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 public 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). Nevertheless, there was a persistent undercurrent of comments that I should ignore what the creationists 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 creationists 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 undertaken 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.