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campgender 's review for:
The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood
by David R. Montgomery
informative
fast-paced
“In contrast to the long list of fundamentally irreconcilable problems with the concept of a global flood […] plate tectonics provides remarkably consistent explanations for a wide range of phenomena.”
The first and last time I had any formal exposure to earth science was at age 12, and I was going back to a young earth creationist, fundamentalist household that systematically and viciously dismantled such concepts over the kitchen table at night. I found this book overall very accessible for me as someone with a strong background in church history / apologetics and practically zero relevant scientific knowledge.
There were a couple of places where the geologic concepts went over my head, but in general there was a helpful illustration right when I’d start to get confused. However, that means this book might be harder to understand for someone coming from a similar background who uses a screenreader or listens to the audiobook.
For folks well-versed in the history of fundamentalism, this book won’t necessarily offer any new information on that front; rather, a better understanding of other beliefs and rhetoric about Noah’s Flood (or the lack thereof) leads to better understanding of young earth positions through comparison.
Overall, this book presents a compelling depiction of the historical entwinement of Western science and Christianity, as well as a summary of the issues that arose due to young earth creationists splitting from this relationship. I was, however, a bit confused by what felt like a sudden plea to reject the idea of miracles in the final chapter — I wish these ideas had either been explored in more depth or excluded for a different form of publication.
The first and last time I had any formal exposure to earth science was at age 12, and I was going back to a young earth creationist, fundamentalist household that systematically and viciously dismantled such concepts over the kitchen table at night. I found this book overall very accessible for me as someone with a strong background in church history / apologetics and practically zero relevant scientific knowledge.
There were a couple of places where the geologic concepts went over my head, but in general there was a helpful illustration right when I’d start to get confused. However, that means this book might be harder to understand for someone coming from a similar background who uses a screenreader or listens to the audiobook.
For folks well-versed in the history of fundamentalism, this book won’t necessarily offer any new information on that front; rather, a better understanding of other beliefs and rhetoric about Noah’s Flood (or the lack thereof) leads to better understanding of young earth positions through comparison.
Overall, this book presents a compelling depiction of the historical entwinement of Western science and Christianity, as well as a summary of the issues that arose due to young earth creationists splitting from this relationship. I was, however, a bit confused by what felt like a sudden plea to reject the idea of miracles in the final chapter — I wish these ideas had either been explored in more depth or excluded for a different form of publication.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Religious bigotry
Minor: Death, Excrement
Animal death / unsanitary: graphic descriptions of rotting mammoths
Language stigmatizing drug users: at one point the scientific establishment is said to think of a fundamentalist writer as a “crackpot”