Rating: 3 stars
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Rating: 3 stars
The God Delusion is a passionate defense of atheism, a courageous and unapologetic stance in an extremely religious world. Richard Dawkins reasons like a scientist, but in this book he doesn’t write like one. The result is a book that is probably “accessible,” but many of his arguments feel rushed, as though if he were writing for a narrower audience he’d have had more to say. Regardless, it’s fun to watch him work, and it’s fascinating to discover (based on my reactions to his proselytizing atheism) how even a hardened godless liberal like myself has internalized anti-atheist beliefs.
Dawkins probably won’t change many minds, which is a shame, because he seems to be right in general (if not in every particular). The people that strongly disagree probably won’t ever pick this book up (and would probably put it right back down again anyway), but it’s important and thought-provoking. I wish more people would read it.
(The New York Review of Books has a less positive review. Daniel Dennett responds.)
Popularity: 2% [?]
I totally agree - definately not Dawkins’ best work, but I guess he was writing for a different audience, that is, those who are sitting on the fence about the existence of God. Hopefully some of them will be convinced by his arguments. Fortunately I need no convincing whatsoever and look forward to his next book on evolution. The Ancestors Tale was a brilliant read as have been most of his other works. The Selfish Gene literally changed the way I think about life and which I regard as the BEST book ever written by anyone in any category. A big statement, but hey someone has to be the very best of the best and that person is Dawkins when he is explaining the gene’s eye view of the world. A remarkable work.
I would have to agree w/ Tony’s comment that the Selfish Gene is one of a very small group of books that i can point to and say ‘this changed my life and the way i live/think about it’. Recently i had a long discussion w/ a friend who is a firm opponent of evolution as a natural process (he was arguing intelligent design, but wouldn’t admit to it), and the Selfish Gene informed a large part of my counter-argument. Great book that everyone should read in high school, but sadly, probably won’t.
For this title, it’s a pretty valid point that the people who should read this book in all likelyhood won’t, making it sort of an exercise in futility. ah well, hopefully he’ll get back to memes.
I sort of want to read this book to find out if I, like you, have any internalized anti-atheist beliefs. I mean, I was brought up soundly agnostic leaning atheist, but then, I do live in a very theistic culture, so maybe this book will tell me how much “they” have gotten in my head.