Of Moths & Men – An Evolutionary Tale: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth: Evolutionary Tale Untold Story Of Science And The Peppered Moth

Good science. Author gets sidetracked a bit too much with anecdotes and descriptions of eccentric academics. Not really for the layman at all, hence probably why I paid 1p secondhand, plus no doubt the fee to the mighty Amazonia.

Geoffrey Norman, whose book review in the Wall Street Journal entitled "A Flight from the Truth" enticed me to purchase this text, wrote that "for some, the fall of the peppered moth was better than Christmas morning. Creationists have had a field day with the news, especially on the Web, where a lot [of] bare-knuckles brawling occurs these days. Anyone who thought that the truth of Darwin's theory was settled in Dayton, Tenn., by Clarence Darrow--or in Beacon Wood by Bernard Kettlewell--is sure to be disabused by Ms. Hooper's fascinating book. But of course the theory of evolution will survive the collapse of Kettlewell--though some biologists cling to him with the avidity of the true believer[.] "Of Moths and Men" is a wonderful reminder that science is done by human beings, who are as flawed as the ideas they sometimes possess." Well said. Note that although this work is not a science book, per se, as other reviewers have correctly noted, the narrative includes extensive details on moths that some readers may find annoying. But if these same readers enjoy the good human character development that is interspersed throughout these details, they can definitely handle this annoyance. And because, in my opinion, Part III of this book (comprising two chapters of 12), is written so well, it is worth the time of the average reader to get through the first 10 chapters of the narrative in order to understand the implications of the faulty science of the peppered moth. Although for some reason Hooper has chosen within her discussion to ignore the modern intelligent design movement, she does note that she is "not a creationist, but to be uncritical about science is to make it into a dogma". Very well said.

As I write this review, I understand that evolutionists will not accept any evidence that demonstrates some of the follies of evolutionary theory. This review is not intended to make non-scientist evolutionists rethink their beliefs. The primary purpose of this review is to praise a well written book that brings more support to those who are cognizant of the fact that much of evolutionary theory is based on speculation, conjecture, and consciously misleading information. There was Haeckel's embryos depicting drawings of human fetuses going through a fish stage, pig stage, and finally a human stage of development that was proved to be completely false with the advent of resonance imaging devices; there was the infamous Peking man that was supposed to finally reveal the link between the great apes and humans, which mysteriously and conveniently disappeared from the world's scene; and now we have proof of the silly extremes to which evolutionists will go to demonstrate natural selection or survival of the fittest by pointing to peppered moths. Judith Cooper has wonderfully revealed the fallacies and inaccuracies of the peppered moth weapon in the evolutionist's arsenal as just another Haeckel's embryos or Peking man myth. Engrossing, engaging, and factually detailed, "Of Moths and Men" is enlightening and yet another of many books that lay waste to many of the so-called pillars of the evolutionary argument.

This book has good and not so good qualities. Should you read it? if you already know the workings of evolution by natural selection, but want to know more about the people that first tried to examine natural selection, you might like this. Often times we hear of famous scientists, but know very little about them as people or how them came to their ideas. This book shows you portraits of people like EB Ford and Kettlewell and describes their relationship and their efforts to test some of Darwin's theories. It also does a good job of describing all the trials and tribulations of doing science experiments; something we often take for granted. For that reason I liked the book and it was worth reading. On the other hand, if you're hoping to get a good description of evolution by natural selection and details of how it works, I would not recommend this book. The author is often incomplete, not 100% accurate and seems subjective (as opposed to objective, which science should be) in her assessment of data and science history.

Great find: the study of how a polluted environment changes genetic evolution