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Review Comments

This is one of the flagship works that presented a revolutionary challenge to the theory of biochemical evolution from the analysis of a microbiologist. This volume does not argue in favor of biblical cosmology, but rather presents severe challenges to the largely unchallenged allegiance to the theory of evolution within the scientific community. Behe effectively popularized the concept of “irreducible complexity” as an argument for “intelligent design.” He persuasively argues that biochemical systems exhibit irreducibly complex features and systems that preclude the possibility of evolutionary development. The volume is fairly technical, incorporating technical data and research to support his thesis. Behe does argue against wholesale acceptance of Darwinism, however, does not dismiss the possibility of limited evolution (as in micro-evolution). This work does not address the creation of the world overtly, nor does it make any allusions to the age of the earth. It is an important work to consider for any student interested in understanding the intelligent design debate and associated challenges to the theory of evolution at the detailed scientific level.

Publisher's Description

Darwin’s Black Box helped to launch the Intelligent Design movement: the argument that nature exhibits evidence of design, beyond Darwinian randomness. Today, with the movement stronger than ever, Michael J. Behe updates the book with an important new Afterword on the state of the debate. —Time Naming Darwin’s Black Box to the National Review’s list of the 100 most important nonfiction works of the twentieth century, George Gilder wrote that it “overthrows Darwin at the end of the twentieth century in the same way that quantum theory overthrew Newton at the beginning.” Discussing the book in The New Yorker in May 2005, H. Allen Orr said of Behe, “he is the most prominent of the small circle of scientists working on intelligent design, and his arguments are by far the best known.” From one end of the spectrum to the other, Darwin’s Black Box has established itself as the key text in the Intelligent Design movement—the one argument that must be addressed in order to determine whether Darwinian evolution is sufficient to explain life as we know it, or not. For this edition, Behe has written a major new Afterword tracing the state of the debate in the decade since it began. It is his first major new statement on the subject and will be welcomed by the thousands who wish to continue this intense debate.