The Failures of Mathematical Anti-Evolutionism

Jason Rosenhouse is a professor of mathematics at James Madison University. He is the author or editor of eight previous books, including Among the Creationists: Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionist Front Line (Oxford University Press, 2012).

• 1. Scientists and their hecklers; 2. Evolution basics; 3. The parallel tracks of mathematical reasoning; 4. The legacy of the Wistar Conference; 5. Probability theory; 6. Information and combinatorial search; 7. Thermodynamics; 8. Epilogue.

'If you want to convince an audience of a falsehood, an excellent strategy is to bamboozle them with mathematical jargon that they don't understand. If your incomprehensible equations seem to prove what the audience wants to believe anyway, you'll earn a standing ovation. This has been a favourite tactic of anti-evolutionists. Jason Rosenhouse is a good mathematician but, unlike many mathematicians, he is superbly gifted in the art of translating mathematical arguments into words. He mercilessly exposes creationist abuses of mathematics, using language that non-mathematicians can pleasurably follow. As a bonus along the way, he is an excellent mathematics teacher, patiently explaining each point before revealing the abuse of it. I especially appreciated his deft use of analogies. He is thoroughly well read in the bogus literature of creationism and 'intelligent design,' as well as in the biological literature. We have here a superb book, lucid, knowledgeable, wise, and very necessary.' Richard Dawkins FRS, Emeritus Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, University of Oxford