The Evolution Of The Book Launch

The plan has evolved and is now changed.

Minister for Science Conor Lenihan will not be attending a book launch in an official capacity after all.

One would find it rather odd that a man whose portfolio deals with all things scientific would be present when a book that purports to refute Darwin's theory of evolution is released to the general public.

The fact that author John May asked Mr. Lenihan not to come suggests that Mr. May figured out that Mr. Lenihan was showing up to have a good laugh at May's expense.

Mr. May, you see, is not an educated scientist but a crank who has decided that there is no evidence of evolution. He's calling on someone, anyone, to prove to him that there is a link at the biochemical level. Otherwise, he'll carry on about the hoax that he claims is evolution.

To say that Mr. May has gained a tremendous amount of free publicity is unquestionably true. He might even sell a few more of his self-published tomes to those who otherwise would never have heard of him, thanks to the dust-up surrounding Mr. Lenihan's expected attendance and hasty reconsideration.

There's to be an actor dressed up like King Kong at the launch party, which is scheduled for tomorrow evening at Buswell's Hotel in Dublin. (After party at Lilies Bordello. You must admit, Mr. May knows how to have a good time).

And if the book doesn't sell through, he has his other occupations to fall back on. A man who's a D.J., an actor, a marriage counselor, and a poet has nothing to worry about. Except being ignored, perhaps.