The Charlotte Metaphysics January Meetup

Below is the press release for the next author to speak in Charlotte. Tickets are $20.00 and $15.00 dollars for Meetup groups, scientist, educators, and students. You can get the discounted price on-line at the Belk Theaters web-site under the student button. The author will have his book on sale at the Belk Theater and a book signing
will be held after his presentation. Please contact me with any questions at [masked]

Recently the Louisiana State Legislation passed an Anti-Evolution Bill and the Governor signed it into law. By passing this bill, teachers in Louisiana now have the ability to teach alternatives to Evolution. A similar bill is currently under consideration in the South Carolina House. This presentation is not meant to be critical of belief, but to allow a friendly debate on the movement of the Intelligent Design and Creation Science community trying to make a case for its entrance into the South Carolina Public School System. I look forward to all sides of this issue to have a voice during the "Question & Answer" period following the author's presentation. It would be great to have the church involved in this presentation.

The Bancroft Author Series

Presents
EVOLUTION
What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters

DONALD R. PROTHERO
Illustrated by Carl Buell

THE BELK THEATER
TUESDAY JANUARY 13TH 2009
7:30PM

. A beautifully illustrated and intelligently written guide to why intelligent design and creationism are wrong

Over the past twenty years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.

The fossil record is now one of the strongest lines of evidence for evolution. In this engaging and richly illustrated book, Donald R. Prothero weaves an entertaining though intellectually rigorous history out of the transitional forms and series that dot the fossil record. Beginning with a brief discussion of the nature of science and the "monkey business of creationism," Prothero tackles subjects ranging from flood geology and rock dating to neo-Darwinism and macroevolution. He covers the ingredients of the primordial soup, the effects of communal
living, invertebrate transitions, the development of the backbone, the reign of the dinosaurs, the mammalian explosion, and the leap from chimpanzee to human. Prothero pays particular attention to the recent discovery of "missing links" that complete the fossil timeline and details the debate between biologists over the mechanisms driving the evolutionary process.

Evolution is an absorbing combination of firsthand observation, scientific discovery, and trenchant analysis. With the teaching of evolution still an issue, there couldn't be a better moment for a book clarifying the nature and value of fossil evidence. Widely recognized as a leading expert in his field, Prothero demonstrates that the transformation of life on this planet is far more awe inspiring than the narrow view of extremists.

Donald R. Prothero is professor of geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and lecturer in geobiology at the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In 1991, he received the Schuchert Award for outstanding paleontologist under the age of 40. He is the author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor of 22 books and over 200 scientific papers, and his titles for Columbia University Press are From Greenhouse to Icehouse and The Eocene-Oligocene Transition

Regards,

Bill