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48 of 58 found the following review helpful:
 Good Overview, Good Content, Some Weak Points Apr 05, 2009
By Atom
"Atom"
This book by Dr. Johnson provides a good overview of the current state of ID Theory. It contains references to cutting-edge ID research into bio-functionality (such as the FSCI of "Kalinsky", Abel and Trevors) and a very enjoyable discussion about one particularly fascinating design isomorph, the trilobite prosthetic eye. The book is readable and has excellent introductory and closing chapters on the philosophical/psychological resistance to design inferences. These should be required reading for anyone within the debate. Especially enjoyable is a discussion centered around the use of "possible" in scientific papers, before non-zero possibility has ever been demonstrated. This section was a unique insight on his part and should add to the depth of the discussion.
On the weaker side, the book does make use of quotes...a lot. To the point that it may turn some readers off or induce unfair/unsubstantiated cries of "quote-mining." (One should always check the source references, which are provided, for controversial quotes and *always* provide evidence before accusing of quote-mining...) The book may also cause uproar in the discussion of Dawkins' "Weasel" program, which has been a consuming topic of the ID-Darvo blogosphere recently. Although the book does correctly point out that since Dawkins never released his source code we are left to guess and infer what the underlying program structure was, it also only presents only one view of the progam, namely that it is equal to Partitioned Search. There is evidence that the program was not meant to model partitioned search ([...]), so at very least, that view should have also been presented. This isn't a killer and is understandable given the opacity of Dawkins' presentation in his book (without ever providing the source code), but is still something that could have been avoided.
This book will undoubtably attract tags of "crank", "delusional", etc, due to it simply being an ID book, by those who hate anything ID associated. But as someone who has read the book, it is fine as far as research goes. References are provided in abundance, so the interested reader can follow up on the research discussed.
So if you want the crowd to think for you, then you'll want to skip this book, due to its "association" with ID. If you want to weigh the evidence for yourself, this book is a good place to begin.
19 of 22 found the following review helpful:
It restored my faith May 03, 2010
By Mark A. Capuano
As an elder and an engineer, I'd always thought I had a pretty good balance between science and religion. I had't noticed over the years, how a strong diet of PBS and Science Channel specials had shifted many of my fundamental beliefs in God, and the nature of creation. I found myself questioning everything, and was becoming quite fatalistic in my 60's. This book changed all that. Over the course of two days my brain experienced a major reality check. As "common thought" and scietific assumptions failed the tests of statistical possibility, the inevitability of an intelligent source to all life began to emerge anew in my reasoning. Certain facts of science should not be explained by religion. But when scientists attempt to explain certain realities of faith through faulty application of methods and reasoning, and then clings to these tenets in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they just end up looking silly. This is what I came away with from my two day journey. The book was extremely detailed and yet very readable. I give it an A+. It may have been the most significant book I've read in 10 years.Probability's Nature and Nature's Probability: A Call to Scientific Integrity
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Challenging Thoughts about Origins Oct 17, 2010
By Royal
This book draws attention to several problems with the reigning (materialist) view of how life began. Dr. Johnson focuses a lot on probability issues and the source of information.
The book is easy to read and offers a large number of thoughts worth ruminating about.
The book illustrates the advantages and pitfalls of self-publishing. On the one hand, the price is unbeatable and was brought to market quickly. On the other hand, there is room for improvement in how the material is organized. Although the quotes and thoughts make sense individually, the chapters and sections could be organized more coherently. Additional diagrams would also be much appreciated.
I urge everyone to get a copy and watch for the other book he is coming out with.
Dr. Royal Truman
Mannheim, Gemany
33 of 44 found the following review helpful:
Irrefutable Logic Mar 24, 2009
By Clay Ritter
Dr Johnson brings a fresh dose of truth to a contentious subject! Too many people have been silenced by the vocal critics, who argue that to acknowledge a 'designer' means that you have rejected science. Dr Johnson examines the intricacies of life, applies sound logic and analysis, and demonstrates that life as we know it could not have simply sprung up from non-life. This book may challenge your intellect, but I believe it will will also challenge your pre-held presumptions about the theory we call evolution!
18 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 Swiftly covers several domains using a liberal amount of quoted text Nov 26, 2009
By Sumimus
"sumimus"
The book's main objective is to demonstrate that Intelligent Design
(ID) is empirically detectable. In nine short chapters, the
author swiftly covers broad domains such as probability calculations,
hypotheses on the origin of mass and energy in the universe, life
building blocks (e.g., DNA, enzymes, nucleotides, amino acids),
hypotheses on the origin of life (e.g., RNA world, panspermia),
information content in life, and why intelligent design matter.
The main turn off of the book is its usage of a large number of long
quotations of numerous scientific papers and popular books. Some
chapters are mostly made of quotations. At some point I would have
liked the author to stop quoting other people's work and present a
synthesis of his own ideas in his own words. Quotations amount to at
least 20% of the text, and I would not be surprised if the count is
actually above 30%. I was left with the impression that the author
strung together his reading notes to form the entire book. The author,
also, abruptly transitions from one subject to the next without any
explanations, which makes it very difficult to follow his reasoning.
The author introduces many technical aspects but in many cases without
first stating the objectives. I often looked ahead a few pages to
understand where the author was going. For instance, Einstein's
General Theory of Relativity is introduced in Chapter 3 for apparently
no reason. Its introduction still remain quite obscure to me. Another
example: the presentation of the Avida software (Chapter 7,
pp. 77-79). The author has one page introducing some details about it,
but we do not see until the end why it is important to read these
details. At the end, the author criticizes the in silico experiment of
evolving the EQU predicate from simpler logical operations, and I
agree with the author with the criticism, but I doubt that there are
enough details about this experiment to let the reader appreciate its
shortcomings. I have used the Avida software and read Lenski's paper
cited by the author. I believe I could understand the author's
criticism only because I read Lenski's paper.
We find the definition of "irreducibly complex", a central technical
term in ID, as late as Chapter 7, from a quoted text written by Michael
Behe. The following discussion by the author is disappointing as it
quotes again Michael Behe and other authors to describe the flagellum,
instead of describing it himself. But there is no discussion of the
criticisms that have been written by many authors against such a
definition. For example, the definition should take into account the
possibility that parts, or subset of parts, can be
useful (or was useful) for some organisms.
I would certainly have liked to see an expansion of the section titled
"The benefits of an ID model" (Chapter 9). Indeed what are its
benefits in terms of a scientific method or paradigm? But the section
is very short, a mere one page. And the examples (e.g., junk DNA)
presented by the author do not really support ID as a methodology.
On the positive side, the book is filled with technical details and
references from which the reader can further study the various fields
covered by the author.
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