Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: the Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (New York: The Free Press, 1996).  Paperback, 307 pages.  Grades 10-14.

 This is a devastating attack upon classical evolutionary theory. To date Prof. Behe’s treatise has not yet been satisfactorily addressed by evolutionary supporters.

Prof. Behe is Catholic, but his support of an intelligent designer does not rest on religious belief. Oddly enough he states in the book that he still believes in evolutionary theory.

Portions of the book are difficult to read, but it is well worth passing over these portions in favor of his wonderful explanations.  Behe describes biomechanical systems in the body that are “irreducibly complex.” By this he means that the system is so complex that you cannot remove or change one component without the whole system failing. On pages 42-43 his mousetrap analogy describes this concept. Weaken or change the spring and the mousetrap no longer works.  Build the base out of tissue paper instead of wood and the trap fails. The mousetrap is irreducibly complex in that all parts must fit and function together for it to work. 

The book progresses by describing multiple systems in the human body that cannot be the result of gradual, evolutionary development.  All components of these systems need to be in place for the system to function. They are irreducibly complex. This complexity points to a creator.