Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was looking for .............., 6 Feb 2007
Mr Whitcombs book is well written and well researched to the best of my knowledge. Readers may be disappointed in his lack of apparent accomplishment in discovering Ropens, but he self-funded his expedition and as a man with family commitments was only able to spend limited time in New Guinea. I applaud his commitment to achieve as much as he has for an ordinary man of modest resources - if only more people had his passion and zeal to accomplish dreams. The book relies a great deal upon circumstantial evidence and eyewitness testimony in regards the existence of Ropens - but so does so much that is cryptozoological. Mr Whitcomb presents some interesting and not implausible theories about the geographic range and biology of the Ropen.
Much of the book is then given to Mr Whitcombs belief that the Earth was created by God and again makes a not unreasonable scientific case for this. He also talks intelligently about 'Scientific Dogma' which I found interesting and believeable. Persoanlly I am in a sort of agreement with Mr Whitcomb - I believe that much of science is now bogged down in dogma and is as fundamentalist as certain branches of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. There is no tolerance for a different perspective. If it cannot explain anything it demeans it as superstition and folklore.
For me personally although I am interested in Mr Whitcombs Creationist arguments I feel that they belong in another book that he should obviously write. Not that his Creationist theories are not valid theories for explaining the case for Pterosaur survival; but I cannot help but feel duped into buying what I believe was ultimately about making a case for Creationist Theory rather than a book of cryptozoological interest.
I can't say I enjoyed this book, but then again I hadn't read the reviews before I bought it - my mistake. It does not pretend to be anything it isn't in all honesty, but the title I found misleading. I was expecting - and hoping for - a cryptozoological account and case for of a supposed surviving pterosaur (Ropens) in the southwest Pacific. What I got was that in part, but in the context of this book it was used to support the authors 'Creationist' view of nature and the universe: in other words it was all made by God.
I am not a Christian, but neither am I anti-Christian. Neither am I a convinced 'Evolutionist' - that all life on Earth is the result of small changes over aeons of time. OK, so some scientists will hate me for saying this, as will some Christians - but I find the General Theory of Evolution no more convincing an argument for the creation of the universe than I do the Jewish/Christian/Islamic standpoint. For that matter no indigenous or other religious standpoint seems any more or less outlandish than any other. As far as I'm concerned, I don't know, I'm content in that lack of knowledge and really am just happy to be here - and I don't care how got here.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
defies categorization, 26 Sep 2006
Author's Introduction (Jonathan Whitcomb)
"Searching for Ropens" is captivating, this non-fiction about investigations and expeditions for living pterosaurs.
It defies categorization. According to the introduction, it's a true-life adventure, a religious commentary, an expose of a "Western superstition," and a scientific inquiry. For the most part, it blends these aspects well but it relies on the appendix (extensively), explaining the origins of the "Western" belief in ancient extinctions of all pterosaurs and filling in details on both scientific and religious philosophies. (But it's easy, pleasant reading even in the appendix, considering it's an appendix.)
I, the author, am a Creationist but the book was not created from a mold: It blasts the General Theory of Evolution not with a sermon but with a merciless scientific examination. It questions the popular Creationist axiom of a 6000-year-old earth not with a scientific examination but with Bible scriptures and reasoning. (I lean towards a young earth more than a 5-billion-year-old earth.)
Beware: It's possible for some people to be offended, if they have adopted the philosophy of Darwin as their own philosophy. This book uses scientific reasoning to expose weaknesses in universal common ancestry, also known as the General Theory of Evolution. (Not to be confused with other forms of evolution which creationists accept as real.)
It exposes the weakness of the idea that researchers believing in the General Theory of Evolution are more objective than researchers who believe in traditional interpretations of the Bible. It supports believe in the Bible as a proper foundation for a person's decisions and beliefs.
With all the spiritual messages woven into it, the book still has, in the first half, more of a true-life-adventure feel.
Although I do not mention it in the book, this investigation of the possibility of living pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea (and elsewhere) seems to be one of three things: one of the most complex, far-reaching hoaxes in history, or one of the most perplexing series of coincidences in history, or one of the most extraordinary scientific break-throughs in history. (Personally, I know this is no hoax, and I believe in the third choice.) There is not much middle ground in this quest for living pterosaurs.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
flying monkey? , 12 Dec 2007
I wish people would stop eating flying foxes! They are practically extinct in south east asia. I would dearly love to see a flying monkey, but they'll probably end up in soup, and so will the ropens! I have no problems believing in ropens and flying monkeys, it's not a big deal. I happen to differ with the authors young-earth creationism. The world is old and so are the rocks. Show me a rock with a fossil of a rabbit next to a fossil of a trilobite and I will be a convert. They can't because it's not true. I am also a christian and believe in a creation, I just think it's more complicated, and I think young-earth creationism is damaging to christianity. The adventure to papua though is interesting and revealing about the animal..the ropen.
I do not think that all scientists are involved in an evolutionary conspiracy, geologists of the 19th century formed opinions based on what they saw in the rocks. Noah's ark does not explain animal distribution. I think darwin was wrong, but there's something else going on. I am moving towards a 'sheldrake'ist' cosmic evolutionary theory. I think the book goes on too much about the doubters, and their origins in evolutionary theory. Let the doubters doubt. I've thought that papua or bornio should be cleared of people and made into one last refuge for animals, including the near extinct golden crowned flying fox, (the largest on earth) tigers, and any surviving pterosaurs.
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by Jonathan Downes
