The Edge of Evolution

The Search for the Limits of Darwinism

De: Michael J. Behe

Narrado por: Patrick Lawlor

In a tour de force of science and logic, the best-selling author of Darwin's Black Box combines genetics, laboratory results, and mathematics to prove, once and for all, that the universe and life on Earth are designed.

Michael J. Behe launched the intelligent design movement with his first book, Darwin's Black Box, by demonstrating that Darwinism could not account for the complexity of biochemistry. Now he takes a giant leap forward. In The Edge of Evolution, Behe uses astounding new findings from the genetics revolution to show that Darwinism is nowhere near as powerful as most people believe. Genetic analysis of malaria, E. coli, and the HIV virus over tens of thousands of generations, not to mention analysis of the entire history of the genetic struggle between them and "us" (humans), make it possible for the first time to determine the precise rates, and likelihood, of random mutations of varying kinds. We now know, as never before, what Darwinism can and cannot accomplish. The answers turn conventional science on its head and are certain to be hotly debated by millions. After The Edge of Evolution, life in the universe will never look the same.

©2007 Michael J. Behe (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Though many critics won't want to admit it, The Edge of Evolution is very balanced, careful, and devastating. A tremendously important book." (Dr. Philip Skell, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences)

Good Science

Where does The Edge of Evolution rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Good review of the Science that supports Darwinian concepts and theory with a fair look to the limits of the operative underlying science as we know it today. A bit too tech talking in places but a fair college education can make it's way through the word war to find value in the content. I am just now wondering what selection forces might be at work to favor stupidity in the current state of the Human Species.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Edge of Evolution?

No memorable moments in this work.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The voice given to this book was a bit too edgy for my taste.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nothing in this book moved me in any strong manner.

Any additional comments?

Generally worth the read for anyone interested in the world of modern science.

Outstanding read

This outstanding reads provide new insight for the current contradiction debate regarding blind evolution and intelligent design, highly recommended for both parties.

I am primarily commenting on the narrator.

The readers diction is indeed precise and careful but a bit nauseating. Words like "deduce" and "produce" come out like "dediEWce" and "prodiEWce" and his character voices are very poor.
If you can get onboard with the reader then the book is worthwhile. Neither extreme review is a good reflection of the work.

Interesting Therory Not Well Supported

In essence his thesis is that complexity demands a designer, however I didn't find his arguments convincing. In fact, I kept waiting for his big revelation, which never came.

In the process of making his argument that randomness cannot be the designer of complexity, he overlooks genetic drift, population genetics and doesn't mention any serious mathematical statements to make his case. He cites the lack of complex evolution in two viruses as proof that this idea somehow applies to eukaryotes, without explaining how or why.

He also dismisses the multi-universe theory's explanation of complexity and fine tuning out of hand, without really addressing the central points of the theories. He accepts the theory of common decent without much of an explanation as to why.

It's true that the complexity and fine tuning of the physical universe is mind boggling and it is therefore easy to project a designer into the creation, but it's hard to find any figure prints that point to the designer.

Brilliant and provocative

Negative reviews elsewhere, by names little and big (e.g. Dawkins), are full of name calling, appeals to authority (authorities who dismiss Behe's argument a priori), irrelevancies, and anger, but nothing that addresses the substance of his case. Behe provides detailed examples and arguments supporting natural selection and common descent. His sole challenge to the reigning dogma is the sufficiency of RANDOM variation to explain the complexity of life as we have come to know it through modern biochemistry and genetics. The howls of Dawkins et al betray a faith in life as a random accident challenged at the foundation.

Listen to it, not to comments about it!

No topic is more prone to straw man arguments than arguments against Intelligent Design. Every time the subject of Intelligent Design comes up in my presence many react as if ID proponents were arguing for a 6,000 year old world. When I ask those holding such views what they've read from the ID community itself invariably it comes up that all they read was works from anti-ID thinkers about ID. The truth is that most who are anti-ID work on the assumption that NOTHING is more improbably then the existence of God and hence of design. Thus, even he most bizarre and/or improbable scientific speculation is more believable to them then the possibility of design and upon this basis they criticize Behe. This book however is NOT about God, it is about understanding the origin of the complexity of our physical world from a genuinely scientific perspective. Specifically, in this book Behe agrees with common decent and also with some variation that results from random changes and natural selection. However, the "Edge" he seeks to define in this book is between what Darwinism can explain and what it can't. If you want to know what ID is about and are not content to read straw man arguments against ID then this book is for you. I think the Edge of Evolution is even better than Behe's earlier work Darwin's Black Box because it is written years later taking into account important scientific discoveries in molecular biology and with the arguments of those who criticized Darwin's Black Box in mind.

Darwinian is tested by logic and statistics

Darwinism is often presented as THE explanation for life on our planet. But there is little evidence to support this. We can all agree with Mendel that the offspring will inherit attributes from their ancestry. It is much more difficult to demonstrate that one species is the ancestor of another species. And this does not consider the fact that our planet began as a sterile place. So, there is no original life to modify.

I liked the discussion of the malaria bug. Since it reproduces so rapidly, many generations can be studied to see what changes are taking place in the bug. The fact that genetic material that no longer provides protection is removed from available DNA was not expected by me. I tend to hang on to my tools even if I haven't used them for a while.

I recommend this book highly.

The Most Important Thing...

to take away from Behe's work is that hegemony is not only possible in religion and politics, but in the scientific community as well. Perhaps that is simply a part of human nature (evolved, designed or otherwise), but be that as it may, scientists have for too long guarded the Darwinian evolution model as a holy text, unwilling to allow other theories to enter the scene. There is much to lend credit to Behe's version of Intelligent Design, and one cannot accuse him of "Creationism in disguise," as he advocates no particular Designer, but merely points out the weaknesses in the idea that all came about by the blind, random procress preposed by Darwin and protected with slavering viciousness by Dawkins and company far too long. Remember the end of the movie Inherit the Wind, when Drummond leaves the courtroom clasping a Bible and Darwin's Origin together? Try to have this kind of open minded approach to this book. It is an alternate theory, flawed and incomplete, but then, so is Darwin's evolution, and science is supposed to be about examining ALL the facts, right? So let's give ID a chance. It will not take us back to the Middle Ages, as Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and Dennett might suggest. We are smarter than that, and we can intelligently consider what this theory has to offer.

Outstanding Content! Narrator Dramatizations Lame...

A wonderful, and powerful follow-up to Behe's previous book, "Darwin's Black Box." Excellent content and informative technical treatment of the subject.

However, the narrator's voice dramatizations when quoting references were VERY distracting and off putting, perhaps even to the point of sounding sophomoric. Whether directed or not, these "creative liberties" make the presentation sound unprofessional against the academic subject matter of the book.

As unfortunate as these narrative quirks are, the audiobook is still well worth the price and time involved to devote to its consumption.

Amazing book—must read.

Great book on what Darwinian evolution can—and can't—achieve. The narrator unfortunately tries to use accents when reading quotes by other authors. It's quite distracting. The good news is that the quotes don't make up much of the material.