I read this book a few years ago and am just now getting around to writing a review. This is a very good overview of the Intelligent Design ( ID ) movement and the subterfuge used by various conservative Christian organizations to get the biblical creation story taught in public schools as a legitimate scientific theory. Reading this in conjunction with the Dover decision trial transcripts ( available at the ACLU website and other places ) will give you a very good education about the ID movement.

Rather than rehash the many good reviews posted here(This was originally posted on Amazon) ( It's always good to read the 1 star and 5 starred reviews ), let me offer a couple of thoughts.

ID proponents want a fair hearing and claim that alternate views are not allowed to be taught. That is all well and good and our public school system often does this. For example, Newton's laws are taught in our public schools, even though we know they have been superseded by Einstein's laws. They work very well in the world we live in, so they are useful to know. But as the saying goes, 'show me the money'. Where is the evidence, even weak evidence, for creationism? If there was, it would be taught. It's not even a good enough theory to be wrong. Get a theory, get a research program, get some evidence, then we'll talk. Poking holes in existing theories is not a theory.

The ID people seem to have it backwards. People go into science because there is a tremendous sense of joy and satisfaction in figuring something out. Unexplained does not mean unexplainable or irreducibly complex. It just means someone has to work hard and figure it out. That is what science is all about. It's not about believing some dogma.

Many ID proponents cling to a 'false consciousness' notion. If only evolutionists weren't blinded by their own intransigent sinful natures ( the world, flesh, devil ), they would see the light and reconsider. I guess I had the opposite reaction when reading the book. It saddened me that so many people are apparently ignorant of all the wealth of evidence supporting evolution. The books are out there, but the will to read them is not.

The question of how we acquire 'knowledge' is a different question than how we 'justify' our knowledge. Humans, in fact, learn 'knowledge' from credible community authorities. It concerns me that we allow religious leaders to spread these beliefs as scientific truths in our community. How many people end up rejecting their traditions later in life when they realize they've been lied to or mindlessly support them because they will never have the privilege of critically engaging them? Are we well served as a society by allowing this to continue?

Do the ID leaders really have a contempt for the human ability to discover truth? Are they really lying for Jesus? To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they have the false consciousness and are blinded by their beliefs? ( )

This book played an important role in the Dover intelligent design hearings, because of the exhaustive research that demonstrated the "wedge" strategy of using intelligent design to get creationism into the schools - and, ultimately, evolution out. Should be required reading for anyone who thinks intelligent design is substantially different from creationism. ( )

This is an attempt to document the politics, intellectual background and agenda of the Intelligent Design Movement, especially as relates to the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (formerly the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture). Forrest and Gross have done an exhaustive (and exhausting) review of the literature, which is meticulously footnoted. Forrest and Gross are deeply concerned about the effect that the Center's strategy, chiefly The Wedge, will have on our society and the place and teaching of science. It would be very difficult to fault them on this project, and a lot of the criticisms that I have read focus on accusing them of not being even-handed, which they made not pretense of being. Although I think that this is a very serious matter, and I am on their side of the issue, I would fault them a little for being perhaps a little overwrought and a little too accepting of the Center's view of the matter. They end the book by asking readers to serious consider what they plan to do about the situation, but one might ask what options they have left us? They seem to feel that we should neither talk to nor about the ID-movement, as that only gives them legitimacy. They fearfully tell us the ID leaders are not dismayed by the skewering of their books--they feel that being reviewed at all gives them legitimacy. Forrest and Gross seem to assume that when IDers claim that they are winning over all obstacles, they are right, not that they may be whistling in the dark. I am not urging complacency, but I think that Forrest and Gross are, perhaps unwittingly, suggesting that the situation is hopeless. IDers may be generating publicity and energizing creationists, but are they really changing minds? The problem is that refusing to meet them leaves scientists open to the charge of being afraid to meet them, and also leaves ID the field of public opinion by default. The ID movement has certainly shown considerable talent in public relations, but that very fact gives ammunition to their opponents. ID supporters have, for example, put questions online that they advise students to ask as a challenge to their teachers on the subject of evolution. The teachers are just as able as the students to read those questions and prepare answers. Indeed, Forrest and Gross have assembled and organized a vast amount of information that should be an excellent starting point for the counterattack. This book was written before the Kitzmiller vs Dover trial, and it would be interesting to know what the authors would say about that. ( )