Following Sun-tzu's dictum, I've accumulated a few pro-creationism books to go along with my many books on evolution. You might note my capsule descriptions of these books are sometimes not very kind. If you had seen how often many creationist writers distort the facts, you might not be very kind toward them either.
My creationist books can be separated into three groups:
| Attacks on evolutionary theory | Young-Earth creationism | Other forms of creationism |
Books that attack evolutionary theory
These books focus on criticizing evolutionary theory, trying to illustrate flaws in it.
APE-MEN: FACT OR FALLACY?
Bowden, M.
c.1977, Sovereign Publications
ISBN: 0-9506042-0-8
An all-out attack on paleoanthropology, heavily criticizing all aspects of the evidence for human evolution. Besides being hopelessly mistaken in many areas, it's mostly obsolete since so many new finds and reinterpretations have been made in paleoanthro since 1977.
THE CASE AGAINST EVOLUTION
O'Toole, George Barry
c.1929, MacMillan Company
ISBN:
George McCready Price led a creationist movement in the early 20th century; his writings remain the foundation of modern Flood geology. O'Toole was one of his followers, and this is O'Toole's own attack on evolutionary theory. At seventy-plus years old, copies of this book aren't very common anymore. However, if you can find one, it's interesting mainly because it shows how very little the creationists' arguments have changed, even as our knowledge of the earth sciences and the life sciences have expanded exponentially.
THE COLLAPSE OF EVOLUTION
Huse, Scott M.
c.1983, Baker Book House
ISBN: 0-8010-4310-7
A poorly written, scientifically illiterate attack on evolutionary theory. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations run rampant.
DARWIN ON TRIAL
Johnson, Phillip E.
c.1993, InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0-8308-1324-1
An attack on Darwin's theory of evolution by lawyer Phillip Johnson, who claims to be a neutral third party but in reality understands neither science in general nor the theory he is attacking. Contains numerous flaws and errors, all told in a very irritating style.
DARWIN'S BLACK BOX: THE BIOCHEMICAL CHALLENGE TO EVOLUTION
Behe, Michael J.
c.1996, Free Press
ISBN: 0-684-82754-9
Michael Behe wrote this as a comprehensive attack against Darwinism's ability to explain evolution at the biochemical level. He uses this to argue for his version of creationism, the "intelligent design" theory. I wrote a critique of Behe's book, which is available here.
EVOLUTION: A THEORY IN CRISIS
Denton, Michael
c.1986, Adler & Adler
ISBN: 0-917561-05-8
Denton's book attacking evolution based on biochemical and genetic arguments. It's well-meant, I'm sure; unfortunately, it's clumsy, ill-informed, and simply wrong on several points.
EVOLUTION: BY CHANCE OR BY DESIGN*
Burk, Frank Dixon
c.1994, Naturegraph
ISBN: 0-87961-237-1
EVOLUTION: THE FOSSILS SAY NO!*
Gish, Duane
c.1978, Creation-Life Publishers
ISBN: 0-89051-046-6
Duane Gish has written three books in an ongoing attempt to discredit the fossil record as evidence for evolution. This was the first of the three. Long on polemics and short on details, riddled with mistakes in the few facts it does offer, this book shows little evidence that Gish really understands the details of the topics he is attacking.
EVOLUTION: THE CHALLENGE OF THE FOSSIL RECORD
Gish, Duane
c.1985, Creation-Life Publishers
ISBN: 0-89051-112-8
Despite the different title, this is really just a rewrite or update of Evolution: The Fossils Say No! Like the earlier version, it's full of errors of many kinds.
EVOLUTION: THE FOSSILS STILL SAY NO!
Gish, Duane T.
c.1995, ICR
ISBN: 0-89051-112-8
The third and (so far) latest version of Gish's ongoing attack on the fossil record as support for evolution. Like the two earlier versions, it's full of mistakes and fallacies of many kinds. It's interesting to note that this book is nearly twice the size of Evolution: The Challenge of the Fossil Record, which itself was twice the size of the first edition, Evolution: The Fossils Say No! The books keep getting longer because the collection of fossil evidence that supports evolution, which Gish is trying to refute, keeps getting larger.
FLAWS IN THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Shute, Evan
c.1961, Craig Press
ISBN:
This is a rare gem among creationist works: an honest, straightforward discussion of the weaknesses of evolutionary theory and the flaws that prevented Shute from accepting it. It's somewhat out of date now; it would be interesting to see Shute revisit the topic today, if he's still alive.
HOW LIFE BEGAN: CREATION VERSUS EVOLUTION*
Gallant, Ron A.
c.1975, Four Winds Press
ISBN: 0-590-17363-4
THE NECK OF THE GIRAFFE*
Hitching, Francis
c.1982, Mentor Books
ISBN: 0-451-62232-4
Francis Hitching's rather clumsy attempt to 'disprove' Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and argue for its replacement with a new theory. The book consists of a mix of errors, uninformed or underinformed speculation, and a number of arguments lifted straight out of classic creationist texts.
SCOPES II: THE GREAT DEBATE*
Keith, Bill
c.1982, Huntington House
ISBN: 0-910311-01-3
A vitriolic attack on evolutionary theory by Louisiana State Senator Bill Keith. There's no science worth talking about in this book; it's noteworthy primarily for the unmatched level of hatred Keith shows for evolutionary theory.
Books that defend young-Earth Creationism
Young-Earth Creationism is the most extreme form of creationism: it holds that Earth and all life was created recently, within the last 10,000 years. These books attempt to explain and defend the young-earth view in scientific terms. None of them do it very well, though, mostly because it's not possible to defend a young-earth position without some kind of spinning of the evidence.
THE DELUGE STORY IN STONE
Nelson, Byron C.
c.1968, Bethany Fellowship, Inc.
ISBN:
A 1968 reprint of a book first published in 1931, which contains Nelson's attempt to discredit modern geology and replace it with a version of Price's Flood geology. Again, I found this book noteworthy mainly because it shows how very little the young-earthers' arguments have changed in the last sixty years, while the science of geology has marched steadily onward.
DINOSAUR: SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT DINOSAURS AND MEN WALKED TOGETHER
Baugh, Carl E.
c.1987, Promise Publishing
ISBN: 0-939497-01-8
In the 1920s, paleontologist Roland Bird found a large number of dinosaur trackways in rock exposed by the Paluxy River, near Glen Rose, texas. Reports rapidly spread that Bird had also found human footprints mixed with the dinosaur tracks -- proof that humans and dinosaurs lived together. Current geology says that's impossible. So it isn't surprising that the "human footprints" turned out to be a lot of wishful thinking mixed with a few cases of outright fraud. However, some creationists are still trying to use the Paluxy River tracks to discredit conventional geology. Carl Baugh is one of those creationists, and this book is his attempt to defend and authenticate the "human footprints" of the Paluxy riverbed.
EVOLUTION AND THE MODERN CHRISTIAN
Morris, Henry M.
c.1967, P&R Publishing
ISBN: 0-87552-337-4
Another small book giving Morris's ideas on evolution and creationism. No more accurate than any other creationist work.
THE GENESIS FLOOD
Whitcomb & Morris
c.1961, Baker Book House
ISBN: 0-8010-9501-8
This is the book of modern young-Earth creationism. It really got the modern creationist movement started, because it was the first scholarly-looking work supporting YEC which had been published in decades. Almost every modern young-Earth Creationist refers back to Whitcomb and Morris. Unfortunately for them, Whitcomb and Morris were not above playing fast and loose with the truth. My friend and fellow evolution-defender Troy Britain has written a short essay that illustrates just one of the many egregious errors in The Genesis Flood.
SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE
Morris, Henry M.
c.1986, Moody Press
ISBN: 0-8024-0656-4
Another in a series of books from different publishers giving Morris's ideas on creationism and evolution.
THE SCIENTIFIC CASE FOR CREATION*
Morris, Henry M.
c.1977, Master Books
ISBN: 0-89051-037-7
Small booklet giving a general outline of Morris's version of "scientific creationism" and his criticisms of evolution. Typical creationist work: short on science, long on illogic, and with quite a few errors.
THE WISDOM OF EVOLUTION
Nogar, Raymond J.
c.1963, New American Library
ISBN:
Books about other forms of creationism
I have a few books written by people who don't accept evolution, but aren't young-earth Creationists either. These books are noteworthy mainly because they are well-reasoned and well-written, with none of the really obvious spin and flawed argument that is so common in young-earther books.
THE BIBLICAL FLOOD
Young, Davis A.
c.1995, Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0-8028-0719-8
Davis Young is a trained, experienced geologist and an Old-Earth Creationist. This is his attack on young-Earth, Flood geology and his attempt to build and defend his old-Earth model. A very useful and important book to have in my opinion, because it shows clearly that one can be a creationist and still be a good scientist. Young's clear acceptance of both his religion and the scientific evidence shows clearly that not all creationists are young-Earthers who give both science and religion a bad name.
THE CREATOR AND THE COSMOS
Ross, Hugh
c.1993, NavPress
ISBN: 0-89109-700-7
Old-Earth Creationist view of cosmology and astronomy.
DARWINISM AND THE AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL
Wilson, R. J.
c.1967, Dorsey Press
ISBN:
A collection of articles and essays by American scientists about Darwin and evolutionary theory, all published between 1861 and 1900.
