What sort of book
could be considered a “Coffee Table” volume? Some books so designated may be
considered superficial in content and geared more to the entertainment value
they provide. Others are volumes with snippets of general reader interest.
Still others blend skilled photography with appealing narrative. Coffee table
volumes often serve to highlight the activities of special artisans with unique
skills.
Recently we were
the recipient of the ultimate coffee table occupant meant to entertain our
grandchildren for the next several years on visits to their grandparents. The
2012 edition National Geographic Animal
Encyclopedia touts itself as having “more animals, more photos, and more
fun than any other animal book you’ve ever encountered.” Generally unswayed by
hyperbole, after carefully thumbing through this National Geographic
production, I acknowledge the worthiness of their self-accorded praise.
The Animal Encyclopedia features vertebrate
phyla such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and a smaller
section including invertebrates. Only 3% of the world’s animals are the five
vertebrates named above. It is common knowledge that animal life includes
multiple other biological phyla. A volume such as the Animal Encyclopedia includes the most recognizable vertebrate species
almost any young person or coffee table reader could identify as well as
hundreds of more exotic animals. This does not include many members of
unfamiliar animal phyla.
Let’s approach our
coffee table book from a unique vantage point. Without becoming excessively
descriptive, we must describe its entertainment, artistic, and instructional value
as superb. My personal appreciation of this book, however, exceeds its value of
entertainment, art, and instruction. The 300-page Animal Encyclopedia is a paragon of intelligent design
authored by God, the Creator of all life forms. I challenge my readers to
digest this volume without experiencing the overwhelming impression that all life
forms manifest design features requiring an explanation far beyond naturalistic
random chance. Features of the animals pictured and described in the Encyclopedia--their physical,
bio-chemical, neurological, and adaptational characteristics, for example--trigger
a subjective, intuitive awareness of the reality of design by an intelligent
agent.
The Encyclopedia was a gift to us for the
entertainment and instruction it would provide our grandchildren, not to
mention the instructional review it provides for their former science educator
grandparent. When warm weather outdoor activities are abbreviated by seasonal
darkness and cold, the Encyclopedia will
provide entertainment in future years as have the Audubon Society Field Guides and audio of Bird Songs from
the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
After Moses received
the Ten Commandments he devoted considerable instructional time insuring that
the Israelites would apply God’s principles and commandments across the
spectrum of their daily experience. Deuteronomy 11:19 counsels God’s people to
“Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when
you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Along with the
law committed to Moses, the Israelites knew the declaration of Genesis 1:1: “In
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Surely this truth was foundational.
One may imagine creative Israelite fathers interpreting this passage for their
sons and daughters in modern parlance: In the beginning God intelligently
designed everything, including all the animals.
We possess more
information to heighten awareness of the spectacular ordered design and
functionality of living things than ever before in human history. Wise parents
may teach their children ubiquitous design features in the world of living things
as they walk along the road or sit at home, as they lie down in the evening or
get up in the morning. In the 21st century we are gifted with ability to
identify design and the divine Designer more effectively than ever.
