Not By Chance uses two main things to shatter the Neo-Darwinian Theory of Evolution (NDT): information theory and statistical mathematics. Dr. Lee Spetner uses information theory to show that random mutations in the genome, the process that is the backbone of the NDT, have never been shown to add new information in the DNA, and a mutation that has added information has never been witnessed. However, in order for the NDT to be true, such mutations would have to have happened billions of times throughout history. There is obviously thus a large hole in the theory.
On the statistical side of the argument, Dr. Spetner shows that even if information-gaining mutations did happen, Neo-Darwinian Evolution would still be a statistical impossibility. Using mutation rate, number of births per evolutionary step, number of steps in a species transition, and selective value of the mutations, he calculates the chance of a new species forming to be 2.7 x 10^(-2739), which is more than 2,000 orders of magnitude smaller than the chance of flipping 150 coins and having every one come up heads (which has the odds of one in 1^45). Because our minds cannot comprehend such small odds, Dr. Spetner does a good job of giving some relation to compare these odds to. For instance, the chance of all four players in a hand of bridge each being dealt 13 cards of one suit is one in about 160 billion (1.6 x 10^11), which is still trillions of times more likely to happen than a new species forming, according to his calculations. And that is the odds of just one species forming! Think about all the thousands of species there are. This is supposed to have happened thousands and thousands of times! You would have to multiply the 2.7 x 10^(-2739) by itself once for each species on earth (present and past). The odds are so mind-blowing it amazes me that people ignore this fact.
Dr. Spetner also spends a chapter of the book refuting Richard Dawkins' book The Blind Watchmaker. Spetner does a good job, and the book is easy for him to refute.
Spetner also gives a solid overview of cellular biology and the inner workings of the cell, how DNA is replicated, how cells make proteins, and basically how cells function in general. The appendix gives a lot of information on this, and it is not necessary for the reader to already have a background in biology because Dr. Spetner explains things pretty well. Simply reading the appendix made me marvel at the complexity of life and wonder how anyone could believe that life came from non-living chemicals randomly and naturally. Even the simplest cells are so complex it blows my mind.
Dr. Spetner references many biologists and scientists throughout the book. He also spends the last chapters of Not By Chance building up to and putting forth his own theory of evolution, which he calls the nonrandom evolutionary hypothesis (NREH). His theory is very intriguing and he offers interesting support for it, and I believe that it should be considered. Also, Dr. Spetner makes a point to say that the NREH itself does not speak on the origin of life and is agnostic, unlike the NDT, which is atheistic in nature.
I believe that anyone interested in the evolution/creation/intelligent design debate would benefit from reading Not By Chance.
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