My Reading List for Making the Film

Browse our Store for Some of These Books

My method of creating a documentary is to learn as much as I can on a subject. It’s a bit old school, perhaps, but it’s the only way I know how to approach an interview.

Thanks to my alumni status, I had the exceptional Vanderbilt Science Library at my disposal – an absolute goldmine of materials, from original editions of Louis Agassiz’s Natural History of the United States in 5 vols (1857) to the most recent edition of Andrew Miall’s The Geology of Stratigraphic Sequences, 2nd ed. (2010).

All to say, I read voraciously in creating our film. Furthermore, I read on both sides of the topic. I have heard a few people say our film was informed only by a creationist perspective; that’s just not true. Although I think the conventional paradigm is ultimately incorrect, it doesn’t mean that all the people working within that paradigm are wrong. In fact, many are quite brilliant and make excellent observations about science, history, and philosophy. When one understands how to look at the world in light of Genesis, there are many things to learn from those who hold to the conventional view.

In light of that, I have had some requests for a “bibliography” for the film.  Although necessarily incomplete, the list could be useful for someone wanting to dig into a particular topic and needing recommendations.

I’ve tried to sort everything into topics.  Those books that were highly influential or useful, I’ve highlighted in green.  I’ll also distinguish if an author adopts the Genesis paradigm by putting a (G) in the listing.

The Bible – NASB, ESV

Philosophy of  Science

• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed – Thomas Kuhn – a seminal work and a must-read by all educated people
• The Essential Tension – Thomas Kuhn
• The Road Since Structure – Thomas Kuhn
• Science, Faith & Society – Michael Polanyi
• Scientific Thought & Social Reality – Michael Polanyi
• Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It – Steven Goldman (Teaching Company)
• The Devil’s Delusion – David Bernlinski
• Redeeming Science – Vern Poytress
• Christianity and the Nature of Science – J.P. Moreland

History of Science

• Great Scientific Ideas That Changed the World – Steven Goldman (Teaching Company)
• The Great Turning Point – Terry Mortenson – Really excellent overview of the history of geology in 19th-century in terms of Christians (G)
• Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle – Stephen J. Gould
• Earth’s Deep History: How It Was Discovered and Why it Matters – Martin J. S. Rudwick
• Revolutions in Science – Bernard Cohen
• Evolution – Edward Larson – I also listened to Larson’s excellent Teaching Company series “Theory of Evolution”
• Just Before Darwin: Robert Chambers and Vestiges – Milton Millhauser
• Darwin’s Doubt – Stephen Meyer
• Chronologers Quest: Episodes in the Search for the Age of the Earth – Patrick Wyse Jackson
• Death of Adam: Evolution and Its Impact on Western Thought – John Greene

General Creation Science

• Faith, Form, and Time – Kurt Wise – a really good overview of the subject, including thoughts on what we still don’t understand (G)
• The New Creationism – Paul Garner – the best single introduction to creation science I’ve read. (G) Available here.
• Faith, Reason, and Earth History, 3rd ed. – Leonard Brand & Art Chadwick – combines geology and biology in textbook, including some very useful insight into many areas. (G) Available here.
• Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels – Robert Carter, editor (G)

Geology

• The Geology of Stratigraphic Sequences, 2nd ed. – Andrew Miall
• The Age of the Earth – Brent Dalrymple
• Earth’s Catastrophic Past, 2 vols. – Andrew Snelling – Technical, but really indispensable (G) Available here.
• Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe – Steve Austin – really excellent semi-technical work on various aspects of geology beyond that just at Grand Canyon (G)
• The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record, 3rd ed. – Derek Ager
• Thousands…Not Billions – Don DeYoung, editor (G)
• Bible, Rocks, and Time – Davis Young & Ralph Stearley – an old-earth creationist approach to geology
• Geology of the Grand Canyon – Scott Babcock
• Anatomy of the Grand Canyon – Kenneth Hamblin
• Geology of North America: An Overview – Albert Bally
• Sedimentary Cover of the North American Craton – L.L. Sloss
• Concise Geologic Time Scale – James Ogg
• Principles of Sedimentology, 5th ed. – Sam Boggs

Paleontology (Fossils)

• Vertebrate Paleontology, 2nd ed. and 4th ed – Michael Benton – just one of the great all-around overviews of paleontology, although some interesting commentary changes between the two versions
• Invertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 4th ed. – E.N.K. Clarkson
• After the Dinosaurs – Donald Prothero
• Jehol Fossils: The Emergence of Feathered Dinosaurs – Miman Zhang
• Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominds – Jordi Agustin
• Exceptional Fossil Preservation – David Bottjer
• Fossil Plants – Paul Kenrick
• Natural History of the United States – Louis Agassiz

Paleontology (Fossils) – Cambrian Explosion

• Wonderful Life – Stephen J. Gould
• The Cambrian explosion : the construction of animal biodiversity – Douglas Erwin & James Valentine
• The Crucible of Creation : the Burgess Shale and the rise of animals – Conway Morris
• Fossils of the Burgess Shale – D.E.G Briggs
• Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang China – Xianguag Hou

History of Evolution/Creation in the Church

• Evolution and the Authority of the Bible – Nigel Cameron – recommended by Dr. Doug Kelly, really excellent look at the impact of theistic evolution on the Bible (G)
• The Princeton Theology – Mark Noll

Genesis Textual

• Coming to Grips with Genesis – Terry Mortenson, ed. – just a great series of overview essays on various aspects of Genesis; includes a great essay by Steve Boyd on the reasons Genesis is narrative (G) Available here.
• I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood – Richard Hess, David Tsumura

• Creation in Six Days – James Jordan – an exceptional critique of the ‘framework hypothesis,’ ‘analogical days,’ and any number of de-historicizing hermeneutic approaches to Genesis 1 (G)
• Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood – Steve Boyd and Andrew Snelling (G)
• Commentary on Genesis, 2 vols – Umberto Cassuto – one of the finest rabbinic commentaries on Genesis
• Creation and Change – Douglas Kelly – very instrumental in my early understanding of Genesis (G) Available here.
• The Genesis Account – Jonathan D. Sarfati (G)
• The Genesis Debate – David Hagopian, editor
• Navigating Genesis – Hugh Ross
• Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, and Theological Commentary – C. John Collins
• Genesis, Creation, and Early Man – Fr. Seraphim Rose – an  overview of what the church fathers thought about Genesis (G)
• Genealogy and History in the Biblical World – Robert Wilson

Biology/Evolution

• Understanding the Pattern of Life – Todd Wood and Megan Murray (G)
• Devotional Biology – Kurt Wise – one of the more insightful books I read for this project; rethinks all of biology from a Christian worldview. (G) Available here.
• The Structure of Evolutionary Theory – Stephen J. Gould
• Evolution and the Diversity of Life – Ernst Mayr
• Why Evolution is True – Jerry Coyne

Astronomy

• Universe By Design – Danny Faulkner – the best little book on astronomy I read (G) Available here.
• Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology – John North
• He Made the Stars Also – Stuart Burgess (G)

Mathematics/Geometry

• The Fractal Geometry of Nature – Benoit Mandelbrot

Ice Age

• The Frozen Record – Michael J. Oard (G)
• Frozen in Time – Michael J. Oard (G)

Archeology

• Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind – Colin Renfrew
• The Genius of Ancient Man – Don Landis, editor (G)
• Archeology and Language – Colin Renfrew

Anthropology

• What Happened in the Garden – Abner Chou, editor (G)
• Neanderthals – Freidemann Shrenk
• Out of Africa – Stony Brook Human Evolution Symposium
• After the Flood – Bill Cooper (G)

Design

• Hallmarks of Design – Stuart Burgess (G)
• The Design and Origin of Man – Stuart Burgess (G)

Vintage Science Art

• Natural Histories – Tom Baione, editor – Just a really amazing book
• Natural Histories: Extraordinary Birds – Paul Sweet
• Natural Histories: Opulent Oceans – Melanie Stiassney