Our last post about a self-published genius was Genius #10: Law Professor, and that links to several others in this series. The usual creationist with a vanity press book promotes his writings by paying for a press release, and so it is with our latest discovery.
Today’s genius is described as an engineering professor, giving us even more evidence for the Salem Hypothesis, which suggests that engineering types have a tendency toward the creationist viewpoint.
As with other paradigm-shattering discoveries, today’s proud author has announced his work by hiring a press release service. This one is issued by an outfit we’ve encountered before. It’s called PRWeb, which “gets your news straight to the search engines that everyone uses, like Google, Yahoo and Bing.” Their Pricing page reveals that their “Basic Package” costs $80. We assume that’s what we’re dealing with now.
The press release we found is titled Evolution Exposed and Intelligent-Design Explained in Walter Starkey’s New Book. With no further delay, here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us:
Author Walter Starkey, a Doctor in biology and engineering, has been interested in the theory of evolution most of his life. After years of in-depth study about this topic however, he has made a conclusion about this firmly-held belief by the majority. In Evolution Exposed and Intelligent-Design Explained, he bares all.
Wow — he bares all! This is exciting! But before proceeding with what the press release says, we note that Walter’s book is “published” — that is, it’s printed — by something called Xlibris, a vanity publisher. But wait — he’s also written The Cambrian Explosion (Amazon listing) published by something called CSS Publishing, which says it’s a publisher of “Christian Books, Christian Subscriptions, Sermon Subscriptions, Sermon Books, Sermon Resources, Christian Preaching Resources, Worship Resources,….to meet that needs of pastors and the global ministry.” Okay, let’s read on from today’s press release:
Through extensive research and common sense, Dr. Starkey has discovered — backed with concepts on science, engineering, and mathematics — that the theory of evolution is the greatest scientific mistake of all time. This bold account attempts to prove this statement by presenting several facts that readers will find very eye-opening and enlightening.
Egad — “evolution is the greatest scientific mistake of all time.” We continue:
Furthermore, this account asserts that (1) the natural forces of the earth have no intelligence whatsoever, and therefore they could not have designed the animals, (2) human beings are intelligent enough to design machines but they are not intelligent enough to design the animals, and (3) the only entity that could design the animals would be the superhuman being who is much more intelligent than any human being; thus, the theory of Intelligent Design.
Isn’t this great? Here’s one more excerpt:
This book was not written for the purpose of attempting to change the opinion of any scholar who believes in the theory of evolution. Rather, it is an account that unveils an engineering professor’s expert-witness testimony on the origin of animals, including many novel analyses. It has been written primarily for young people who are in their formative years, and who are interested in learning the truth about the origins of the animals.
There’s nothing we can add. Now rush right out and get yourself a copy of this life-changing book. Hurry, before they’re all gone.
Copyright © 2011. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
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The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
It is always amusing to see the creationist over-reach on the “design” argument by pointing out that the only designers that we know about are not able to design life – therefore life must be designed.
What’s he an engineer of, I wonder? I’m picturing a guy with a Choo-Choo Charlie hat and a box of Good ‘n’ Plenty.
Showin’ your age, mag!
Hurry, before they’re all gone.
Ah, but that’s the beauty of print on demand. Turds stay around forever!
Walter L. Starkey, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering, at the College of Engineering, department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Ohio State University. He is the recipient of the ASME’s Machine Design Award of 1971. He is the author of “The Cambrian Explosion: Evolution’s Big Bang? or Darwin’s Dilemma?” and “Creationists, Young-Earth and Old-Earth “.
@Duncan Chopoorian:
Very impressive, but does he have any actual biology credentials? Like, for instance, some degree that might indicate he was knowledgeable enough to justify his publishing a valid book on the Cambrian Explosion?
Actually, I can’t seem to decide which of the two Amazon reviews to believe. The 2-star rating, titled “Well intentioned, but failed attempt”, or the 1-star rating, titled “Drivel”.
@Magpie61:
When one is committed to misrepresenting evolution more biology credentials only means that they can misrepresent it better.
@Duncan Chopoorian:
Was he young-Earth or old-Earth when he wrote that book, and has his position “evolved”? Not to influence your answer, but most evolution-deniers start out as one or the other, then retreat into “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Aw, man, I remember an essay by Starkey that was formerly available on the web site of SEAO, the Ohio organization involved in pushing ID creationism into Ohio public schools in 2001-2002. In the essay, no longer there, Starkey argued that if evolution is true then people living in drought-ridden countries should evolve the capability of digesting grass, and humans living in hostile lands should have evolved an eye in the back of their heads to spot enemies sneaking up from behind them. Seriously: he actually argued those positions.
RBH says:
Actually, that’s a failure of the intelligent designer — blessed be he! — to accommodate our needs.