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More Dollars Than Sense
Jul. 17th, 2007 03:29 pmSomeone named Harun Yahya has written what appears to be a beautifully bounded and extensively illustrated book called the Atlas of Creation. He has a nice web site. Very slick. This lucky guy got a copy of the book.
Well, the “Atlas of Creation”
has now landed in the United States.
That's where the photo comes from.
The book has a few errors. The first paragraph serves as a nice example of "a few errors." Sadly for the sake of the author, the first is not the only paragraph. The rest of the book has many errors. One of the most glaring appears in the introduction, in the second paragraph:
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Nowhere in The Origin of Species does Darwin even suggest an origin for life itself. The entire book is dedicated to laying out a very robust theory of how various forms of life may have emerged. Had Darwin proposed in his theory a probable creatio ex nihilo, he would have called his book The Origin of Life Itself, now wouldn't he? Bad Harun! No bisquit!
And at this point, where the logical rubber leaves the road of reality and the argument skids to the ditch, I stop reading. The pictures do seem pretty, though.
Not to worry. Despite the glaring inaccuracies -- or perhaps, I suspect, because of them -- Mr. Yahya's book has plenty of readers and fans. In fact, someone liked his book so much that it has been sent to scientists all over the country. Unsolicited. For free. For real. One of the recipients said people who had received copies were “just astounded at its size and production values and equally astonished at what a load of crap it is."
Folks, I want this book. If you are a luck recipient, please consider me. If nothing else, please put your copy on eBay and let me know of the auction. This would go beautifully with my collection of really, really odd reasons to make a book. I mean, think about it: For someone to have spent seemingly millions of dollars distributing a glossy tome filled with lies and deceptions and pretty pictures simply for the hope that one of the recipients abandons their career as a scientist and converts to fundamentalist Islam represents to me a pinnacle, an acme of religious fanaticism that simply puts my paltry collection of Chick Publication religious tracts to a simpering, weeping shame.
UPDATE July 19, 2007: A recheck of eBay found Mr. Yahya sells his works for, as suspected, about a hundred US bucks. I will neither pay that much nor impart a single cent to the author. Again, I want this book, but I want to give money to a lucky scientist recipient, not a weirdo publishing fundamentalist whackjob.
Well, the “Atlas of Creation”
has now landed in the United States.
That's where the photo comes from.
The book has a few errors. The first paragraph serves as a nice example of "a few errors." Sadly for the sake of the author, the first is not the only paragraph. The rest of the book has many errors. One of the most glaring appears in the introduction, in the second paragraph:
According to (Darwin's) evolution scenario, inanimate substances came together by chance to give rise to the first living cell.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Nowhere in The Origin of Species does Darwin even suggest an origin for life itself. The entire book is dedicated to laying out a very robust theory of how various forms of life may have emerged. Had Darwin proposed in his theory a probable creatio ex nihilo, he would have called his book The Origin of Life Itself, now wouldn't he? Bad Harun! No bisquit!
And at this point, where the logical rubber leaves the road of reality and the argument skids to the ditch, I stop reading. The pictures do seem pretty, though.
Not to worry. Despite the glaring inaccuracies -- or perhaps, I suspect, because of them -- Mr. Yahya's book has plenty of readers and fans. In fact, someone liked his book so much that it has been sent to scientists all over the country. Unsolicited. For free. For real. One of the recipients said people who had received copies were “just astounded at its size and production values and equally astonished at what a load of crap it is."
Folks, I want this book. If you are a luck recipient, please consider me. If nothing else, please put your copy on eBay and let me know of the auction. This would go beautifully with my collection of really, really odd reasons to make a book. I mean, think about it: For someone to have spent seemingly millions of dollars distributing a glossy tome filled with lies and deceptions and pretty pictures simply for the hope that one of the recipients abandons their career as a scientist and converts to fundamentalist Islam represents to me a pinnacle, an acme of religious fanaticism that simply puts my paltry collection of Chick Publication religious tracts to a simpering, weeping shame.
UPDATE July 19, 2007: A recheck of eBay found Mr. Yahya sells his works for, as suspected, about a hundred US bucks. I will neither pay that much nor impart a single cent to the author. Again, I want this book, but I want to give money to a lucky scientist recipient, not a weirdo publishing fundamentalist whackjob.