The first edition of this book was written in 2005 and came out in 2007, and a lot has
happened in the past decade. Most importantly, a large number of additional fossils that
show the evolutionary transitions have been discovered and published. They make the case
for evolution in the fossil record even stronger than before. I have incorporated most of these
recent discoveries in the appropriate places in the book.
In addition, political events have changed the dialogue as well. The decisive defeat of
the “intelligent design” creationism movement in the Dover decision in December 2005 had
an even more profound effect than anyone anticipated. Even though the Discovery Institute
in Seattle still relentlessly promotes it, ID creationism has completely vanished from the pub-
lic discourse, and no school district has attempted to re-introduce it. Instead, the creationists
have shifted tactics yet again, as described in this book. Even more surprisingly, political
and demographic changes are beginning to turn the tide on creationism in this country, as
described in the final chapter.
Most of the reviews and comments I have received about the first edition of this book
were overwhelmingly positive (including hundreds of reviews on Amazon.com). Neverthe-
less, there was a persistent undercurrent of comments that I should ignore what the creation-
ists say and not spend much time in the book dissecting their claims and debunking their
falsehoods. But there are many good books out there that completely ignore the creation-
ists and their claims and only discuss the positive evidence for evolution. My 2015 book
The Story of Life in 25 Fossils (Columbia University Press) takes just such a positive upbeat
approach to talking about important fossils, with almost nothing said about creationism. As
I made it clear in the first edition of this book, I felt there was a need for someone to address
the creationists’ lies and distortions about the fossil record directly. No one else has under-
taken this task, and it is important to set the record straight and clearly state the truth about
the fossil record, so that anyone who is seriously curious about what the fossils tell us does
not get a one-sided, unchallenged creationist version.
I hope that readers of this book will continue to look at the evidence with an open mind.
That was the most encouraging outcome of the first edition of this book. Many readers and
reviewers sit on the fence between their childhood religious beliefs and the evidence they
never heard about (except the distorted false version from creationism). They were confused
or puzzled about the fossil record of evolution. These were the people who told me that the
book opened their eyes and changed their minds. They praised my book because it laid out
the facts in a clear and straightforward fashion and showed them that there was more to the
story than what they had learned from the creationists. It is for those people who are looking
for a scientific answer without the filter of creationism and who are willing to openly explore
the evidence that this book is written.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION