Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #169176 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 257 pages

.Michael Behe, Professor of Biochemistry, Lehigh University, USA. Author of 'Darwin's Black Box'
In the Naked Emperor Dr Antony Latham showcases the powerful scientific argument that the universe and life were purposely designed.

James le Fanu, Columnist, Daily Telegraph
Antony Latham's lucid account of the current scientific challenges to Darwinian orthodoxy promises a revolution for biology....

Paul Johnson, The Spectator, August 27 2005
The indictment of Dawkins' scientific scholarship is powerful, masterly and (I would say) unanswerable.

Customer Reviews

Darwinism cannot explain everything
Latham's book repeatedly targets the views of Richard Dawkins (see especially the whole of chapter 15), because "Dawkins has made himself the principal apologist for Darwinism for our generation and must therefore be taken very seriously" (preface, p. v).

But Latham does not write against Dawkins personally, but against the Darwinism on which Dawkins depends.

Latham tackles head-on the Darwinian theory that all life has evolved from a single source by gradual random changes. Latham (p. 84) quotes Darwin in The Origin of Species: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down". Latham comments immediately: "Darwinists must take these words very seriously because we are now at the stage when an accumulation of facts does in fact lead us to severely doubt that any such gradual process has ever produced complex organs. This is backed up by our knowledge of the inability of mutations to bring about such macro changes ... "

The author concludes: "If there is one thing I hope the reader will take on board it is the absolute lack of any clear model available to science which can explain the existence of life. Darwinism has been shown to be a totally inadequate explanation - apart from the micro-evolutionary level.... All the evidence ... has led me to believe that life has been designed and that all the major innovations have occurred in saltations, the like of which no Darwinist can explain. The evidence before us shows us that a creator has been active throughout." (p. 249).

Latham endlessly repeats that micro-evolution within species, e.g. the famous Galapagos finches, is scientifically certain, and must be accepted; but that there is no proof that macro-evolution, change outside the species group, ever happened by the required Darwinian method of "numerous, successive, slight modifications". Latham concludes: Darwin, faced with the further fossil and genetics knowledge since his day, "as a scientist and a basically humble man ... would now be seeking a totally different solution" (p. 44). Darwin's theory has `absolutely broken down'.

Latham examines many cases in detail. I pick out two.

First, the first tetrapods. Latham concludes (pp. 76,77) both that there is an unexplained sudden leap [a saltation], in lifestyle and locomotion from water to land, and that there is nevertheless a linkage between the first land animals and fish. "This [latter consideration] does not validate Darwinism, however. These [first tetrapods] are not `transitional' in the sense that Darwin meant and longed for. We see too much that is suddenly new to call the first tetrapods transitional. There is no gradual evolution here but we do see earlier forms being a sort of template for the creation of later forms. The appearance of tetrapods is sudden and is just one of the saltations (leaps of form) that characterize the fossil record ... there are indeed totally unexplained yawning gaps in the fossil record but ... also continuity between succeeding forms - hence the fish-like characteristics of the first tetrapods. They appear with all the attributes of land walkers, suddenly - but retain signs of their lineage. Darwinism requires smooth continuity always. We do not see this ... The transition [from fish to tetrapod] is sudden. Darwinists will put this down to inadequate fossil preservation, but this argument is now wearing thin. The challenge to the Darwinist is to show us even one case in the history of life where a macro change has occurred smoothly with well-defined, gradually transitional intermediate forms. Darwin waited and we still wait." Challenging stuff!

The second case concerns Homo sapiens, discussed in the must-read Chapter 6: hominids, Ardipithecus, `Lucy', Ramapithecus, Australopithecus, Homo erectus, Neanderthal man, et al. Latham says (p. 110): " ... what evidence we have indicates a massive saltational leap from the preceding Homo erectus [to Homo sapiens] and astounding changes in a brain which triples in size within just 3 million years. There is absolutely no evidence for gradual change". Latham again: "Are we descended from apes or not? It is clear that we are not in the sense that Darwin meant. It has definitely not been a question of gradual evolution. Saltations require something more than chance and selection: they require design and purpose." (p. 111).

Space is running out. Briefly:

1) Latham insists that `natural selection' can only select mutations that are already there. "Selection is not creative" (p. 146). Darwinism does not adequately explain the process of mutation.

2) Latham significantly suggests (in chapter 14) that Darwin makes his system exclude God from the universe. This could derive from the influence of Darwin's unbelieving grandfather and freethinking Edinburgh friend Grant. Keeping God out of our universe excuses us from seeing God as being in any way concerned with suffering and evil in the world. The theodicy of Milton's Paradise Lost (Darwin took a copy on the Beagle) is relevant.

3) Latham detects a swing among scientists now towards anti-Darwinism. "It is not that leading scientists do not realise these mistakes [in Darwinism]. It is just that they rarely feel free to openly say so" (p. 171). "There is enormous inertia in the Darwinian paradigm - but shift it will." (p. 245). Latham backs Intelligent Design. Michael Behe's 1996 book, `Darwin's Black Box', "may well be historic in the turning of the tide against Darwinism." (p. 129). Behe's follow-up volume, `The Edge of Evolution - The Search for the Limits of Darwinism', appeared in 2007.

4) Latham: "There are no mechanisms that we can see or even imagine in the genetics of life that will produce a creature such as a human. We are left with no alternative but to see another force at work - one which modern science does not feel comfortable with but with which we must reckon. We are made by design and purpose and by a power that we have no idea of ... creatures are created" (p. 148).

More Religion Pretending to be Science
Antony Latham is a GP and born-again christian who, according to his writings on the christian medical fellowship website, states that Darwinian evolution "runs counter to any Christian concept of purpose and design in nature". It is not therefore a total coincidence that Latham became "skeptical" about the science of evolution at the same time he became a christian. Evolutionary science seems to threaten his idea of religion. Given that, the idea this book is about science, not religion, is tenuous at best.

Latham is fond of very bold statements like "nobody has any idea how DNA was formed" which is a stunningly ignorant position given the multitude of scientific papers which have proposed very precise mechanisms by which DNA could have been formed. For anyone who understands the creationist and ID (intellegent design)movements in the US, they will automatically be familiar with the other tedious arguments Latham uses. His two faviourites seem to be:

(1) Earth is so suitable for life it must be a design not an accident. This is a simple logical error: if Earth wasn't suitable for life, we wouldn't be here to write about it, we'd be on one of the other billions of planets that did happen to have the right set of conditions.

(2) cells have complex structures that appear to be "irreproducibly complex" i.e take one part away and the entire structure loses all function. To Latham this means evolution couldn't have produced the structure as too many changes and mutations would have to occur at once. This is Michael Behe's argument that was destroyed so clinically in the Dover trial where ID was shown to be religiously inspired creationism in a modern pseudo-scientific dressing. Genuine science, as opposed to religious incredulity, has shown that all these "irreducibly complex" structures turn out to have parts that have other functions which do or did work in isolation.

I have the greatest respect for GPs, but they are not authorities on the basic science Latham discusses in this book. I have less respect for religiously-inspired writers who twist and distort science to fit their belief system against all rational evidence.

Must reading for all Darwinists
This new book by a respected medical doctor is an excellent review of some of the many major problems of neoDarwinism. Well written so that the contents are assessable to laymen, yet it covers enough new material to hold the interest of scientists. The book also covers a wide variety of topics in an interesting way. Since my field is molecular biology, I was happy to see a number of sections that covered this area, such as one on Hox genes. I became disillusioned with neoDarwinism largely as a result of my graduate studies in molecular and cell biology, and have often felt that no area posed more challenge to neoDarwinism than this field. For this reason, I was happy to see this area covered in this book. No traditional creationist, Latham quotes from many mainline scientists to make his point. My only complaint, aside from some very minor mistakes, is that the book should have gone into much more detail about the areas covered, and should have been better referenced. At 257 pages the author may have tried to hard to keep it short and to appeal to non scientists. It also should have had an index. Aside from these minor concerns, this book shows why the new generation of life scientists are becoming disillusioned with neoDarwinism. It also shows the stripes of the Darwin fundamentalists when confronting the growing number of Darwin skeptics. This will be a good reference book for my biology students.