The Fossil Book

Wonders of Creation

by Gary Parker, Mary Parker

Fossils have fascinated humans for centuries. From the smallest diatoms to the largest dinosaurs, finding a fossil is an exciting and rewarding experience. But where did they come from, and how long have they been around? These and many other questions are answered in this remarkable book. The Fossil Book will teach you Learning about fossils, their origins, and how to collect them can be both fun and educational. The abundance of both marine and land fossils and the locations they are found in is a fascinating subject for students of all ages and has been studied by scientists and laypersons alike for many years. Learn what all the excitement is about!

Genres: Science, Creation Science, Nonfiction

80 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Biologist Dr. Gary Parker, along with his wife, Mary, was with Answers in Genesis as senior lecturer since AiG’s first year (1994, and remained full-time until 1999). Dr. Parker was also the head of the science department at Clearwater Christian College (CCC) in Florida. For twelve years, he served on the science faculty of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) in the San Diego area.
Dr. Parker began his teaching career as a non-Christian and evolutionist. The details of his spiritual and scientific conversion, From Evolution to Creation (available as a booklet and DVD), include comic incidents. For example, he was a participant in a debate where his science department, defending the Bible, debated the Bible department, which was defending evolution!
En route to his B.A. in Biology/Chemistry, M.S. in Biology/Physiology, and Ed.D. in Biology/Geology from Ball State, Dr. Parker earned several academic awards, including admission to Phi Beta Kappa (the national scholastic honorary), election to the American Society of Zoologists (for his research on tadpoles), and a fifteen-month fellowship award from the National Science Foundation.
He has published five programmed textbooks in biology and six books in creation science (the latter translated into a total of eight languages), has appeared in numerous films and television programs, and has lectured worldwide on creation.

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Fossil Book" is a nonfiction book about fossil formation, types, and collection. The authors assumed they had a Christian audience, but they still gave solid, respectful reasons for why they believe Flood Geology is the better explanation for how most fossils were formed. They clearly explained each topic and defined the few scientific terms in the text (though there's also a glossary in the back). The book is suitable for 10- or 11-year-olds on up.

There were full color pictures and illustrations. In the back, there's a 12 by 24 inch pull-out full-color poster with pictures from the book. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to children and adults who are interested in fossils and fossil hunting.

Chapter One explained what a fossil is, what rocks they're found in, how they're formed, and the types of fossils (including fossil fuels). Chapter Two explained what the Geologic Column is and compared Evolutionist and Flood Geologist interpretations of fossils. Chapter Three briefly covered the problems with the evolutionary interpretation of fossils and why the evidence better fits the Flood Geologist explanation. It then discussed the Grand Canyon's formation and rock layers.

Chapter Four covered invertebrate fossils. Chapter Five covered vertebrate fossils and discussed intermediate fossils and fossil sequences. The final section described how to do fossil hunting and collection (where to look, permits needed, tools used, and how to collect, store, and display them).

[M. A. Hickman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I read this book as part of her science curriculum and it was amazing.

I loved every about this book. The pictures were beautiful and engaging, the information was entertaining and easy to understand. I especially loved the fact that this is from a Biblical young earth creationist point of view.

[Mara · Rating 1 out of 5]

A strange mix of science and Christianity. "...just wait; science will eventually catch up and find that God's Word has been right all along." Interesting choice for the non-fiction section...

[Aleap · Rating 1 out of 5]

Riddled with spelling errors, missing/incomplete words, and just flat out condescending in its attitude towards evolutionary scientists, this book was a real dud. Instead of presenting a factual argument for Creationism, it often resorted to "Look how embarrassed those other scientists are when they find out they're wrong." That is kind of the beauty of, well, science. You hypothesize and then you change your theories to reflect new knowledge. The authors also make a habit of redefining things when it suits their needs and ignore all the evidence of a universe that is billions of years old.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm giving this a low rating primarily because I don't agree with the opinions it's throwing out there, but also because of various misspellings, fairly lame artwork (though, there are some nice photos), inaccurate and inconsistent definitions of 'science' and 'evolution,' and the overt, constant bashing of evolutionists. There are a few decent descriptions of animals, fossils, and natural processes in here, but that's where the value ends....unless you believe in Creationism. Then this is the 'science' book for you.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent explanation of fossils from a creationist perspective, showing how the "geologic column" is better explained by Noah's Flood rather than evolution. For example, after the June 1982 eruption of Mount St. Helens, a 1:40 scale version of the Grand Canyon was carved out in only a few days.

However, there are also several references about "accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior" that are unfortunately common in creation science books from Protestants.

[Yiota]

Grad school