Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous and complete nonsense
Review: Please see a complete reubuttal to this book and other ID "science" at:
www.talkcreation.org
www.talkdesign.org
www.talkreason.org
Rating:
Summary: Nothing new.....yawn.....
Review: Synopsis of the book: Biochemical pathways are incredibly intricate. I (Michael Behe) can't imagine how gradual evolution based on random mutations could have led to the formation of these pathways. Therefore, there must be a Creator.
We have heard similar arguments over and over again -- there is nothing new in this book. Such an argument is obviously very very weak. First of all, perhaps Michael Behe is just not imaginative/smart enough. Furthermore, even if not a single scientist in the world can satisfactorily explain how biochemical pathways could have evolved by natural selection, it still doesn't mean that it could not have happened. All it means is that scientists still don't know everything.
BTW, I am a Bible-believing Christian, but I am also a scientist. I firmly believe in a Creator and in the Book of Genesis, and when I finally see a book providing solid evidence against evolution based solely on natural selection, I will be the first to recommend it. Unfortunately, it's clear that this book by Behe is bad science. Behe is actually a respected biochemist with publications in high-profile journals (and therefore his description in this book of all those intricate biochemical events *IS* good science), but speculating the origins of life is not within his expertise. It would be okay if Behe were only saying that he PERSONALLY doesn't believe in natural selection-based evolution, but he is now pretending that he has PROVEN it wrong with concrete scientific evidence.
Rating: 
Summary: highest recommendation
Review: The armchair evolutionists here are missing the point. Behe is not advocating any specific form of religion or any religion at all. He is making an argument for some form of intelligent or purposeful design in the course of evolution. His points are eloquently stated for both the scientist and non-scientist alike. The militant atheist is threatened by his ideas as they are an affront to their own egocentric world view. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: The book that basically started it all, where whispers in the scientific community against neo-Darwinism became public discourse. Whether you're an IDist or a Darwinist, this is a good book to have on the shelf just as a reference point.A lot of people on both sides just talk pass each other, and project their image of the "other" side the way they wish to see it. When Darwinists think of Intelligent Design, they think of 7-Day Creationists who want to burn scientists at the stake. When 7-Day Creationists think of evolution, they think of that athiest Joseph Stalin shoving Christians into Gulags (and Daniel Dennet apparently thinks religious people should be in cages, so maybe that assumption isn't very far off). Behe's book is not about the Bible, or Christianity, or Creationism, or even anti-evolution. It is anti-aimless natural selection. Behe sets up many examples w/in biology and biochemistry that show how the human cell and its processes are dependent on complex plans that could not have developed gradually. Blood coagulation requires "knowledge" of the end result in order for the process to begin. The immune system requires separate parts to evolve at the same time to meet a common goal w/in the system. There are "blueprints" w/in life that mutation and natural selection cannot explain, especially w/in the timeframe of earth's development. Does this disprove evolution? No. Does it prove the existence of God? No, not necessarily, although you'd have to provide a funky explanation involving (gasp! oh no!) metaphysics. The Power of "Life" as the Grand Unified Theory of Physics, or something. So this book does prove the need for a new explanation that is going to have to account for the borderline miraculous development of life, since life is so "irreducibly complex". Francis Crick, probably seeing the writing on the wall because of his analysis of DNA, jumped on the panspermia bandwagon early on. I always wondered why he did so, because in High School and College I was never told of the weaknesses w/in Darwinism, and here comes Crick w/ this funky idea of panspermia. Why, I thought? Crick's obviously a genius, wasn't he aware that natural selection is flawless and infallible? Now I know why. Of course, panspermia has its own problems, as it just pushes the problems of chaotic life ex nihilo back a couple of galaxies and epochs. Behe also shows how many of the arguments against Intelligent Design are Strawmen fallacies, such as "Well, God wouldn't have done it that way!" Well, why not? That's not an observation of nature, but a metaphysical argument, and one that comes from Sartrian "bad faith". Behe takes from the bottom up, and shows how the observation of cells and cellular mechanisms leads to planning and design. The identity and characteristics of the Designer--is he perfectly Good or does he have a mean side, is he Deistic or Theistic, would he make the universe perfect from a human perspective or would he make the universe glaring w/ imperfections--is for another book and another time. Like a good Belisarius (the Byzantine commmander who ushered in the strategy of defensive warfare), Behe merely stakes out a sound corner w/in science that orthodox scientific opinion cannot explain (irreducible complexity), and he sits there, secure.
Rating:
Summary: A successful challenge to evolution
Review: This book is quite valuable in the study of evolutionary biology. Acceptance of evolution in the 19th Century was based on Darwin's research, which consisted primarily of morphological or physical comparisons between closely related species. It would be interesting to see if Darwin's ideas would have been embraced as easily back then had scientists possessed the knowledge they now have about biochemistry. Nevertheless, evolution was embraced by the scientific community because of its materialistic explanation of the living world, and it has remained intact for generations. Darwin's ideas gave rise to the religion versus science debate which is still going strong to this day, evidence of which is seen in virtually every review of this book. Although I believe that Creationism is NOT science, I find it ironic that those who are anti-Creationist must still use "faith" in their materialist view of life. Where a Creationist says, "God created life," an Evolutionist says, "Life began through random processes. It was purely by chance." This statement does not seem to carry any impication of "faith" until one realizes that there is overwhelming statistical and mathematical evidence that the origins of life could not have arisen by chance. Behe's thesis supports this view. Behe successfully argues that current evolutionary theory cannot explain the origin and development of irreducibly complex systems. An irreducibly complex system is like a finely-tuned machine whose function is dependent on each of its parts - if one of the parts is missing or defective, the entire machine will cease to function. The development of an irreducibly complex system would have to involve a series of genetic mutations, working in unison, to achieve functionality. It is inconceivable that such a series of mutations would occur through a purely random process. This is Behe's main thesis: that the process of natural selection is NOT random, and he concludes that an Intelligent Designer is behind this process. Although the conclusion of design is unacceptable to most scientists, Behe still presents the scientific community with a formidable challenge: how do we modify the theory of evolution to accommodate the complexities of the biochemical world? Moreover, can the theory be modified without compromising its integrity?
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