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The God Delusion
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by: Richard Dawkins
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Sales Rank: 310
Mariner Books
Released: 2008-01-16 |
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Product Description
In his sensational international bestseller, the preeminent scientist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins delivers a hard-hitting, impassioned, but humorous rebuttal of religious belief. With rigor and wit, Dawkins eviscerates the arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of the existence of a supreme being. He makes a compelling case that faith is not just irrational, but potentially deadly. In a preface written for the paperback edition, Dawkins responds to some of the controversies the book has incited. This brilliantly argued, provocative book challenges all of us to test our beliefs, no matter what beliefs we hold.
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The God Delusion
- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: Mariner Books; 2008-01-16
- Label: Mariner Books
- Studio: Mariner Books
- ISBN: 0618918248
- Average Customer Review: based on 1242 reviews
- Sales Rank in Books: #310
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Flawed and Judgemental 2008-08-20
Comment: Overall, the book was decent, but a couple huge points that really knock it down. First, the author clearly has an ax to grind with Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The book could be re-titled "Why I dislike Theistic Religions originating in the Middle East." Second, he dodges a huge philosophical angle. Assume God does not want to be proven. He/She has the power to prevent His/Her creations from 'proving' His/Her existence. The theory is that God wants His/Her creations to worship Him/Her of their own free will. If you could prove God, there wouldn't be a decision to make. Everyone would worship God as their creator. Some would call that belief in God, 'faith.' Therefore, a 'proof' can never happen. Ultimately, Atheism is 'fanatical' because it is based on faith because the central hypothesis cannot be proved.
1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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Summary: The GOD Delusion 2008-08-19
Comment: What a disappointment. I was expecting a serious argument that would challenge belief in God. The book is full of sarcasm, patronizing conjecture, anecdotal reports and straw man agruments. I was expecting more from a man of science. These are the same arguments that he accuses his debunkers of using.
I don't know if Thomas Jefferson was an atheist or not. Why are his beliefs significant to the argument? There may be high churchmen who hold their own faith in contempt, but who are they? Not one name is named. If the book of Judas is not part of the christian cannon, why was is quoted as if it were?
The whole book is full of sloppy arguments. It is not worth purchasing.
0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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Summary: Delusion? Really Mr. Dawkins? 2008-08-19
Comment: I can accept this books implicit dogma if I could accept (with the same breathe) that naturalism was the only correct way of explaining reality. The fact of the matter is simply this- it isn't. In fact, it's in a minority. Granted, this fact gives no bearing on the truth of the matter, but may still dictate offense at Dawkins' title. Whether or not I'm religious doesn't really matter here, what does matter is the strong-arm maneuver being employed, namely, that reality must be understood through the guise of naturalism in order to bear any credence. To quote Dwight Schrute from NBC's The Office, "I know about a billion Asians who would beg to differ."
Let me put this matter straight. What we need to look at is paradigm, or specifically, your interpretation of reality. Each viewpoint must be given far playing ground at the onset, and then assessed based on how reality presents itself. Granted, this is going to weed some paradigms out rather quickly, but it will also help avoid intraparadigmatic assessments of opposing viewpoints. For example, an atheist may claim that a Christian can make God disappear by simply ceasing to believe in Him, but to a Christian, this is utter foolishness, based on the fact that their belief does not dictate His existence. To dismiss God on the basis of strict naturalism is admissible, but ultimately, a very narrow approach. If Dawkins would have taken a more philosophical approach to his work, he may have realized that an investigation into the pros and cons of each worldview (as assessed on the basis of interparadigmatic truth) would have been much more helpful.
I gave this book one star because, based on the above assessment, it proved very bias. Granted, Dawkins makes some well articulated points, but not enough to overshadow intraparadigmatic ignorance.
0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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Summary: Well, not really.... 2008-08-18
Comment: As with so many, the author confuses natural selection with macroevolutionary theory. If I understand him right, he believes that since there are billions of planets in billions of galexies, life just had to "occur" out of nothing somewhere. We were just the one in a billion billion billion. Possible, I admit, but I think it takes a great leap of faith to believe it. To his credit, he alludes several times to the "junkyard" idea. That is, the chance of human life to evolve out of basically rocks.... is as likely as going to a junkyard and expection that billions of years later there would be a fully functional 747, a rolls royce, and a rocket ship. What is probably most disturbing is his misunderstanding of natural selection and its inner workings.
But what I reeeeallly think is that within the academic community, it's just not cool to believe in God or that there is anything greater than people. It's similar to all people in any other organization being expected to think in a certain way...be they a fraternity or a business community, etc. They're not any more enlightended than the rest of us. They've just been in school longer. Most have not studied topics that have anything to do with atheism of evolution, but they are popular ideas to have within that communitiy. You can't objectively look at Dawkin's book and draw any conclusion about where there is a God. Quoting Thomas Jefferson's opinions, discussing the evil things people have done in the name of religion, and misinterpreting probability theory just doesn't work.
There is fodder for great discussion on the topic, as so many reviews have shown, but he really doesn't prove or even present much evidence on either side of the issue.
1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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Summary: Advocates disrespect for religion 2008-08-18
Comment: Books advocating atheism are not new, they have been around for centuries. What is new about this publication is that it advocates disrespect for those peoples who do believe in God. We have seen the problems in history, where disrespect toward others beliefs have resulted in catastrophe. Just look at the history of the Jews. To advocate disrespect for others is not a good thing.
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