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In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood

Walter T. Brown

4.24 · Rating details · 89 Ratings · 10 Reviews

A comprehensive, meticulously documented resource dealing with the age-old creation/evolution controversy. The author, who received a PhD from MIT, carefully explains and illustrates scientific evidence from biology, astronomy, and the physical and earth sciences that relates to origins and the flood. The hydroplate theory, developed after more than 30 years of study by Dr ...more

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Hardcover, 448 pages

Published August 1st 2008 by Center for Scientific Creation (first published December 1990)

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Jul 19, 2012 Manny rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, well-i-think-its-funny

I am not a big fan of Amazon, but sometimes I appreciate them. Today, their handy Look Inside feature enabled me to leaf through this bizarre piece of pseudo-science, now in its eighth edition, without buying or even touching it.

The author is either deeply cynical or insane; in a spirit of Christian charity, I will assume it is the former. I hope the book has made him some money.

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Jan 10, 2014 Nathan Miller rated it it was amazing

I picked up this book while investigating sources on the antedeluvian world for a piece of historical fiction I'm writing that begins just before Noah's flood. (It turns out that such information is rather hard to find, but I digress.) If I could sum up this book with one word, it would be "Chewy!"

I'm one of a great many people who, over the years, has gone back and forth between various versions of Creation and Evolution. So I found Walt Brown's Hydroplate Theory, on which this book is a treati I picked up this book while investigating sources on the antedeluvian world for a piece of historical fiction I'm writing that begins just before Noah's flood. (It turns out that such information is rather hard to find, but I digress.) If I could sum up this book with one word, it would be "Chewy!"

I'm one of a great many people who, over the years, has gone back and forth between various versions of Creation and Evolution. So I found Walt Brown's Hydroplate Theory, on which this book is a treatise (apologies if I'm using the word incorrectly), highly fascinating. It turns a lot of things, figuratively and literally, on their ears. In fact, it challenges so many presuppositions that I found myself doing a bit of a mental double-take several times. And that, in turn, reminded me of what Harlan Bretz must have experienced developing his theory on the Missoula Floods.

One of the things Brown emphasizes right from the beginning and reiterates multiple times is, as Grissom is fond of saying on "CSI," Follow the evidence! No matter where it leads and no matter whether or not you happen to like its implications. Another thing he discusses, and which is particularly relevant in a lot of areas, is that few of us are taught to ask good, probing questions. Which is unfortunate.

In the book, Brown presents and defends, in a very even and objective manner, the evidence in support of Hydroplate Theory and the problems associated with what most of us know as the traditional explanations for the multitude of geologic and cosmologic details related to today's geography. Each chapter has at least one, sometimes three or more, pages of notes and references drawn from diverse sources, which makes it easier for the reader to confirm and further investigate material included in the text. I frequently found myself saying "Whoa. Why didn't I notice that?" It's a very compelling theory and one that's radically changed how I look at modern global geology and geography.

You may have noticed by now that I haven't exactly said WHAT HT is. To do so would take up a LOT of space. That's why I encourage everyone reading this to take a look at it. Most of it's on Brown's web page www.creationscience .com making it more convenient to go read it. And to quote Levar Burton, you don't have to take MY word for it! :-) ...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Marcus rated it really liked it

Shelves: religion, science, history

I've always considered the Young Earth position rather retarded, though I never really took the time to read up on it. Then somewhere I read that this was the best introduction to The Young Earth Theory, so I gave it a shot and found myself more intrigued than I thought I'd be.[return][return]Quite a lot of the discussion is too technical for me (geology, the hydroplate theory etc) but overall I really enjoyed the read. The book's beautifully illustrated with lots of pictures and diagrams and qu ...more

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Jan 02, 2014 Jeff rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bible, origins, climate, creation, religion, education

This review is for the 8th edition of Dr. Walt Brown's work: "In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence For Creation and the Flood". Dr. Walt Brown's hydroplate theory is tantalizing and thought-provoking.

The entire book, filled with photographs, illustrations, and references, present a solid argument for special creation and a global catastrophic flood. The book contains abundant, meticulously documented reference sources for Dr. Brown's theories and conclusions.

This book is not intended for casu ...more

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Jul 29, 2008 faithful rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reference

A copy of this should be available in every public school science class as well as the library. Fabulous coverage of evidences with pictures, graphs, and a great index system.

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Nov 20, 2013 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: christian, education

Great conversation starter coffee table book.

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Jan 03, 2018 Mindy Fairfield rated it it was amazing

I read an older version, but it was very good. I had thought it looked to textbook like, but was pleased that it was riveting. I love how he shows his notes in the back of his book. After reading it I decided to see what the opposition said about the book. I looked on the internet and at the time there were only 2 sites that I found with negative feed back. One only discussed that he had not cleared the quotes according to the way they wanted. The other was a childish music video, done by a "sci ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Christina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: the-diggles-family-library

This was such a fascinating book. It is accessible even for those without a science background (like me). It just requires a little extra effort to understand it. I just finished the 8th edition, but I am excited to read the new chapter on radioactivity on his free online book! This has definitely been a renaissance of scientific learning for me, and I believe this theory is a huge step forward. I can't wait to learn more!

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Sep 02, 2010 Brad Belschner rated it did not like it

Shelves: evolution-vs-yec

Loads of errors in here. For instance: Archeopteryx was NOT a fake, the majority of mammoths were NOT flash-frozen, the vast majority of limestone is NOT chemically precipitated, the out-of-place fossils he mentions are actually not that weird, etc. This book is testimony to the disadvantages of running a one-man research operation: lack of editors and peer review.

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