Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems
    a book by William A. Dembski and Jonathan Wells
    Book recommendation by Rick Gerhardt

The Design of Life is a book whose time has come, and a book for the times in which we live.  Two historical factors make it so.

We live in a time when scientific knowledge is exploding.  Entire new disciplines (like molecular biochemistry and genomics) have arisen in our lifetimes, and major paradigm shifts have occurred in other disciplines (cosmology, geology, physics, to name a few).  The resulting knowledge has ramifications for our understanding of life on Earth, and particularly its origins.

The other historical factor of note is this… Scientific understanding has progressed only as presently-held theories have been open to critique.  That is, truly objective scientists welcome evidence contrary to a particular theory, since it leads to refining or discarding, to pursuing more promising lines of research.  Today, despite a wealth of new, contrary evidence from a variety of disciplines, this basic scientific principle is ignored by many biologists.  At stake in biology today are both academic freedom and scientific progress.

It is into this tense but exciting situation that Dembski and Wells speak with clarity, depth, and authority.  In The Design of Life they do what defenders of neo-Darwinism have shown themselves unwilling to do—they interact with the evidence.  In pulling together the latest information from a variety of relevant disciplines (genetics, genomics, origin-of-life research, paleontology, anatomy, morphology, embryology, molecular biology, and biochemistry), these articulate proponents of intelligent design theory have given us a thorough and balanced understanding of the complex issues surrounding the origins and diversity of life on Earth.  Their argument engages the breadth and the best of what neo-Darwinism has to offer, and meets—indeed, overwhelms—each materialist objection in turn.  For anyone interested in discovering the truth about the history of life, I cannot think of a better place to start than this book.

As a student of the history and philosophy of science, I am thrilled that The Design of Life presents its paradigm-shifting case so persuasively and understandably.  Having followed the modern design movement with interest, I am confident of the place of primacy that this book will have in future discussions of the origins of life and of information in living things. 

As a biologist myself, I’m excited by the effect this book promises to have toward a much-needed invigoration of biology.  For far too long, the elites in this field have continued to operate as though (as was believed when Darwin proposed his theory) the universe itself was eternal, the cell was a simple blob of protoplasm, the fossil record was too incomplete to draw sound conclusions from it, and understanding life required addressing only matter and energy (and not information).  The current revolution within biology will, in the future, serve as a healthy reminder that the hallmark of good science is objectivity and that the sort of metaphysical dogmatism exemplified by materialist evolutionists never leads to scientific truth or progress.

As an educator, I am amazed by the clarity and accessibility these authors have managed to bring to such a complex and multi-faceted issue.  I will be using this book not only with college students but also with advanced high school biology students.  In addition, it’s a must read for anyone interested in the design/evolution debate, whether or not they have a science background.  Even those hoping to continue to prop up macroevolutionary theory would do well to read this book, to understand and interact with the evidence and arguments presented by Dembski and Wells.  Because this book promises to educate the public to the point where the bullying, bluff, and bravado upon which evolutionists have so far relied will no longer carry the day.