The Big Splash: A Scientific Discovery That Revolutionizes the Way We View the Origin of Life, the Water We Drink, the Death of the Dinosaurs, the C

by Louis A. Frank, Patrick Huyghe

Book by Frank, Louis A., Huyghe, Patrick

Genres: Nonfiction

255 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr. Louis A. Frank has emphatically championed a very controversial theory. He believes that approximately 40,000 small comets are bombarding the Earth every day. In his theory, those comets are largely made up of water, and they are the origin of the majority of the water currently on the Earth. At the time this book was written, his theory was largely dismissed, but in the last five years, there has been some movement in his direction. Additional evidence has been discovered that indicates that something is going on, the unresolved question is whether it is due to the actions of water comets.
The problem with this book is that it occasionally reads like one of those nonsensical pseudoscience diatribes. It starts with the subtitle, which is the longest I have ever seen and continues into the dust jacket, where a paragraph is written entirely in uppercase. Inside, there are sentences that go beyond scientific arguments. For example, on page 123 there is the statement, “…there were objects out there that had never been detected before. It did not matter whether they were small comets, cometesimals, automobiles or sick cows.” Well, yes it does, for his theory to be true those objects must be comets and one does not win scientific arguments by stating absurdities.
The descent into pseudoscientific jargon reaches a peak in chapter 24, “Where Are You Now, Galileo?” Every pseudoscientist quack uses the “they laughed at Galileo” argument. They try to convince people that their arguments are right by citing examples from history where the experts were wrong. However, this does nothing to strengthen their arguments and Frank is much too good a scientist to descend to this level. In fact, I will always remain convinced that this type of argument is an admission of how weak their positions are. Scientific theories will always live or die on the evidence and ad hominem attacks in defense of your scientific propositions only proves the weakness of your case.
There has been a slight movement in thought towards Frank’s controversial theory in the past decade. However, while this book may convince some that he is right, the tone and form of the arguments do nothing to convince those who reach their conclusions based on the evidence. His cause would have been better served had he either not written it or maintained a scientific mindset when he did so.

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[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those scientific discoveries that has been swept under the rug, in my humble opinion.

[Jessica]

Has anyone else read this? Not a well-known book.