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Posted on: November 20, 2009 1:45 PM, by Greg Laden
Some guy named David (but he would not give his last name) and his friends were handing around Ray Comfort's tricked-out version of Darwin's Origin of Species on the University of Minnesota Campus today. Thanks to my former student Becky for sending me these links:
Minnesota Daily: Creationists hand out Darwin's book with a twist
Huyffpo: Kirk Cameron's 'Origin Of Species' Plan: Ex-Actor To Distribute 50,000 Altered Darwin Books
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Comments
My friend that works on campus scored me one of those.
Posted by: SplendidMonkey | November 20, 2009 1:48 PM
I want one, by the way.
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 20, 2009 1:53 PM
It really makes me sad, but at the same time, 50,000 copies is nothing; especially considering most of the people who are going to get them will simply roll their eyes at the intro and then enjoy their (abridged?) copy of "Origin." My Alma Mater had over 50k students alone. There are at least 3 other universities in my state with similar numbers. Never mind community colleges, which is probably where this sort of thing would have a better chance of getting some traction.
At a potential $0.99 each in bulk though, it might be well worth it for us heathens to get together so we can all have a copy. I can't imagine they're making any money at that price, and I've no problem with deleting or replacing the first couple pages with blank paper to take notes on.
Posted by: Spiv | November 20, 2009 2:50 PM
Within seconds, starting from the NCSE's DDD page, you can have the collected works of Darwin conveniently on your computer, along with Comfort's dreck if you're so inclined. With a minute or two, you can have it all formatted to read on your phone.
Comfort and Cameron don't give a rat's ass whether anyone actually reads their introduction. It's all about being able to say "We gave away 50,000 copies of our book on college campuses!!!111!!! We could have given away another 50,000 if we'd had them! People are getting our message!"
If his minions finished the day with empty boxes, he accomplished what he set out to accomplish, even if every copy he gave away ended up lining birdcages.
Posted by: Jay | November 20, 2009 6:05 PM
Also available on the Kindle for free or nominal costs.
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 20, 2009 7:09 PM
Yeah, I have almost all of Darwin's and Wallace's works on my iPhone, for free. The Stanza "app" is pretty cool. I'm set if I should ever be stranded on a desert island, at least until the battery runs out. Reminds me of a _Twilight Zone_ episode I saw once.
Posted by: Bob Gotschall | November 20, 2009 7:38 PM
... with Burgess Meredith
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 20, 2009 8:35 PM
They've started to show up on ebay - http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A2464&_nkw=origin+of+species&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=10&_sc=1
I don't know what I'll do with mine, I actually haven't seen it yet.
Posted by: Jim!!! | November 23, 2009 10:08 AM