This is John J. May. He has written a creationist book.

He’s a barmy, ignorant crank. I read the sample pages, and his big argument is from pregnancy and development (!) — he’s looked at it, superficially, and come away from it all dazzled at how complicated it all is, and that’s the entirety of his argument: it’s all too complicated.

Some people look at nature, marvel, and say that no one can comprehend it, therefore it must be magic. Other people look at nature, marvel, and say, “I think I can figure out how that works.” May is in the first category.

So, just another random kook on the internet with a self-published book promoting his own ignorance…with one odd twist. He’s having a launch party, and the big man doing the introductions is Conor Lenihan, the Irish Minister of State with special responsibility for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources.

Lenihan doesn’t seem to have any actual qualifications in science. I think he needs a change of title.

By the way, you can write to Lenihan and let him know what you think. Be nice — laughing at his foolishness will be more effective than snarling at him. It might be especially effective to write to the Irish Times or the Independent and let them know there is a local politician doing something stupid, which is always good entertainment.

I guess we were effective. Lenihan has withdrawn from the book launch.