About two weeks ago I mentioned that, in conjunction with Expelled, a book called Fossil Hunter was released. I had not heard anything about it until I stumbled upon it by accident, but the book's synopsis did not give me much reason for hope;
Fossil Hunter is an Indiana Jones-style thriller that explores the Intelligent Design controversy from the points of view of two field scientists working in the strife-torn countries of Iran and Pakistan. When paleontologist Dr. Katie James leads an expedition to search for an ancient whale fossil rumored to be in the Iraqi desert, she has no idea her archrival, Nick Murad, will be searching for the same fossil. But then Katie makes a ground-breaking discovery and is forced to collaborate with Nick to analyze the find before it's destroyed by a fundamentalist government faction. Nick and Katie's initial results fly in the face of current scientific theory, and it seems the whole world turns against them, including those they thought they could trust. Then the fossil disappears, sending Nick and Katie on a chase that could cost them their reputations, their careers--even their lives.
I fully admit that in my original post I was judging the book by its cover. Given the amount of design and thought that goes into trying to make books attractive to particular readers these days, I don't particularly regret doing so. (It doesn't really work with older, yellowing books. "A red leather cover? What a poor choice. The author must be an idiot.") Still, given that the author of Fossil Hunter showed up on the original thread, I thought that I should probably read the book and define exactly what I don't like about it.
I do not have a set schedule, but over the coming weeks I am going to post my thoughts as a pick through each chapter of Fossil Hunter. I have read the first chapter, and there are already a number of things that need correcting (the way Rodhocetus swam, for instance). Perhaps when I'm finished I'll pick up Bones of the Earth (like Darren just did) to complement the ID-infused Fossil Hunter...
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Good Luck - If the book is like the usual ID claptrap, you have some agonizing, tooth-ache like reading ahead of you. I hope you get a grant to subsidize your Pain For Science.
You know, I was wondering what I'd do now that Left Behind Friday has come to an end...
N.B.:
That should be "complement" (as in, that which completes).
D'oh! Thanks for the pedantry, Blake.
Godspeed, Brian. I wish you luck in perusing this epic oddity.
No problem. Actually, I prefer to call it "pædantry", but that's just to infuriate the nimrods at Conservapædia. (-:
As it happens, both complement and compliment derive from the Latin complēre, "to complete"; the former preserves more of the original spelling while the latter picked up some changes going through Spanish cumplir, "to be courteous".
Ah yes, well if you're going to go the "æ" route, I suppose this blog should really be Lælaps.
Thank you for the quick summary of the derivation, though. I did not know that. I don't think I forgot anything important to make room for that new bit of information, even. :)
If I was judging that off the cover, I'd probably think it was a romance novel and run gagging..er, screaming...
If I was judging that off the cover, I'd probably think it was a romance novel and run gagging..er, screaming...katılmadan olmaz:)
From PhD Comics. It's just like a game of telephone! While it doesn't exactly fit, this cartoon reminded me of the hubub over the announcement that will CHANGE EVERYTHING that is going to be made this morning
eline saÄlık