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The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780618680009 |
Powells.com Staff Pick
A typically bold and incisive book from one of our great science writers, The God Delusion pulls no punches. I gave it to my cousin in hardcover last year, and he hasn't stopped citing passages since. "There are lots of people out there," Dawkins notes in the preface, "who feel vague yearnings to leave their parents' religion and wish they could, but just don't realize that leaving is an option. If you are one of them, this book is for you."
Recommended by Dave, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin's Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution.
Prospect magazine voted him among the top three public intellectuals in the world (along with Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky). Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.
He critiques God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. In so doing, he makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just irrational, but potentially deadly.
Dawkins has fashioned an impassioned, rigorous rebuttal to religion, to be embraced by anyone who sputters at the inconsistencies and cruelties that riddle the Bible, bristles at the inanity of "intelligent design," or agonizes over fundamentalism in the Middle East — or Middle America.
Review:
"The antireligion wars started by Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris will heat up even more with this salvo from celebrated Oxford biologist Dawkins. For a scientist who criticizes religion for its intolerance, Dawkins has written a surprisingly intolerant book, full of scorn for religion and those who believe. But Dawkins, who gave us the selfish gene, anticipates this criticism. He says it's the scientist and humanist in him that makes him hostile to religions fundamentalist Christianity and Islam come in for the most opprobrium that close people's minds to scientific truth, oppress women and abuse children psychologically with the notion of eternal damnation. While Dawkins can be witty, even confirmed atheists who agree with his advocacy of science and vigorous rationalism may have trouble stomaching some of the rhetoric: the biblical Yahweh is 'psychotic,' Aquinas's proofs of God's existence are 'fatuous' and religion generally is 'nonsense.' The most effective chapters are those in which Dawkins calms down, for instance, drawing on evolution to disprove the ideas behind intelligent design. In other chapters, he attempts to construct a scientific scaffolding for atheism, such as using evolution again to rebut the notion that without God there can be no morality. He insists that religion is a divisive and oppressive force, but he is less convincing in arguing that the world would be better and more peaceful without it." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"The antireligion wars started by Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris will heat up even more with this salvo from celebrated Oxford biologist Dawkins. For a scientist who criticizes religion for its intolerance, Dawkins has written a surprisingly intolerant book, full of scorn for religion and those who believe. But Dawkins, who gave us the selfish gene, anticipates this criticism. He says it's the scientist and humanist in him that makes him hostile to religions — fundamentalist Christianity and Islam come in for the most opprobrium — that close people's minds to scientific truth, oppress women and abuse children psychologically with the notion of eternal damnation. While Dawkins can be witty, even confirmed atheists who agree with his advocacy of science and vigorous rationalism may have trouble stomaching some of the rhetoric: the biblical Yahweh is 'psychotic,' Aquinas's proofs of God's existence are 'fatuous' and religion generally is 'nonsense.' The most effective chapters are those in which Dawkins calms down, for instance, drawing on evolution to disprove the ideas behind intelligent design. In other chapters, he attempts to construct a scientific scaffolding for atheism, such as using evolution again to rebut the notion that without God there can be no morality. He insists that religion is a divisive and oppressive force, but he is less convincing in arguing that the world would be better and more peaceful without it." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"Dawkins focuses heavily on the monotheistic religions with quotations from the Bible and Koran that sanction genocide, rape and the killing of unbelievers....Bible-thumpers doubtless will declare they've found their Satan incarnate." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"This is a brave and important book." Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape and The Human Animal
Review:
"A resounding trumpet blast for truth....It feels like coming up for air." Matt Ridley, author of Genome and Francis Crick
Review:
"At last, one of the best nonfiction writers alive today has assembled his thoughts on religion into a characteristically elegant book." Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate
Review:
"To those readers tired of being told that they must bow respectfully before every absurd or bizarre superstition they encounter, and who worry about the effects of this atmosphere of hyper-tolerance on the health of our society, Dawkins' irreverent and penetrating work will seem a breath of fresh air." San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis:
Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin"s Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.
Synopsis:
A preeminent scientist — and the world's most prominent atheist — asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.
About the Author
Richard Dawkins taught zoology at the University of California at Berkeley and at Oxford University and is now the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position he has held since 1995.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 10 comments:
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Laura Croteau, December 1, 2006 (view all comments by Laura Croteau)
One of Dawkins' recent reviewers commented that this is a "brave and important" book. I agree whole-heartedly. The God Delusion unpacks the concept of religion from every possible angle - cultural, political, sociological, anthropological - and importantly, this book speaks to the idea of a 'personal' god. Dawkins writes in full awareness of the significant weight private religion can throw around in the public forum. In the interests of science and our collective future, Dawkins refuses to apologize for what many will perceive as an intrusion.
Dawkins has written yet another compelling, insightful, and quite funny book. Although I find Dawkins' often circuitous approach confusing, I enjoyed his exhaustive exploration of his subject. The reader of The God Delusion may expect to find challenge, stimulation, growth, and a renewed sense of secular empowerment between the covers of Dawkins' most recent plea for a thinking world.
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Gary Wood, November 29, 2006 (view all comments by Gary Wood)
Very entertaining, yes entertaining. I was constantly talking to myself while reading, as I would turn the page to reveal another revelation. What did I, as an athiest,take away from the book: Why did terrorists fly planes into our buildings? God. Why did men burn women at the stake? God. Why are we in Iraq? Oil...and God. Mr. Dawkins makes a powerful argument that religion has caused more damage to the world than good. Is it wrong that I recommend THE GOD DELUSION as a holiday gift? I think not. Happy holidays.
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Fouad Boussetta, from Montreal, November 26, 2006 (view all comments by Fouad Boussetta, from Montreal)
THIS BOOK REALLY TACKLES ITS SUBJECT FROM ALL POSSIBLE ANGLES!
*I bought "The God Delusion" more out of support to the atheist/secular humanist tribe than anything else, thinking that I would probably already know most of what I was going to read about.
But surprise! This book is really rich in new, unknown-to-me facts, ideas, quotes, and anecdotes. Very interesting read.
Chances are that you will learn quite a few things from this book.
*Dawkins is an honest and lucid erudite.
*The cover of the book is really nice: shiny metallic grey with black and white letters. It looks really sharp on its shelf in my living room.
*Make yourself -and the planet- a favor and buy this item. And then talk about it, please.
*Check out the websites of Richard Dawkins and his newfound American friend Sam Harris (author of the excellent "The End Of Faith", where he makes the point that religious faith is not particularly deserving of respect).
*We're really lucky here in Montreal! We are -relatively- happy,
prosperous, nice, tolerant, easy-going... The fact that we're pretty godless here doesn't seem to be much of a problem! :)
*I hope that we'll have some day a planet-wide, religion-free, peace-and-love Utopia: so does the good doctor Dawkins and so did the late John Lennon.
*NOW, THE IMPORTANT IDEAS FROM THE BOOK:
-You can have a pantheistic reverence for the World without having to believe in an intelligent Creator.
-The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were mostly atheists and deists, not theists, not Christians.
-Agnosticism is too polite for its own good.
-Science and religion do not complement each other: they conflict.
-Being nice to fundamentalists will not result in any good.
-The arguments for God's existence are all bogus.
-If everything was designed, who designed the Designer?
-Evolution primed our psychology for superstition and religion, and then the catchiest ideas, however crazy they are, keep spreading and mutating.
-Our sense of morality definitely does not come from religion, but is also the product of our evolution.
-The Bible is mostly a weird, sick, immoral book.
-Religion (well, maybe not the buddhistic sort) is bad, bad, bad: for peace, for love, for the reduction of suffering in the world, for the protection of the environment, for you-name-it.
-"Moderates" refuse to reject nonsensical and violent "holy" books and so allow fundamentalism to keep growing.
-Religious education for children is a form of child abuse if it teaches them not to think, not to doubt, not to question.
-Children should not be coined with religious tags: they're not cattle, and they can't choose their beliefs.
-God may be a kind of imaginary friend for consolation, but the consolation is meagre.
-There are many many sources of inspiration in life, and they don't have to be religious at all.
-Our senses are very limited, and the Universe seems to work in some very counter-intuitive ways, so we have to think and doubt if we wish to understand.
*Great book.
View all 10 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780618680009
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Houghton Mifflin Company
- Location:
- Boston
- Subject:
- Religion
- Subject:
- God
- Subject:
- Atheism
- Subject:
- General Religion
- Copyright:
- 2006
- Edition Description:
- HARDCOVER
- Publication Date:
- October 2006
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 406
- Dimensions:
- 9.23x6.34x1.18 in. 1.37 lbs.
- Notes:
CQ=12
