Three longtime friends find their friendship being tested as they disagree on the origin of life. Jason who is preparing for a science based career is really soaking up the information that their biology teacher, Mr. Schmidt, is teaching. However, Jason's two friends, Elise and Joel, are having great difficulty believing what Mr. Schmidt is saying. Jason, whose family is not at all religious, accuses them of being blinded by their religion and not being open to scientific discoveries. But his long standing friendship with them, plus his desire to become more than just friends with Elise, propels him to work out their differences. Also knowing that his classmate, Andrew, is trying hard to date Elise, Jason does not want such a small thing as origins to get in the way of he and Elise. Just when the threesome appears to be breaking up, Jason remembered a highly respected coach from Pony League who is a research scientist. Having run out of options, they all agreed to talk to him, which turns out to make all the difference in the book. Over the course of several meetings Dr. Harry Simons and his friend, astronomer Dr. Dave Meier, explained the concepts of Intelligent Design to the students who, in turn, asked Mr. Schmidt about them in biology class. Since he believes the students are going off on a tangent, he tries to correct what he feels are the errors that Drs. Simons and Meier have told them. However, the 3 students are not at all buying his arguments. To keep the readers who are not deeply interested in science involved in the book, interwoven throughout are several sub-plots, one of which happens in Dr. Meier's lab between his graduate assistant, Rochelle, and himself. Another one is between Dr. Simons and his jealous boss, Joe Cochran. Finally, a third one deals with a major tragedy that happened to Dr. Simons and his wife, Olna. While they are still working through their emotions, the 3 students came into their lives at an opportune time. Included at the beginning of each chapter is a serial story about Li Thi, an aspiring Vietnamese communist youth leader, who longs to avenge the death of his parents. He had been told that his parents were killed by Americans, so his hatred for Americans runs very deep. As the story unfolds he runs through the same thought processes as the 3 students, but for entirely different reasons. Just as the students found out they have not been told the entire truth about the beginning of life, Li Thi found out that he was not told the truth about his parents' death. This fast moving novel keeps the reader's interest while dealing with very important scientific principles about not only the world in which we live, but also the amazing cells that make up our bodies.
Joel Johns is a computer software consultant and also a pastor who for the past 20 years has worked with many high school and college aged young people. This book is a product of their many questions about how to handle the creation/evolution controversy. The ensuing discussions those questions prompted brought back memories of his own struggles in college, which prompted him to spend significant time studying it. In the past few years he has given many talks in his state and surrounding states. He and his wife have been married over 30 years and have raised 4 children, three of whom are married. Their youngest child is in college studying mechanical engineering. Joel and his wife greatly enjoy spending time with their 3 grandchildren.
