Heretic: One Scientist's Journey from Darwin to Design

A very well written, interesting, and understandable critique of the theory of evolution. I am not a scientist (although I did take a number of long forgotten college level science courses as an undergraduate in the 1970s) but I found his explanations of the problems with evolution quite easy to follow.Another reviewer complained about the pages spent “whining” about his critics/opposing views. I thought the time spent in that area overdone also - at first. Upon reflection, it drives home the point that evolution has become a religion from which a believer must not permit even the smallest heresy. You would think that after all the historical cases of “settled science” being shown to be not so settled after all (e.g. Earth centered Universe, a static Universe embedded in Ether, unmoving continents) folks would be more open to alternative hypotheses. Especially when the science you're wedded too was first hypothesized before we knew anything about DNA “software,” organelle “machinery” or complex molecular interactions within a cell and you keep having to invent more and more speculative patches – evolutionary Epicycles - to keep it from falling apart.I don’t often write reviews, but I enjoyed this book. It should be required reading for every high school biology teacher or college biology professor. It may not convert them into Intelligent Design advocates, but at least they’ll understand the arguments.

This book speaks with honesty and some lighthearted humor about the evidence for a designer of the cosmos and particularly living things. Bringing a background of bioengineering the writer shows in clear terms how improbable to the point of impossible it would be for atoms and molecules bumping around under any conceivable circumstances to randomly come together in even in the most simple configuration of a protein or strand of RNA or DNA. As much as materialism drives the methodological and philosophical commitments it puts its adherents in the intellectually awkward and sometimes absurd position of trying defend something that physical evidence and mathematics not to mention plain good sense dispute. It's ironic that scientists who of all people should be the most conscientious about letting evidence and observation lead to conclusions are the ones who let their "conclusions" presuppose what the evidence means. Instead of following the evidence where it leads they let their materialistic commitments lead the evidence where they want it to go. But since you can only do so much playing around with the origin theories of the the profoundly complex chemical systems and the pre-coded information that directs them, materialistic scientists are forced to conjure up more and more tall tales and sleight of hand to keep the general public deluded about the reality of their fragile position.Modern people laugh in sophisticated mockery at those people who believed in spontaneous generation before the days of Pasteur. Will future people laugh at our generation for believing that some warm pool birthed the first RNA, DNA and then microorganisms? Is it any less laughable? One wonders, how much progress have we really made, when biology's best explanation for everything from the liver to stem cells to the human brain with 90 billion neurons comes from a mid-18th century speculative adventurer who thought that a simple cell was little more than a bowl of clear jello? The occasional example of observable micro-evolution, like modified finch beaks or the adapted gait of a lizard have a persuasive power that should hardly convince anyone with much more than a very shallow understanding of the biological world. Yet these stories and others about black and white moths, species of fish and color of bears is the best and really only evolution show playing in town. If this is all there is, why has the scientific establishment closed the shutters and locked the doors on the search for a much deeper and powerful explanatory model that wrestles with the much bigger problems of origins? Because it seems they don't want to discover, or uncover, or especially be forced to admit that things look designed because they are designed! Don't ask, don't question, and whatever you learn, find a way to force it into the Darwinian/materialistic evolutionary paradigm. That's what Big Brother says...two plus two equals five? Right?

"Heretic: One Scientist's Journey From Darwin to Design" presents powerful arguments based on scientific evidence for the theory of intelligent design, interwoven with the story of a scientist's intellectual odyssey. As explained by the authors (pg. 169): "The theory of intelligent design holds that the appearance of design in nature is real, rather than illusory, that living organisms are sophisticated information systems that are best explained as being the result of an intelligent cause." Dr. Matti Leisloa's experiences in seeking to draw academic and public attention to the scientific evidence supporting intelligent design and challenging chemical and neo-Darwinian evolution make the book a particularly compelling read. The hostility he faced from many quarters in Finland will resonate with audiences in the United States, where academic freedom is all-too-often denied those who seek to defend the theory of intelligent design using logic and evidence and where Big Media accounts are all but hopelessly slanted against ID.Particularly important is the scientific expertise that Leisola brings to these topics. He is a Ph.D. bioengineer with extensive experience in academia as well as industry, with numerous publications and patents to his credit. As recounted in the book (pg. 146): "My research has often focused on modifying proteins--mainly enzymes--to function better in specific industrial processes, and on altering the metabolic of microbes so they would produce various chemicals economically. More than forty years of work in this field has left me more skeptical than ever of theories of blind, unguided evolution."What makes Heretic encouraging and even inspiring is that it shows how one much one man can truly make a difference. Leisola's hard work and his perseverance in the face of powerful and sometimes heated opposition is highly commendable. Heretic is also very clearly written. This book is valuable contribution to the Darwin vs. design debate.

Matti Leisola's journey is both thoroughly edifying from a scientific perspective but also inspiring for his boldness to travel wherever the truth leads. His story is also illustrative of the heavy-handed treatment of those that cross swords with materialistic naturalism and their unwillingness to allow "a divine foot" in through the door of thoughtful investigation. Matti's book is a very human one and takes the 'white lab coat' off the supposed neutral and impartial scientist and show the ideological thought war that engages our society.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am on my second read (necessary with books like these I always think) - the contents were accessible, convincing and presented in a very measured way - as a layman I didn’t feel I was being patronised. Adding to the books authority were the author’s formidable and very relevant academic and industrial credentials coupled with his considerable moral courage facing, as he has, unreasonable hostility from a deeply entrenched scientific community able to speak only the language of materialistic naturalism. Would I recommend this book to others based on my own experience of it? Well, that depends. If you are, or think you are, a convinced Darwinist, a neo Darwinist, a post neo Darwinist or even a theistic Darwinist and don’t want to have your particular faith shaken I would say don’t read this book; it’s not for you. If you are part of the curious conspiracy against any theory of origins which appeals to anything other than naturalism and materialism for explanations, you may well be robust enough to read it without flinching, but if it is with a view to refuting its arguments, I wish you every success. If, however, you are genuinely puzzled as to how, from precisely nothing, blind chance and undirected forces could produce a universe in all its vast mathematical precision apparently prepared so perfectly for the arrival of life in all its information-rich complexity, interrelatedness and profusion you will find the author exposes the woefully inadequate explanatory power of the extant evolution theory and argues powerfully by the use of scientific evidence for intelligent design. Intelligent design does of necessity imply a personal designer. However, as with all books on ID (unlike Creationist writers), this author doesn’t identify or name the designer because, well, ID simply doesn’t go there - that still remains a subjective issue (maybe for the religionists and philosophers - although perhaps not) and this much to the dismay of the designer I imagine. If, too, you are fascinated, as I am, as to why the so-say orthodox scientific community is, outwardly at any rate, so doggedly resistant to authors like Matti Leisola and why he has risked jeopardising his career prospects to question Darwinism while others have remained cautiously complicit in the face of contrary evidence, you will enjoy reading this eye opening and mind broadening book.I am left with the impression that Darwinian evolution has become like a rotting old boat; you can avoid telling everyone on board how inadequate its fabric and superstructure are and hope no one notices, patch up the decomposing timbers and give it a fresh paint job only so many times before you have to admit defeat, let the leaky vessel sink without trace and acquire a new one. Actually overhauling the current theory, as I suggested in my heading, may not be practicable or even possible. What we need is a modern day Darwin with a completely new naturalistic theory which can accommodate the latest evidence and has the explanatory power necessary to explain life and the universe; such a theory would, probably for the first time, have the opportunity for joined-up thinking with all the scientific disciplines which bear on the subject too. It has to be quick, though, if ID is to be defeated. I’m tempted to say ‘good luck with that’ but then astonishingly good luck has always played a major role in evolutionary theory.

Many experimental evidences are discussed.

What a fantastic book! Engaging, entertaining, shocking, illuminating and easy to read - even the science! Dr. Leisola's career as a bioengineer exposed him early on to a world of science that simply didn't fit with Darwinian materialism. Courageous enough to point out the problems with Neo-Darwinism, Leisola quickly discovered that an "objective search for truth" is not always valued as highly by the scientific establishment as we have always been told. Even a non-scientist will get an education in what real science has discovered about Life since the mid-twentieth century and, unless predisposed to accept only those conclusions acceptable to atheism and materialism, will surely see the reasonableness of intelligence as the only explanation for what has been discovered. I am especially glad to see that Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith is finally getting the credit from an ID writer that he so richly deserves. His books helped me the most, back in the 70's and 80's, to see the untenable nature of a theory which, apart from constant propping up, would long ago have been dead and buried. Getting to know him a little from Dr. Leisola was great bonus!

This is a very interesting and informative read. The author is an accomplished biotechnologist specialising in enzyme research. The book presents a biographical account, which combines scientific discussion with many narratives of human interest.The scientific content includes: origin of life, the nature of biological information, the scarcity of functional sequences in the sequence space of polypeptides, probability, mutations, natural selection, junk DNA, orphan genes, evolutionary family trees, fossil record, epigenetics, self-organisation, evo-devo, etc.Matters of human interest include the author's accounts of his own intellectual and emotional transition from one paradigm to another, the hostile but irrational reactions of many colleagues, the encouragement of some, the open-minded attitudes shown by many students, and so on.Readers with little or no scientific background may find some of the material difficult to digest. On the other hand, scientific readers may wish for greater detail and depth. This is inevitable in a hybrid work of this nature. The second group of readers can always supplement it with a more concentrated and comprehensive treatise, such as Stephen Meyer's "Darwin's Doubt".Nevertheless the author has succeeded well in demonstrating the woeful inadequacy of the neo-Darwinian paradigm, exposing the close-mindedness of the scientific majority, while sustaining the reader's with narratives of personal encounters.Diehard evolutionists, intolerant of opposition, will post 1-star "reviews" to disparage any independent thinker who challenges their ideology. Such "reviews" typically lack any scientific substance or cogent arguments. Open-minded thinkers can read the book, digest its contents, and decide for themselves.