMILY TREE

A Monkey for an Uncle?

Consider your biological father. He is responsible for half of the genetic codes that shaped your body, and probably some of your personality as well. Now consider his father, your grandfather. If typical, I would guess at least a couple of your body traits are more grandpa’s than dad’s—having somehow skipped a generation. And how about your great-grandfather? Were you lucky enough to know him, even if just like me, through those vague and shifting memories as a very
small boy? Dare I throw in a great-great-grandfather—in my case known only through legend and those grainy black-and-white photos of a roughly dressed man beside a horse and buggy?

Consider that when your great-great-grandfather was your age, for surely he once was, he could try to reconstruct his lineage just as you have done. What names and faces would he have recalled? And if you could piece great-great-granddad’s and your recollections together, that would create a timeline taking you back eight generations—perhaps 250 years or so! Where would you find your ancestors then? In my case, I’m told, the Hamburg, Germany, area. And would my ancestors then be traced to the nomadic Gaelic stock that inhabited Western Europe before formal countries were established there? And then to where? Ancient Phoenicians, Sumerians, Egyptians? And how about yours?

Now to get to the main point. If you kept traveling back in time in this manner, generation after generation, where would you end up? Where would your dad’s ancestors have been living 1000 years ago? 2500 to 5000 years ago? And so on? Those who believe in strict Darwinism would say an extended family schematic would show your ancestors going back several million years ago where they first evolved on the African continent. And on this reverse journey you would see slowly reappearing total body hair, steadily shrinking brains, increasingly sloping foreheads and jaw protrusions, and extending arms whose knuckles would eventually be dragging the ground, assisting a clumsy, bent-over gait. In other words, strict evolutionists say if you could backtrack your family tree for, say, 5 million years, your ancestors would now be closer in appearance to a chimp than a human. And if you continued farther back in time, the coccyx bone at the bottom of your pelvis would extend into a prehensile tail, and the reappearing grasping toes on your feet would send you back to swinging in the trees from whence you came some 10 to 15 million years ago.

Read the rest of the first chapter here