The Evolution Myth

The origins of life, species, and man continue to interest scientists and stir debate among the general public more than one hundred and fifty years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. The Evolution Myth approaches the subject with two intertwined objectives. Jiří A. Mejsnar first sets out to convey the advances made in cosmology, molecular biology, genetics, and other sciences that have enabled us to change our views on our origins and our relationship with the universe. Scientific advances now allow us to calculate, for example, the age of the universe, the period in which biblical Eve lived, and, with good justification, to reconsider the possibility that the Neanderthals and primates might be our ancestors. The author’s second objective is to use biology to explain why evolution cannot have taken place in the way that is most commonly assumed. Mejsnar builds his case around gene stability and on the sophisticated modern techniques for gene manipulation, the complexity of which make these modified genes inaccessible to nature. Development of life on Earth is a discontinuous, saltatory progression that results in stages following from preceding latent periods in which new forms suddenly appear and possess new types of genome. This, the author argues, is difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis of continuous biological evolution based on the natural selection of random variations. Taking a new approach to a much-debated subject, Mejsnar distills complex information into a readable style. The result is a book that as sure to get readers talking.

Preface
Chapter I. Man in Natural Classification
Chapter II. The Age of Man
Chapter III. Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals
Chapter IV. The Origin of Man
Chapter V. On the Origin of Species
Chapter VI. The Idea Leading to Man
Epilogue
References
Glossary
Appendix 1. Mitochondrial (mtDNA)
Appendix 2. Radiochemical dating methods
Appendix 3. DNA structure and basic function
Appendix 4. An excursion into 'heterocyclic chemistry' Index

Anyone reading this volume (or those teaching it) should recognize the scientifically interesting complexities of evolution and what, by all accounts of this book, should be a ripe area of research regarding mtDNA within the evolutionary context. Readers should also be aware of the (il)logical steps Mejsnar makes by avoiding conflicting (and robust) evolutionary studies and interjecting a religious bias into his analysis.
Martin Bremer (The Quarterly Review of Biology, vol. 90, 436-7 pp.)