What’s Darwin Got to Do with It?: A Friendly Conversation about Evolution

by Robert Newman and John Wiester, with Janet and Jonathan Moneymaker

InterVarsity Press

A cartoon format is used to introduce the basic arguments for intelligent design. The story line is a friendly confrontation between Professor Teller, the Darwinist, and Professor Questor, the Intelligent Design advocate.

In less than 150 pages, this book covers a surprising number of arguments, posing both the Darwinian and the Intelligent Design positions. It stresses the importance of defining terms and limiting the debate. It tackles topics like crossbreeding within a species, the need for additional DNA to create a different species, problems with the peppered moth evidence, differences between adaptations and new species, common descent, punctuated equilibrium, the fossil record, the Cambrian explosion, and irreducible complexity. Michael Behe’s book, Darwin’s Black Box, is the source for a number of the examples used, although they are presented much more simply than in Behe’s book. Additional background information on the various sections is presented at the back of the book.

Teens who would be overwhelmed by some of the other books on this topic, should find this a perfect introduction to the subject. The ideas presented will challenge their thinking, but the cartoon format, analogies, and simplified presentation make it very understandable.