Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

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Michael J. Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University, presents here a scientific argument for the existence of God. Examining the evolutionary theory of the origins of life, he can go part of the way with Darwin--he accepts the idea that species have been differentiated by the mechanism of natural selection from a common ancestor. But he thinks that the essential randomness of this process can explain evolutionary development only at the macro level, not at the micro level of his expertise. Within the biochemistry of living cells, he argues, life is "irreducibly complex." This is the last black box to be opened, the end of the road for science. Faced with complexity at this level, Behe suggests that it can only be the product of "intelligent design."

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The groundbreaking, "seminal work" (Time) on intelligent design that dares to ask, was Darwin wrong?

In 1996, Darwin's Black Box helped to launch the intelligent design movement: the argument that nature exhibits evidence of design, beyond Darwinian randomness. It sparked a national debate on evolution, which continues to intensify across the country. From one end of the spectrum to the other, Darwin's Black Box has established itself as the key intelligent design text -- the one argument that must be addressed in order to determine whether Darwinian evolution is sufficient to explain life as we know it.

In a major new Afterword for this edition, Behe explains that the complexity discovered by microbiologists has dramatically increased since the book was first published. That complexity is a continuing challenge to Darwinism, and evolutionists have had no success at explaining it. Darwin's Black Box is more important today than ever.

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From within the highest ranks of the scientific community comes a startling new theory of creation that not only contradicts Darwinian orthodoxy but opens the door to theological arguments biologists have dismissed and ridiculed for more than a century.

Customer Reviews:

A Design Parade.......2007-10-08

After I purchased biochemist Michael Behe's new book "The Edge of Evolution," I decided it would be wise for me to boney up on his seminal 1996 work "Darwin's Black Box." I already played muck-a-muck with this debate for quite a few months, in a whirling attempt of absorbed concentration in the infamous struggle of "Design v. Darwin" to find out the truth. The debate may be superfluous, and especially downright nasty, and it will continue to intensify in the coming months with a new documentary by lawyer and social commentator Ben Stein in February 2008. Reading Behe is like taking a time out from the unfair play on both sides of the field. He is a better penman than Richard Dawkins, devoid of the man's vile poison, and he treats the reader as a student to be respected, not as a clay figure to be molded into a Darwiniac inquisitor. In fact, Behe is a committed believer in common descent, a position that isn't too friendly a bedfellow of creationists. The book is unique in both its author and its content, as demonstrated by the numerous "critiques" and "debunking" of the arguments proposed on the Amazon boards. Reading the hundreds or so reviews and responses only do so much to strengthen Behe's ideas.

This book is more like a parade. Behe, the ringleader with the marching rod, introduces us to the central argument of the "Black Box." It turns out to be irreducible complexity, which embodies the fabric of many biological systems once believed to be inconsequential, simplistic globules developed by chance mutation and selection. We then witness the march of the band and its many sections: the cell, the bacterial flagellum, blood-clotting, the cilium, etc. Each system, composed of many interdependent parts, will cease functioning if only one of its microscopic parts is missing. The individual parts, of course, can still possibly perform some other function (so goes the most powerful critique against ID! Things have different functions! Eureka!). However, the system itself will be quite useless. Thus appears the grand finale, a prolonged beat of the bass drum, which is that the neo-Darwinian paradigm is an implausible explanation for how these molecular systems appeared, no matter how many billions of years you attempt to postulate for its progress.

Attacking the hypothesis of intelligent design as a "God-of-the-Gaps" argument is one of the most frequently peddled mischaracterizations in all of the debate, promoted by no less than the most rabid of atheistic biologists like Dawkins and Eugenie Scott. The argument goes: We cannot envision a way naturalistic science could develop this system; hence it was made by God. The falsehood in this attack is typical, not to mention simplistic. Behe himself describes ID as the purposeful arrangement of parts in a system. We see this in every biological system: the cell, the flagellum, the cilium, and the blood clotting system. These systems are arranged in a purposeful pattern, structured precisely to, in the case of the cell, to replicate and store information, and in the case of other biological organisms, to sustain itself (unlike non-living materials like, say, rocks). It says nothing about whom or what this designer is. And, of course, it still remains the burden of proof to demonstrate how it evolved. We're talking about the Supreme Law of the Universe (Darwinism), and all that people can come up with are fairy tales about how it MIGHT have happened?

Neo-Darwinism cannot be supported much longer. It doesn't mean that evolution did not occur, or that common descent is a bogus idea. But the chance mutation-selection paradigm is becoming increasingly to difficult to sustain. The hyperactive Stalinist response to events like the Dover case and the actions committed by groups like the NSTA and ASE in America suggests a religious cult going through panic mode. Certainly there is something to what Behe and the rest of the ID movement is saying that just strikes a nerve. Maybe it's just the truth.

A great critique of evolution........2007-09-25

Supporters of the classic evolution that is taught in schools went nuts when this book was published. It could be argued that Michael Behe started the inteligent design theory and brought the debate of evolution back public stage.

Behe has been heavily criticized for daring to confront the evolution juggernaught and has made his book a must read for anyone interested in the evolution debate. This book is important and will shape the thinking of evolutionary scientists in the future, whether they like it or not.

Behe's empty box.......2007-09-05

First let's start with a quote from The National Academy of Science. " Creationism, I.D. and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science."

Mr. Behe uses the terms darwinism, darwinian evolution, darwinian gradualism through-out his book instead of modern evolution because he knows this name carries alot of heated imagery in the minds of the fundamentalist. If confronted with the findings of modern day evolution I think Mr. Behe would realize just how shakey the ground for his ideas would become.
He condems Prof. Doolittle for using a "yin yang" analogy but goes on to give boring and irrealivant analogy after analogy of his own.
He states that 90 persent of Americans believe in God as if the truth were dictated by a show of hands. If that were true then he might want to convert to Islam since the Muslim faith is the largest religious group in the world.
This leads me to my next problem with Mr. Behe's book. He is constantly refering to an intelligent designer or intelligent agent, and then speaking of the supernatural and divine. Here I have two questions.
1. Why use the singular noun? Why not appeal to many intelligent designers or agents?
2. Why could'nt these creators be "natural" as opposed to supernatural?

Which leads me to my final gripe.
Mr. Behe is constantly telling us how the scientific evidence points to an intelligent designer but never offers his own testable proof. Complexity is not proof in and of itself. What is the indentity of this creator? He does'nt say. The whole book seemed to be a rant against scientist who do not agree with his view. Mr. Behe seems to think there's this big conspiracy against the truth. Who's truth? His.

Amazing stuff.......2007-08-31

Functionally interdependent irreducible complexities....fascinating. How can these be adequately explained? I find it truly amazing.

Wonderful.......2007-08-22

Down to earth with complexity explained in a simple readable way. This is a very good source to dispute one of the most absurd notions in the history of the world....evolution. Fantastic, logical, and full of expert knowledge. Dispute it if you wish, but truth is evident. God is real!

Darwins Black Box the Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

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Darwins Black Box the Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
Michael J Behe
Manufacturer: SIMON & SCHUSTER @ TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N74WJA

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution.: An article from: American Scientist

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Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution.: An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
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Binding: Digital

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Darwin's black box: the biochemical challenge to evolution.: An article from: Catholic Insight

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Darwin's black box: the biochemical challenge to evolution.: An article from: Catholic Insight

Manufacturer: Catholic Insight
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Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Catholic Insight, published by Catholic Insight on June 1, 1998. The length of the article is 908 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Darwin's black box: the biochemical challenge to evolution.
Publication: Catholic Insight (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 1998
Publisher: Catholic Insight
Volume: 6 Issue: 5 Page: 30

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and creative biologists, here offers a completely new perspective on the role of size in biology. In his hallmark friendly style, he explores the universal impact of being the right size. By examining stories ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Gulliver's Travels, he shows that humans have always been fascinated by things big and small. Why then does size always reside on the fringes of science and never on the center stage? Why do biologists and others ponder size only when studying something else--running speed, life span, or metabolism?

Why Size Matters, a pioneering book of big ideas in a compact size, gives size its due by presenting a profound yet lucid overview of what we know about its role in the living world. Bonner argues that size really does matter--that it is the supreme and universal determinant of what any organism can be and do. For example, because tiny creatures are subject primarily to forces of cohesion and larger beasts to gravity, a fly can easily walk up a wall, something we humans cannot even begin to imagine doing.

Bonner introduces us to size through the giants and dwarfs of human, animal, and plant history and then explores questions including the physics of size as it affects biology, the evolution of size over geological time, and the role of size in the function and longevity of living things.

As this elegantly written book shows, size affects life in its every aspect. It is a universal frame from which nothing escapes.

Customer Reviews:

Great stuff!.......2007-07-06

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It feels like you're hanging out with an old friend on the back porch. It is a very easy read, and the topic is neat. I really enjoyed the part on quorum sensing, totally fascinating. Thanks for a great book! I went to the library and checked out 3 more by Dr. Bonner.

Good, but not great book.......2007-05-26

I found this book to be relatively interesting. It reads a bit like an academic trying to write a popular book: it is readable, but I sense a struggle to write in an unaccustomed genre. I thought Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People was a better book, although more general in scope.

Big Ideas in a Small Book About Sizes.......2006-12-18

It must be true that size is important; I can count on regularly getting e-mails that tell me I ought to be dissatisfied with my current size and that offer me just the potion to improve it. That's not the big issue in _Why Size Matters: From Bacteria to Blue Whales_ (Princeton University Press) by John Tyler Bonner. "No one can escape the universal rules imposed by size," Bonner writes in the preface. Or, "To put it another way, size is a supreme regulator of all matters biological." There are aspects of size here that are surprising, and all the more so for most of them being in plain sight for any of us to have come up with. Bonner is a biology professor emeritus, who has concentrated his career on smaller animals ("I have devoted my life to slime molds," begins one of his other books) but takes up the problems and potentials of scale for plants and animals of all sizes, even imaginary ones.

Bonner does not mention science fiction movies which have as staples terrifying oversized creatures; his fictional examples are residents of the lands visited by Lemuel Gulliver, both the Lilliputians, one twelfth of Gulliver's "normal" height, and Brobdingnagians, twelve times his height. He repeatedly shows that if these were real biological creatures, just because of size difference, they would have different skeletons, different intellects, different voices, different metabolisms, and different lengths of life. Size would make those creatures different in many ways that mere inches could not measure. Bonner may draw many of his examples from Swift's fantasy, but his observations are all drawn from physics and biology. Increasing an animal's size always increases its complexity. Not only is this true from one species to the next, but since we all start out as simple singular cells, it holds true through the development until adult size is attained. Our gastrointestinal, cardiac, neurological, and other systems are more complicated than those of animals smaller than we, not because we are the exalted lords of creation, not because our big frames need more stuff to fill them, but simply because we are the size we are. As Bonner says, size rules all. Size considerations even answer the question of why animals evolved from tiny unicellular creatures into us and into whales and sequoias.

There are equations and logarithmic graphs within these pages, but Bonner's tone is never pedantic. He may frequently invoke Gulliver (or Tom Thumb and even Sinbad the Sailor), but the lessons are drawn from real animals, like Bonner's beloved slime molds, or geckos, bats, or fairy flies (actually tiny wasps with feathery wings), or ourselves. _Why Size Matters_ is itself a small book, but it is freighted with important scientific ideas brought forth with admirable clarity and good humor.

Dee Bigger Dee Better .......2006-11-26

John Tyler Bonner is an Emeritus Professor of Biology at Princeton University. This present general consideration of the importance of 'size' in overall evolutionary development comes after years of close observation and study of cellular processes. For Bonner the complexity of an organism is measured by the number and kinds, the overall variety of cells which comprise it. Very simply , organisms of smaller size cannot have systems of operation of a kind that larger ones can. As he understands it 'size matters' and is a prime determinant of the shape and structure of the organism.
This is his summary of the main theme of this work.

" Changes in size are not a consequence of changes in shape, but the reverse: changes in size often require changes in shape. To put it another way, size is a supreme regulator of all matters biological. No living entity can evolve or develop without taking size into consideration. Much more than that, size is a prime mover in evolution.There is abundant evidence for the natural selection of size, for both increases and decreases.Those size changes have the remarkable effect that they guide and encourage novelties in the structure of all organisms. Size is not just a by-product of evolution, but a major player. Size increase requires changes in structure, in function, and, as we will see, in other familiar evolutionary innovations. It requires them because they are needed for the individual to exist. Life would be impossible without the appropriate size-related modifications."
Bonner goes on to explain why 'size' has been neglected as a subject of biological study. He gives general principles which indicate the overall importance of size.
He in this regard says that Strength is dependent on Size, that complex functions such as metabolism, speed of mobility, longevity and growth depend on size. He also says that the division of labor ( the complexity of an organism) is a variable of its size. Also he indicates that the surfaces which enable diffusion of food , oxygen and heat in and out of the body vary with size.
Bonner provides entertaining and interesting illustrations and examples. One has the pleasure of reading a book in which one feels an immense amount of learning and understanding is condensed into a relatively small number of pages.
While his general line seems to be 'bigger is better' rather than 'small is beautiful' this work would seem to fit into the latter category.

Small Book; Big Thoughts.......2006-11-11

Size matters.

It determines what any organism can do. Yet, size is relegated to the sidelines of scientific study. It is usually studied only as a corollary of another variable - speed, longevity or metabolism.

John Tyler Bonner, a retired Princeton biology professor, changes that. By examining stories from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Gulliver's Travels" grants size its scientific due. In this well-written and easily-understood book, Bonner spans the giants and dwarfs of the human, animal and plant kingdoms. He explores the physics of size in biology, its evolution and its role in the function and longevity of living things.

Size rules all things: strength, surface, complexity, living processes and abundance. No endeavor escapes its tentacles.

It is a small wonder that Bonner addresses his subject in as lucid and conversant manner as he does in this small, but pointed and thought-provoking book.

Structural Biology of Bacterial Pathogensis

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Structural Biology of Bacterial Pathogensis
Gabriel, Ed. Waksman
Manufacturer: American Society of Microbiology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1555813011

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Bacterial Growth & Form
Arthur L. Koch
Manufacturer: Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402000677

Book Description

This book is unique in the way microbiology is presented. As some of the simplest organisms, bacteria have a close connection to physics and chemistry. Throughout the book an appreciation of how these organisms solve their problems is given. They do so in a way that is adequate but less dependent on the evolution of very sophisticated biological tools that are so prominent in the biology of eukaryotic plants and animals. This simplicity is a consequence of the fact that the Domain of Bacteria separated from the evolutionary tree earlier than the other two Domains. Early parts of the book are devoted to evolutionary processes and mathematics for the study of bacteria growth. Also presented are the physics of osmotic pressure, surface tension, and relevant aspects of biochemistry.
Since this book presents a novel approach to microbiology, it will be appropriate for all microbiologists and students. Even though it is written so that a prior knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and microbiology is not needed, it will be read, studied, and thought about by people with a more physical background.

Developmental Biology of Prokaryotes (Una's Lectures)

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Developmental Biology of Prokaryotes (Una's Lectures)

Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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Sex Wars: Genes, Bacteria, and Biased Sex Ratios

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Fascinating look at the biology of sex ratios

Sex Wars: Genes, Bacteria, and Biased Sex Ratios
Michael E.N. Majerus
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691009813

Book Description

Theory predicts that half of the individuals produced by sexually reproducing species will be male. But in a sizable minority of organisms, females greatly outnumber males, and there are cases in which more males than females are produced. Here a respected geneticist explains why, introducing the strange world of male-killers, parthenogenetic reproduction, and ultra-selfish genes. Written for a broad audience of biologists and students and incorporating a tremendous variety of fascinating examples, this book is the first to synthesize what we know about sex ratio distorters and their evolutionary effects.

Michael Majerus begins by characterizing our theoretical and empirical understanding of sexual difference, determination, and conflict. He then focuses on inherited elements that flout the normal Mendelian rules, particularly inherited microorganisms that influence their hosts' sex ratios for their own survival and replication. The Wolbachia bacterium, for example, can turn some male moths into fully functional females. In other species, such as ladybird beetles, ultra-selfish symbionts kill male but not female hosts. And some inherited microorganisms induce their hosts to reproduce without sex, leading certain wasp and other species to forsake males altogether. Majerus explains how and why such mechanisms distort population sex ratios and describes the consequences for organisms' genetics, ecology, and reproductive behavior.

Accessibly integrating a great quantity of research, this book makes the information on sex ratios and their distortion available to researchers and students across biology. It will be welcomed as both text and reference.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating look at the biology of sex ratios.......2007-07-18

A fascinating read! I was given this title as an introduction to the field of parthenogenesis and sex ratio distortion, before starting a postdoc in the field. However, it is suitable, I believe, for a lay audience moderately educated in biology. (More specifically, you will probably need to have taken and understood a college-level basic biology course in order to be able to read and enjoy this book.) It delves into the questions of why sex exists, why most (but not all) species have males, and the evolutionary roots of equal numbers of males and females in most populations. It also opens up the world of sex-ratio distorting endosymbionts and the "arms race" between the endosymbionts (trying to move towards an all female strain to maximize their transmission to the next generation) and the hosts (trying to achieve a stable male-female sex ratio). The book is well written and full of astonishing examples, making it an entertaining read as well as a solid introduction to the dynamic and often "stranger than fiction" ecology of sex.

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Structure of Phototrophic Prokaryotes

Manufacturer: CRC Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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This book provides an in-depth review of the ultrastructure of the phototrophic bacteria and how electron microscopy is used in the study of light-harvesting antennae and reactions centers, as well as ecology. Topics discussed include detailed methods and models for the three basic types of photosynthetic apparatus. The thylakoid (cyanobacteria), intracytoplasmic chromatophore membrane (purple bacteria), and chlorosome (green bacteria) models are presented based on ultrastructural studies including ultra-thin sections, 3-D reconstruction of thick sections, freeze-fracture replicates, and immunolabeling. The book also explains how species of phototrophic bacteria can be identified in natural populations by their ultrastructure. Structure of Phototrophic Prokaryotes will be an invaluable reference resource for researchers and students working in photosynthesis and microbial ecology.

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