A different “beginning” - and a short, off-piste, rant

Sir Laurence Dudley Stamp (my previous post) must be turning in his grave.
It’s ironic that, shortly after my modest proposal on the inspirational
potential of a book for young scientists, I came across a different kind of
inspiration - and this book, sadly, is definitely inprint. You would
think that a browse of Amazon’s list of bestsellers in the category Professional
Sciences - Earth Science - Geology might be the place to discover some gems of
geo-writing, suitable for inspiring young minds. And, even allowing for the
mysteries and opacity of Amazon’s ranking system, it is. But, high up there in
the company of John McPhee, Steve Gould, Richard Fortey, and Simon Winchester
is, incredibly, the book illustrated above,In the Beginning: Compelling
Evidence for Creation and the Flood, now in its eighth glorious
edition. Walt Brown, Ph.D (in mechanical engineering) is the father of
“hydroplate theory” - a lunatic explanation for everything, the main proposal
being that monumental volumes of water erupted out of “the mid-ocean ridge” to
form the earth as we know it today. And this happened - you’ve guessed - 6,000
years ago. Here’s a graphic illustration of this event:

New evidence shows that the earth has experienced a devastating, worldwide
flood, whose waters violently burst forth from under the earth’s crust. Standard
“textbook” explanations for many of earth’s major features are scientifically
flawed. We can now explain, using well-understood phenomena, how this
cataclysmic event rapidly formed so many features. These and other mysteries,
listed below and briefly described in the next 11 pages, are best explained by
an earthshaking event, far more catastrophic than almost anyone has
imagined…

And here’s the introduction to one chapter:

The Origin of Ocean Trenches and the Ring of Fire

SUMMARY: Deep folds, up to thousands of miles long and several miles deep,
lie on the floor of the western Pacific Ocean, in an area centered directly
opposite the center of the Atlantic Ocean. The plate tectonic theory claims that
plates drifting on the earth’s surface dive into the earth and drag down the
folds. Fifteen reasons will be given that show why this idea cannot be
correct.

Now this is unfortunate, since supporters, wanting to have their cake and eat
it , have latched on to recent reports in the scientific literature that
de-watering of subducted material leads to large volumes of hydrated mantle to
interpret this as evidence of subterranean oceans and thus proving hydroplate
theory; they are clearly unaware of what hydrated minerals are - there is, after
all, a lot of water in gypsum, but gypsum sure as hell (oops) is not water.

There are, of course, many well-considered detailed refutations on the web of
hydroplate theory - let’s face it, it’s not tough. I will simply leave this by
saying that I have no objection to anyone self-publishing complete rubbish, but
this stuff should neverbe listed under “science” of any kind unless
it’s a subcategory titled “fantasy.” I’ll leave you, without comment, with the
words of one “editorial review” of this fine book, and I promise to return
calmly to my usual theme in the next post.

The single most useful resource I know of on origins, bar none … If I had
to send my child off with only two books, they would be the Bible and In the
Beginning. (Dr. Kent Davey, Senior Research Scientist, The Center for
Electromechanics, University of Texas).

[p.s., the subtitle of this post derives from my wife’s habit of going on a
random walk in a supermarket - she describes herself as going “off-piste” and
her husband as becoming “piste-off”] SIGNATURE

Comments

Jules (2009-07-08):

Michael,
I can greatly empathsize with your “piste-off” feeling about this book and the seemingly endless nonsense of creationism.:)
It reminds me of another book which may still be for sale in the gift store at the Grand Canyon National Park. It is by minister and canyon guide, Tom Vail,“The Grand Canyon, Another View” and of course insists with all “rational” seriouness that the canyon was formed through a Bibical type flood.
http://www.canyonministries.com
One of the biggest money making farces in this country though has to be the creationist museum in Kentucky which sucks in the naive and comfortably deluded by the thousands.
http://creationmuseum.org
Sadly intellectual laziness,willful scientific ignornace,pure looniness and complacent mediocrity has become a point of obstinate pride in some areas of American education,culture and politics. I have read that the American bred fundamentalist pathogen has unfortunately infested parts of the UK,Europe,Africa and elsewhere.

suvrat (2009-07-12):

and unfortunately lots of people read this stuff and give glowing reviews, so it gets a high ranking on Amazon

Originally published at: https://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2009/07/a-different-beginning-and-a-short-offpiste-rant.html