I want you all to know that I finished Michael Behe’s drecky The Edge of Evolution, and that I really will have a review up soon. Although, actually, I suppose I could put up a review right now:
Sucks.
But you probably want details, don’t you? So give me a little time to whittle this thing into shape. The book is awful throughout, and I’m more than a little embarrassed for Behe, who has just committed a whole pile of common creationist errors. Inane errors. Some errors so stupid I have to believe he’s intentionally trying to fool someone.
I ordered my copy yesterday. I sure hope the book will be as entertaining as Darwin’s Black Box. And by entertaining I mean “bang my head against the wall”-entertainment.
Maybe it’s some kind of big marketing strategy. Spouting some stupid lies about a controversial topic, becoming a big name on the obviously wrong side of the issue and then sell books. Not only people supporting you will buy them, but also all kinds of folks who are refuting your mind boggling ideas.
All you have to do is to sell your integrity. You’ll get paid in money and admiration from people who are barely literate enough to read book’s cover (but buy it anyway). And your name won’t be forgotten anytime soon, even though most of the world will remember you as despicable liar, or ignorant fool. So, if you want to pull that off, be sure you are resistant to shame.
It’s harder to be on the right side of the issue, because then you’ve got to put some real thought into your books, which means hard work and you’ve got to write it in a manner which makes all the good, smart folks buy it too. Which might be difficult, given the fact that they already know your ideas.
Just a thought.
Duly added to the list; I wait on tenterhooks for the details.
Well, I can always read GM/BM’s review (and response) to it again.
“I ordered my copy yesterday.”
NO! NO! NO!
Don’t order it! Get it from the library or dig it out of one of the many trash cans it’s likely to be tossed into.
Just don’t give Behe money by buying it.
OEJ
I buy books like this one on half.com – used – for pennies on the dollar. That way I justify it as helping get the poor sap who paid cover price to recover a small part of their financial loss.
Yeah, we know it sucks, the real question is is there any new suckiness or is it still the same suckiness that we’ve being hearing for the 100 fucking years.
I think you lot are too skeptical. I, for one, am looking forward to see the results of Behe’s decade of work on his theory and the fruits of the Discovery Institutes huge investment program. I wonder if they’ve managed to get that Sus scrofa project off the ground yet ?
Having read through some of his past court testimony, I cannot imagine Behe is not aware of his “inane errors”.
Personally, I like grand and tragic irony and have decided that Behe is actually a intelligent man with a complete understanding of the science and its method, but has chosen to con the creationist crowd out of as much of their cash as possible.
If I’m right, he’ll eventually be found out and become a pop icon! ;-)
… ok, maybe not, but it would be grand wouldn’t it :-)
Some errors so stupid I have to believe he’s intentionally trying to fool someone.
One wonders if that’s not the product of intellectual isolation. If the only people he talks to are sycophants, is it any wonder if he ends up writing dreck that he himself would have been able to identify as such in earlier years?
I can’t imagine that he gets many intellectual critiques from his peers at the Discovery Institute.
I’m quite impressed you do the hard legwork of getting through such books. I’d probably be suffering from sever brain melting after a chapter or so. Guess Behe is a notch over Coulter, though…
I saw the book in the “New Non-Fiction” section at Borders yesterday – sadly out of place. God is Not Great was on the other side of the table. I picked up a copy of GiNG and slyly placed it on top of the Behe Book, hiding it, at least until someone comes along and picks up the Hitchens book.
Was that wrong?
bybelknap, ever heard about the ethic ideal of consquentialism? In this case, the ends clearly justify the means. ;-P
Well, that’s alright then. I’ll do it again given the chance!
“I’m more than a little embarrassed for Behe, who has just committed a whole pile of common creationist errors. Inane errors. Some errors so stupid I have to believe he’s intentionally trying to fool someone.”
Of course he is. His intended audience are to be fooled into thinking there’s some sciency stuff behind their creationism and thus generate dollars and support. And why would you be embarrassed for an obvious but successful scammer? Coming out with this guff after Dover shows that Behe is beyond embarrassment.
So, Borders has been selling the book before its official release date. I wonder why?
Okay, I’m guilty, I saw this sheaf of cellulose (cellulite?) on the shelf at Barnes & Nobles in the ‘science’ section on Sunday. I promptly buried it behind four copies of Dawkin’s ‘The Ancestors Tale’– a book lay people ignorant of the power of evolutionary theory should read.
Check out the new Michael Behe Minivan!
http://thestubborncurmudgeon.blogspot.com
Solidarity, Mothra!
Maybe Behe is actually a genious. He’s smart enough and educated enough to know how science should be done. So he throws together a book that makes ID look really, really scientific. He sells a bunch of copies to creationists who won’t see where the science is flawed, but will be glad to buy it as proof of their correctness. They’ll probably also buy a few copies to hand out to the unbelievers or put in the cry room at the church. Nobody will actually READ them, but they’ll still be paying for them.
Meanwhile, Behe is laughing all the way to the bank.
Except the poor evilutionist reviewers.
Ouch, now that is really evil.
Bob
#18
Thats the best thing I’ve seen all day. Thanks
I hear they’ve run into supply problems, what with the unexpectedly high cost of lipstick these days.
I made this at the request of a fellow reader over at Aetiology, but knowing PZ’s love of image macros, I’ll crosspost it here.
I think he is trying to fool somebody, himself.