Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth

by Judith Hooper

Book Overview

In the 1950s, a British physician and amateur lepidopterist named H. B. D. Kettlewell went into the English woods to catch "evolution in action" among the now-famous Peppered Moths. His work became "Darwin's missing evidence," an evolutionary experiment as influential as any in the last century. Compellingly told, Of Moths and Men reveals Kettlewell to be a deluded scientist, a man tyrannized by his mentor, the powerful E. B. Ford, an imperious,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393325253
• ISBN13: 9780393325256
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 377 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Well-written narrative on faulty science

Geoffrey Norman, whose book review in the Wall Street Journal entitled "A Flight from the Truth" enticed me to purchase this text, wrote that "for some, the fall of the peppered moth was better than Christmas morning. Creationists have had a field day with the news, especially on the Web, where a lot [of] bare-knuckles brawling occurs these days. Anyone who thought that the truth of Darwin's theory was settled in Dayton, Tenn., by Clarence Darrow--or in Beacon Wood by Bernard Kettlewell--is sure to be disabused by Ms. Hooper's fascinating book. But of course the theory of evolution will survive the collapse of Kettlewell--though some biologists cling to him with the avidity of the true believer[.] "Of Moths and Men" is a wonderful reminder that science is done by human beings, who are as flawed as the ideas they sometimes possess." Well said. Note that although this work is not a science book, per se, as other reviewers have correctly noted, the narrative includes extensive details on moths that some readers may find annoying. But if these same readers enjoy the good human character development that is interspersed throughout these details, they can definitely handle this annoyance. And because, in my opinion, Part III of this book (comprising two chapters of 12), is written so well, it is worth the time of the average reader to get through the first 10 chapters of the narrative in order to understand the implications of the faulty science of the peppered moth. Although for some reason Hooper has chosen within her discussion to ignore the modern intelligent design movement, she does note that she is "not a creationist, but to be uncritical about science is to make it into a dogma". Very well said.

John Keel, meet Bernard Kettlewell

Forget evolution. Just for a second, OK?This is as engaging a book as you will ever come across. Judith Hooper is a terrific writer who has something to say to anyone remomtely interested or associated not only in science, but in pride and belief and truth and faith.There is a review below (from a reader in Paris, France!) that has it all bang-on. You're left with many questions after reading this book. Is an idea/theory only as good as the people behind it and the examples they proffer? Are all scientists misogynists or liars or manic-depressives?Hooper humanizes this sordid tale, and even with the tragic bits we can celebrate the triumph of scientific review. Debunking and revisionism are loaded terms, but as long as they're driven by a pursuit for the truth we should all be on the same team.Let's remember evolution now, OK?Even if moths did have a propensity to rest on tree trunks where enterprising birds could pick them off, what does that have to do with the grand unifying theory of evolution? Yes, certain phenotypes have better chances of getting you killed than other phenotypes, but does that explain speciation? The peppered moths have nothing to do with speciation.And Of Moths and Men have nothing to do, essentially, with evolution. It has every thing to do with the natural tendency of human beings to believe what they want to believe, and this desire will drive us to do just about anything, including play with moths.

Science Made Lyrical

In this seamless narrative, veteran science journalist Judith Hooper reveals the startling truths behind a broadly held scientific fable. Of Moths and Men is at once a first rate scientific history and a thrilling detective story. A superb stylist, Hooper has created not only a riviting portrayal of scientific ambition gone terribly wrong, but a moving cautionary tale for the ages. Highly recommended.

A Scientific Showpiece Eventually Debunked

If you got any exposure to evolution in school, it is quite likely that you saw the evolutionists' prime example of survival of the fittest, the peppered moth, _Biston betularia_. These were a visual hit; moths came in light colored and dark colored (melanic) forms. The light colored were hard to see on natural trees covered in lichen, and the melanic ones were hard to see on trees darkened by decades of soot from the British version of the Industrial Revolution. Research in the 1950s showed that as the trees darkened, so did the moths; predator birds couldn't see the melanic forms as well, so their race prospered, produced progeny, and overtook the typical light colored ones. (There is an important subtext to this manifestation, that of human degradation of the environment.) The great problem with the theory of evolution by natural selection is that it describes changes over thousands of years, but the moths' changes over decades was an example of rapid environmental change that proved Darwin right. The problem was that they did no such thing. There were quiet objections to the research as it was being done, but it was such a hit that only in the past few years have biologists seriously cried foul by showing its many flaws. Now a clear and informative book, _Of Moths and Men: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth_ (Norton) by Judith Hooper tells the story of the personalities involved, how the mistakes came to be made, how they were eventually uncovered, and what the outcome of the affair was.In 1953, Bernard Kettlewell started the experiments to give numbers to the speculation that melanic moths were being naturally selected. He was a brilliant amateur moth expert, a tall, loud man, full of boisterous enthusiasm for his work, but the loudness hid deep insecurity. This was seized upon by the villain in this piece is E. B. "Henry" Ford, a misogynic and overbearing dandy who personified a type of Oxford academic. He was known for grabbing moths and eating them, for he said that was the only way to test its palatability. He strongly believed in classic Darwinism, and took Kettlewell under his wing as he realized that the experiments were a perfect field demonstration of Darwin's ideas, a demonstration that had been lacking. He leaned on Kettlewell for more results, and got them, and made them the centerpiece of his own book. When Kettlewell later took his own life, Ford unkindly pronounced him a coward. Ford and Kettlewell initially heaped scorn on anyone who challenged their work, and there were few challenges. The most formidable challenge came from American lepidopterist Ted Sargent who showed in the 1970's that Kettlewell's work had serious problems. The debunking didn't take, because the peppered moth was too entrenched. It has only been in the past five years that there has been serious and accepted opposition to evolution's shining example. Not letting the peppered moth go are the creationists, who are delighte

Careful presentation of the evidence

The story of the peppered moths is presented here in an engaging manner and with ample references to the original literature. The author has interviewed many persons and studied the various aspects very carefully. Much information is brought together for the first time. The problem faced by the Darwinists at the middle of the 20th century was that there was no convincing case study in support of their theory. Ambitious academic scientists seized upon the peppered moths as offering the best hope for such an example. The moths were thought to shift over the generations from a light-colored version to a dark-colored one as the degree of industrialization increased and soot accumulated on trees making them darker, due to birds preferentially eating the light ones that stood out against the background of the trees on which they rested. The troubles with this are many-fold, and the author deserves credit for bringing them out so clearly. She notes for example, that the peppered moths had already been offered up in the 1890s to the Darwinists, but they had then rejected the example since they knew that birds don¹t eat these moths. In fact bats are the major predators, since the moths are only active at night and during the day rest under branches of trees where birds can?t see them. The case history was created by the Darwinists of the mid 1950s through careful fudging of experiment design and the author lays out the case for this conclusion. She even has checked the weather records to see if a change in conditions could have caused the abrupt change in the results observed in the field in the critical experiments, and finds that the weather was very stable. She describes many aspects of bad design, points that today would inevitably cause an experiment to be rejected, such as using different proportions of laboratory-raised moths for the light and the dark strains and putting out densities of moths far greater than occur in nature. As the author notes, one expert called the experiments an example of ?unnatural selection?The person who carried out the experiments, Bernard Kettlewell, is painted by the author as a victim of the pressures from the people above him, especially Prof. Henry Ford of Oxford. The desire of the Darwinists for a good example supporting their theory for the celebration of the centenary of The Origin of the Species in 1959 also was a factor. The review in the headnote of this listing from the respected Publishers Weekly captures the essence of the book very well.