After my last post, Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Bicentenary, I called at my local Waterstones but was surprised to be advised it would be easier and quicker to get Signature in the Cell through Amazon. Just surprised to be told that. Post free, and cheaper too it seems!
But I see that Dawkins might have anticipated Signature in the Cell with his recent publication of The Greatest Show on Earth, or might it have been vice versa? “I am not sure whether Dawkins is rehearsing his arguments here to stiffen the backbones of those involved in the debate with ‘intelligent designers’, or whether he really thinks that the scales will fall from their religious eyes, cauterised by his searing arguments. Indeed, one wonders whether this book will do more than preach to the already converted (isn’t it hard to escape the language of the pulpit?)” says Richard Fortey of the The Greatest Show on Earth in The Guardian.
Critical of ‘Intelligent Design’ Dawkins appears to shy away from having a public debate with leading Design proponent, Stephen Meyer. Says Lifebite website, “Dr Stephen C. Meyer, author of the acclaimed ‘Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design’, has challenged Dawkins to defend ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. Meyer says: “Richard Dawkins claims that the appearance of design in biology is an illusion and claims to have refuted the case for Intelligent Design. But Dawkins assiduously avoids addressing the key evidence for intelligent design and won’t debate its leading proponents” Read full article here.
Dawkins and Meyer appear to be the two opposing heavies in the Evolution/Intelligent Design debate at this moment in the year of Darwin’s Bicentenary. From the reviews it seems one book should not be read without the other!
