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Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe
Eminent geologist Dr. Steven Austin explains from a biblical standpoint how the Grand Canyon was formed. This book contains a wealth of information about geology and biology that equips Christians to defend Genesis, the young earth position, the worldwide Flood, etc. Also includes material on the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 16, 2014
This book is written from a young earth creationist perspective, meaning the authors believe that the earth was created within six literal days, and that Noah's flood was world-wide. While there are chapters on the biology and archaeology of the Grand Canyon, along with one on the earth's atmosphere, the book focuses mostly on how the canyon was formed, meaning it's about half geology. The last chapter covers "Things to See and Do" in the area. There are also various appendices (including 18 "Questions for Discussion and Study" and an extensive Glossary), and indexes for Subjects, Names and Scripture cited.
Although it is sized somewhat like some photo-heavy travel books (it's 11x8.5 inches), the illustrations are mostly line drawings, and although there are color photos, they're there in service of the prose, and tend to be more functional than beautiful (and a couple are too small or dark to work well even at that level). While I would enjoy having it along on a trip just to read, I'd hazard a guess it was designed for homeschoolers; think high school text book, not chatty or informative travel book. But for a book written by a committee, it's pretty readable.
Chapter six, on radioisotope dating, may be a challenge for those who hate math, which the introduction to that chapter recognizes and there's a suggested alternative ("read this then skip to that"). I think illustrations would have been more effective with the intended audience than the math in this chapter. If I were going to have my kids read this book preparatory for a trip, I'd supplement chapter six with this series:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/artic...
The book sometimes suffers from trying to cover too much in too little space; the only time this bothered me was the "life zones communities" section of chapter 8, which is basically lists in prose form. Big color paintings would have been a much more effective way of doing that, although I'm sure budget considerations meant those were never a possibility. But, as with the chapters on atmosphere and archaeology, the author's goal seems to be to give the reader a taste of the subject, and on that level the chapter succeeds.
I enjoyed Chapter nine, on the atmosphere, but the illustration of the "angles of the sun's rays at positions on Earth" threw me, because he has the poles vertical, and I immediately heard Bill Nye shouting, "the earth is tilted!" The text actually explains why the author chose that illo, but it illustrates my problem with this chapter; the author assumes the reader has a more solid background in science than some readers may actually have. I ended up googling the term "isobars" because, while I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about, when he used the phrase "straight parallel isobars" that didn't match my mental image of sorta concentric, generally curved linear forms. Which just goes to show that having a doctorate in the pertinent science doesn't make anyone a better communicator than Bill Nye.... Or maybe that my literal, visual brain understands Bill better, I dunno.
If I were going to hand this book to my kids to read before a Grand Canyon trip, I'd supplement this chapter with a weather map pointing out the isobars, along with a reminder on the atmospheric layers (since knowledge of them is assumed but never specifically discussed). And I'd definitely assign a video on cloud types, but not because I thought the book's discussion lacking; just because videos of clouds are cool.
I would also want travel books, and an archaeology book on the area, and, and, and.... But I research my trips to death anyhow, and this book is a great start. The "Things to See and Do" chapter has a rough map and a few paragraphs on things from Zion National Park or Rainbow Bridge in Utah, to Petrified Forest National Park or Walnut Canyon in Arizona, mostly national parks or national monuments but also things like Monument Valley (a Navajo Tribal Park), Lake Powell and Meteor Crater.
Although it is sized somewhat like some photo-heavy travel books (it's 11x8.5 inches), the illustrations are mostly line drawings, and although there are color photos, they're there in service of the prose, and tend to be more functional than beautiful (and a couple are too small or dark to work well even at that level). While I would enjoy having it along on a trip just to read, I'd hazard a guess it was designed for homeschoolers; think high school text book, not chatty or informative travel book. But for a book written by a committee, it's pretty readable.
Chapter six, on radioisotope dating, may be a challenge for those who hate math, which the introduction to that chapter recognizes and there's a suggested alternative ("read this then skip to that"). I think illustrations would have been more effective with the intended audience than the math in this chapter. If I were going to have my kids read this book preparatory for a trip, I'd supplement chapter six with this series:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/artic...
The book sometimes suffers from trying to cover too much in too little space; the only time this bothered me was the "life zones communities" section of chapter 8, which is basically lists in prose form. Big color paintings would have been a much more effective way of doing that, although I'm sure budget considerations meant those were never a possibility. But, as with the chapters on atmosphere and archaeology, the author's goal seems to be to give the reader a taste of the subject, and on that level the chapter succeeds.
I enjoyed Chapter nine, on the atmosphere, but the illustration of the "angles of the sun's rays at positions on Earth" threw me, because he has the poles vertical, and I immediately heard Bill Nye shouting, "the earth is tilted!" The text actually explains why the author chose that illo, but it illustrates my problem with this chapter; the author assumes the reader has a more solid background in science than some readers may actually have. I ended up googling the term "isobars" because, while I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about, when he used the phrase "straight parallel isobars" that didn't match my mental image of sorta concentric, generally curved linear forms. Which just goes to show that having a doctorate in the pertinent science doesn't make anyone a better communicator than Bill Nye.... Or maybe that my literal, visual brain understands Bill better, I dunno.
If I were going to hand this book to my kids to read before a Grand Canyon trip, I'd supplement this chapter with a weather map pointing out the isobars, along with a reminder on the atmospheric layers (since knowledge of them is assumed but never specifically discussed). And I'd definitely assign a video on cloud types, but not because I thought the book's discussion lacking; just because videos of clouds are cool.
I would also want travel books, and an archaeology book on the area, and, and, and.... But I research my trips to death anyhow, and this book is a great start. The "Things to See and Do" chapter has a rough map and a few paragraphs on things from Zion National Park or Rainbow Bridge in Utah, to Petrified Forest National Park or Walnut Canyon in Arizona, mostly national parks or national monuments but also things like Monument Valley (a Navajo Tribal Park), Lake Powell and Meteor Crater.
September 17, 2015
This was written as a creationist field guidebook of the Grand Canyon. The first seven chapters shows that plenty of information concerning the creation/evolution debate can be discovered from the Grand Canyon. For example, chapter seven covers the various dating methods evolutionists use for determining the ages of the canyon's rock layers and how the methods contradict each other, even for the same rock layer.
Chapter eight is more of a description of the canyon's wildlife rather than an examination of the origins debate, although a few parts (such as a close look at the tassel-eared squirrels) do cover it. The remaining three chapters and the appendixes have more general information about the canyon; chapter nine has almost nothing specifically about the canyon but rather is about the atmosphere in general.
Chapter eight is more of a description of the canyon's wildlife rather than an examination of the origins debate, although a few parts (such as a close look at the tassel-eared squirrels) do cover it. The remaining three chapters and the appendixes have more general information about the canyon; chapter nine has almost nothing specifically about the canyon but rather is about the atmosphere in general.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews