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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Fouad Boussetta, from Montreal has commented on (2) products
End of Faith Religion Terror & the Future of Reason
by
Sam Harris
Fouad Boussetta, from Montreal
, November 27, 2006
Why should we have to respect nonsense ? When someone claims something preposterous, unsupported by fact, out of wishful thinking and/or ignorance, we don't have to respect those claims. There is no reason religious faith should be an exception, argues the author. Faith is not worthy of respect in a conversation. More importantly, Sam Harris makes the point that if we bend over backwards not to offend religious moderates, and the latter do the same not to offend religious fundamentalists (as you've noticed they inevitably do!), we're just freeing the way for the cancerous growth of fundamentalism, with the associated suicide-bombings and other fun stuff. This is an excellent book making the point that faith is positively harmful and could well spell the end of our world (think a bit about nuclear weapons in the hands of religious fanatics). The only part that left me quizzed is the chapter about mysticism and meditation: Sam Harris may be onto something, but I really am at a loss figuring out what he's talking about. Apart from that, the style of the author is crystal clear, brief, concise, admirably articulate. Make sure you check out www.samharris.org: it has very interesting print, audio, and video material. And buy the book; and promote the cause!
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God Delusion
by
Richard Dawkins
Fouad Boussetta, from Montreal
, November 26, 2006
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.
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