November 19, 2009

The Evolution Conspiracy – an Excerpt

Today, I’m offering a short excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 5, “Concocting Genetic Clues,” in our recently released book The Evolution Conspiracy, Vol 1: Exposing Life’s Inexplicable Origins & The Cult of Darwin by Lisa A. Shiel. (Words in bold are included in the book’s extensive glossary. A complete bibliography is included at the end of each chapter.)

========

For at least 2 billion years, life on earth consisted of single-celled organisms. A mist hovers over this period in our planet’s history, a veil of murk that clouds our understanding of life’s supposed origins. One might suspect that when multicellular life-forms emerged, once simple cells transmuted into complex life, the fossil record should clear. The origins of complexity, however, remain as murky as the birth of the first cell.

The rise of complexity, according to evolutionary theories, transpired in two stages. First, a new kind of cell evolved. Second, those cells rounded themselves up into a coherent whole, a new entity composed of multiple cells.

Every cell has a nucleus, the DNA-containing center, as well as specialized entities called organelles (akin to itsy-bitsy organs). The first organisms, the one-celled bacteria whose fossils scientists argue over, lacked enclosed nuclei and organelles. Although a membrane hemmed in the entire cell, everything inside it drifted around unencumbered and unprotected. Cells like those, known as prokaryotic cells, still exist today. Cells like the ones in our bodies, called eukaryotic cells (see fig. 5.1), possess interior membranes that fence in both the nucleus and the individual organelles. We refer to the organisms who feature the two types of cells as prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Humans qualify as eukaryotes, while the cyanobacteria heralded as earth’s first life fit within the prokaryote definition.
The questions of when and how eukaryotes arose have stimulated plenty of speculation. Nobody knows when the change happened, or if it happened at all. The evidence is nonexistent. As with the genesis of the first cell, and the diversification of that one cell into hordes of life-forms, scientists can rally only vague and largely imagined evidence in support of one theory or another. The evidence splits into two categories known as morphology and phylogenetics.

While technically connected, since both classes of evidence concern the fossil record, the two lines diverge more oft en than they converge. Morphology considers the anatomy of a creature, from its outward appearance to the structure of its bones. Phylogenetics deals with the evolutionary relationships between living things, or the lineages of species. Now that science treats DNA as an infallible tool, scientists bank on the analysis of modern DNA as a time capsule for the phylogenetic past.

========

“Gem of a book…concise, lucid, and to the point.”—Michael A. Cremo, Author, Forbidden Archeology and Human Devolutionclick here to read Michael Cremo’s full review

“Shiel is consistently convincing…evolutionary scientists have circumvented the true scientific method.”—Dr. Quinton R. Rogers, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis — click here to read Dr. Rogers’ full review

Read more reviews on The Evolution Conspiracy website.

November 19, 2009

Rick & Bubba’s Guide to Marriage – Book Review

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher Thomas Nelson via their Book Review Blogger program. I plan to donate it to our local library. (FTC, you happy now?)

Rick & Bubba’s Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage

by Rick Burgess & Bill “Bubba” Bussey (with Martha Bolton)

Book CoverI finished reading this book a month ago but have delayed writing this review. I’ve been trying to decide what I want to say about it. I’ll admit that, until reading this book and listening to a few clips from the included CD, I’d never heard of Rick Burgess or Bubba Bussey or their Rick & Bubba radio show.

3 starsMy rating is three stars. I’d considered giving it only two stars but decided that was more a reflection of my own personal bias than a realistic appraisal of the book itself. The book is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.

I actually asked for this book because I really wanted to like it. The description sounded like a good read and a worthwhile addition to the innumerable library of marital advice books already on the market.

Maybe the problem is that I’m just not part of the target market for the book. I listened to a few of the radio show clips on the included “Best of” CD. It elicited a brief smile once or twice…but never an actual laugh, or even a chuckle. I’m just not a fan of the “good ol’ Southern boy” approach to humor. Give me Bill Cosby any day. My wife and I will have been married for 41 years next month. Despite economic and other ups and downs, we are still happily married and enjoy each other’s company.

It is refreshing to read a book of this type that is unabashedly Christian-centered. Of course, that’s to be expected with a book from the country’s largest Christian publisher. With chapters with titles like “Love and Debit Cards,” “Annoying Habits,” Teamwork,” “Is There a Helpmate in the House?” and “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” you can get the general drift — suggestions for weathering the difficulties of living side-by-side with another human being for years delivered with humor. Unfortunately, most of the humor borders on sophomoric, even when used to illuminate an important, serious point.

For example, Rick admonishes husbands to “walk worthy of your wives’ respect” and urges wives to “live worth of a love so great that your husbands would give themselves for it.” Fair enough, but then he adds a long chart with too many silly examples intended to contrast “shows respect” with “shows a lack of respect” — such as “letting your husband drive” vs “having your husband sit in the backseat.” I’ll let you figure out which one is under the “shows respect” column.

Overall, Rick & Bubba’s Guide contains useful suggestions for relative newlyweds (these days, I consider somebody a newlywed if they’ve been married less than 20 years…it’s a matter of perspective). The advice is grounded in the Ten Commandants and based on many other Biblical injunctions, and that’s a good thing. And presenting that advice with humor is also a good thing, as a sense of humor is important in marriage. But it would have been far better if their humor had been more, well, mature.

There’s just something wrong with presenting serious advice for adults using sophomoric humor. And that’s why I can only give it three stars.

November 18, 2009

Wide Variety of Kindle Book Examples

This week, I posted 28 examples of Kindle book designs our Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers company has created over the past 18 months or so.

Admittedly, I posted them in hopes of generating more business for the company. But, in addition, I want to demonstrate that there are ways to make almost any book — with or without photos or graphics, with or without special formatting needs — look good on the Kindle.

These examples include novels, illustrated children’s books, self-help, and business books. I have posted from four to twelve screen shots for each book to show the variety of formatting possibilities. These screen shots are taken directly on the Kindle using its built-in feature for that purpose (if you want to make your own screen shots on a Kindle 1, make sure you’ve got an SD card installed — the keyboard shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+G, which creates a gif of the current screen that you can retrieve via the USB connection).

Spend some time browsing. You might even find a book you’ve just got to read!

If you have any questions about the design choices made, feel free to post them right here.

November 17, 2009

The Evolution Conspiracy Virtual Book Tour, Week 3

Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC author (and my charming daughter) Lisa A. Shiel continues her month-long virtual book tour for her new book The Evolution Conspiracy, Vol I: Exposing Life’s Inexplicable Origins & The Cult of Darwin. Here’s this week’s schedule:

Monday, 16 Nov — Broowaha (interview)

Tuesday, 17 Nov — Divine Caroline

Wednesday, 18 Nov — The Book Rack

Thursday, 19 Nov — Brizmus Blogs Books

Friday, 2o Nov — Beyond the Books

Be sure to stop in at one or more venues this week and start a discussion, whether you agree or disagree with the book’s premise. Lisa will reply to all comments and questions.

The book is currently available online in print at Amazon and Barnes & Noble (and most other outlets), as a PDF on Scribd, and in the Kindle bookstore (and, of course, iTunes for the Kindle app).

Remember that you can now read Kindle books using the free Kindle for PC desktop application even if you don’t own a Kindle! You can find out more by reading my blog post about it.

November 13, 2009

Indenting Paragraph First Lines

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of typesetting that, well, indicates an amateur at the controls. One of the biggest errors is the inappropriate use of indented first lines for paragraphs.

What is the purpose of that first-line indent, anyway?

It’s used to indicate clearly a pause (greater than that indicated by a period), break in specific topic, or change in speaker. If you prefer, you can accomplish the same thing by using a bit of extra leading between paragraphs. However, the latter should be used with caution since it can make a printed page look more like a typical web page.

But please — please — don’t use both an indented first line AND extra leading. Nothing spells amateur much faster than that.

How much should the first line be indented? That depends on many factors, but generally a minimum of one en space up to two em spaces. Rarely should more be required. The selected width of the indent should be based on how many characters in the book’s standard line length and the font size used. Microsoft Word tends to default to a 0.5″ indent, which is usually way too much.

Should every paragraph have an indented first line?

Certainly not.

Remember that the indent is intended to create a pause. If the paragraph is the first one in a new chapter, there is already a sufficient pause built in. If the paragraph is immediately preceded by a heading or subheading, that also provides an ample pause. In both instances, drop the first-line indent and align that first line flush left. If you use a run-in subheading (also called a sidehead), don’t indent the first line. Leave it flush left, assuming you have applied a style that clearly sets off that run-in subheading from the following text.

There are other cases in which a flush left first line just looks and flows better — e.g., an indented blockquote usually looks better without that indent.

The above is certainly not everything you should know about the use of indented first lines, but it’s enough to help you avoid the most common errors made by beginning typesetters.

Remember, having the professional tools for typesetting is not enough. You really need to spend some time studying the art and accepted wisdom of the craft. I recommend you buy or borrow at least a couple of the books listed in my Books on Book Design blog post.

Learn the “rules” and understand why they’re accepted before you start breaking them!