And the Earth Shall Reel To and Fro

By Anthony E. Larson

Reviewed by Sam Checketts

“The first 50 pages of And the Earth Shall Reel To and Fro take a closer
look at some of the obscure books in the Old Testament and some of
the references they make to catastrophes that befell people of the earth.
These books include Habakkuk, Isaiah, and Joel. These are in-depth
looks at specific scripture references and while impressive, only whet
the appetite for those looking for more significant ties of catastrophism
to famous biblical events.
The real meat of the book comes in the second half as Larson goes in
to more detail about what catastrophism is and how it differs from tra-
ditional uniformitarian views. Uniformitarian science believes that the
earth was formed over millions of years and that changes to it have come
from millennia of small changes to temperature, erosion, and landmass
movement. It is what we have all been taught in science classes through
school. Dr. Velikovsky and catastrophists assert that these same changes
have been brought about through major historic catastrophes. One of
the interesting theories of catastrophism that is brought forward in the
book is that the ice age was caused by a planetary close encounter that
dropped elements from its atmosphere that became sheets of ice and
cooled the earth down below freezing temperatures in a matter of days
not years. Evidence of this is in the wooly mammoths that have been
found as ice melts. If Uniformitarian beliefs hold true then mammoths
that were frozen millions of years ago through a progressive freeze would
have had severe amounts of tissue damage from slow freeze. Yet, mam-
moths that have been found are surprisingly intact which supports the
theory that it happened very quickly like a freeze dry process. Larson
goes in to more detail about the differences between catastrophism and
uniformitarianism, including explanations of how the ice age would
have come about according to catastrophists, and how old the earth is
according to both sides.
Another interesting point made by Anthony Larson is about the great
Chicago fire of 1871 – the one supposedly started by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow.
According to Ignatius Donnelly, another catastrophist, there were multiple
fires throughout the United States of immense power for weeks before
and after the Chicago fire. Some of the descriptions from eye witnesses
of the 1871 Chicago fire talk about spontaneous combustion and fire
starting in the air. Donnelly maintains that this was because the Earth
travelled through the tail of Biela’s comet a month after it crossed the
Earth’s path, resulting in strange atmospheric pressures and makeup
that explain these fires.
The remainder of the book talks about what may happen if catastrophic
events occur. Some of these topics include how humans would react,
what the landscape would look like, and information in scriptures that
foretell of this doom and gloom.
This book is very enjoyable if read to get another point of view on science.
Thinking outside of the box has lead to many great discoveries.”

Sam Checketts is a Salt Lake City Book Examiner