| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"quibbler" |
| Date: |
05 Oct 2006 03:54:01 PM |
| Object: |
Dawkins' _God Delusion_ Book Is Totally Awesome |
I hadn't seen much discussion of Dawkins' new book _The God Delusion_,
except some references to its promising initial sales.
I got my copy this morning from amazon, since all the bookstores in my
area were sold out. Anyway, it's actually a pretty entertaining read so
far, though I haven't yet finished. For fellow atheists familiar with
the subject, Dawkins cites a lot of stuff that many of us have already
heard/seen. In fact, he recaps a bit from his "Root of All Evil"
documentaries, which I hope that you all have been able to see. But it's
still good information and its clear that he's doing this to make the
book more accessible to a more general audience.
I had read some reviews of the book before getting it, some by self-
proclaimed atheists complaining about minor points or saying that it
wasn't his best work. But, as usual, I'm finding that such reviews
entirely miss the mark. The book gets the job done and doesn't have to be
a literary masterpiece, since its still far superior to any of the
theological (the-illogical) clap-trap out there that it is competing
against. Actually, for an Englishman, Dawkins gets pretty fiesty at
times and good for him.
So I would heartily recommend the book and no, I'm not getting paid to
say any of that. I'd also like to hear from other people (with the
exception of morons like duke) who have read the book or who are reading
the book or who otherwise have thoughts on the book.
I share a couple brief snippets of the book that are amusing so far.
On the gender of god and certain objections by feminists to the
masculine pronoun, he comments, "But what, after all, is the difference
between a non-existent female and a non-existent male? I suppose that,
in the ditzily unreal intersection of theology and feminism, existence
might indeed be a less salient attribute than gender."
He also tells a story of Winston Churchill's son Randolph, who had never
read the bible and was challenged by Evelyn Waugh to try to read it in a
fortnight. He quotes from the account, "Unhappily it has not had the
result we hoped for...he keeps reading quotations aloud, [and
exclaiming] 'I say I bet you didn't know this came in the Bible...' or
merely slapping his side & chortling 'God, isn't God a *****!'"
Now that would be a neat quote to cite more often!
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
.
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| User: "DaveJr" |
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| Title: Re: Dawkins' _God Delusion_ Book Is Totally Awesome |
05 Oct 2006 04:29:05 PM |
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"quibbler" <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1f8f1ed32e3789d0989cdf@news.readfreenews.net...
I hadn't seen much discussion of Dawkins' new book _The God
Delusion_,
except some references to its promising initial sales.
I got my copy this morning from amazon, since all the bookstores in
my
area were sold out. Anyway, it's actually a pretty entertaining
read so
far, though I haven't yet finished. For fellow atheists familiar
with
the subject, Dawkins cites a lot of stuff that many of us have
already
heard/seen. In fact, he recaps a bit from his "Root of All Evil"
documentaries, which I hope that you all have been able to see. But
it's
still good information and its clear that he's doing this to make
the
book more accessible to a more general audience.
I had read some reviews of the book before getting it, some by self-
proclaimed atheists complaining about minor points or saying that it
wasn't his best work. But, as usual, I'm finding that such reviews
entirely miss the mark. The book gets the job done and doesn't have
to be
a literary masterpiece, since its still far superior to any of the
theological (the-illogical) clap-trap out there that it is competing
against. Actually, for an Englishman, Dawkins gets pretty fiesty at
times and good for him.
So I would heartily recommend the book and no, I'm not getting paid
to
say any of that. I'd also like to hear from other people (with the
exception of morons like duke) who have read the book or who are
reading
the book or who otherwise have thoughts on the book.
I share a couple brief snippets of the book that are amusing so far.
On the gender of god and certain objections by feminists to the
masculine pronoun, he comments, "But what, after all, is the
difference
between a non-existent female and a non-existent male? I suppose
that,
in the ditzily unreal intersection of theology and feminism,
existence
might indeed be a less salient attribute than gender."
He also tells a story of Winston Churchill's son Randolph, who had
never
read the bible and was challenged by Evelyn Waugh to try to read it
in a
fortnight. He quotes from the account, "Unhappily it has not had
the
result we hoped for...he keeps reading quotations aloud, [and
exclaiming] 'I say I bet you didn't know this came in the Bible...'
or
merely slapping his side & chortling 'God, isn't God a *****!'"
Now that would be a neat quote to cite more often!
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
Ah cool. I've been dying to read it. Always been a big
fan of Dawkins. I've read some of his other books and
quite enjoyed them. I also have seen the root of evil shows
and even the blind watchmaker show.
Where I live there is one copy of The god Delusion at the
central brach of our public libraries, and on hold by four
people the last time I checked. I'm glad to hear it's racing
to the top in sales, that means people, lots of people, are
reading it. Good!
.
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| User: "Uncle Vic" |
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| Title: Re: Dawkins' _God Delusion_ Book Is Totally Awesome |
06 Oct 2006 12:59:30 AM |
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Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet quibbler (quibbler247
@yahoo.com) made the light shine upon us with this:
I got my copy this morning from amazon, since all the bookstores in my
area were sold out.
Sold out you say? I wonder if that's because they all placed a minimal
order, or the interest is high? Most people do not read usenet; perhaps
many have never enountered our arguments before.
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Plonked by Kadaitcha Man
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: Re: Dawkins' _God Delusion_ Book Is Totally Awesome |
06 Oct 2006 09:10:09 AM |
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In article <Xns9853E9DF9688Bvicman@216.196.97.136>,
says...
Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet quibbler (quibbler247
@yahoo.com) made the light shine upon us with this:
I got my copy this morning from amazon, since all the bookstores in my
area were sold out.
Sold out you say? I wonder if that's because they all placed a minimal
order, or the interest is high?
It's likely a combination of both. I know it seems surprising to people
who are paying attention, but most folks have have never heard of
Dawkins, so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't place many orders.
The title may also have been a bit too blunt for many. I suspect that
Dawkins wanted it that way, but he might have sold even more books if he
had titled it something a bit more elegant, like his previous books.
Perhaps he was trying to counter equally artless titles like "Godless" by
Crazy Annie. In any event, I don't think that will be a major factor,
but if he wanted to counter Coulter, he should have just titled it
"Delusional". I'd like to see him write a purely political book some
time, in which case he could pick up on his previous title and call it
something like "The Politics of Delusion".
Most people do not read usenet; perhaps
many have never enountered our arguments before.
Dawkins does a pretty good job of summarizing the important ones. I must
admit that occasionally I think he could do better with his treatment of
things like the ontological argument. But it seems like most people
don't handle this argument as well as they could. The ontological
argument is such a bad one with so many problems that I guess people
sometimes aren't sure what part to tackle first. Not that Dawkins does a
bad job, but I think that the objections can be stated even more clearly
and convincingly.
Still, over all, it's a good book. Unlike theists, I don't expect
absolute perfection from a book.
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
.
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| User: "Enkidu" |
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| Title: Re: Dawkins' _God Delusion_ Book Is Totally Awesome |
05 Oct 2006 05:04:54 PM |
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quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:MPG.1f8f1ed32e3789d0989cdf@news.readfreenews.net:
I hadn't seen much discussion of Dawkins' new book _The God Delusion_,
except some references to its promising initial sales.
I got my copy this morning from amazon, since all the bookstores in my
area were sold out. Anyway, it's actually a pretty entertaining read
so far, though I haven't yet finished. For fellow atheists familiar
with the subject, Dawkins cites a lot of stuff that many of us have
already heard/seen. In fact, he recaps a bit from his "Root of All
Evil" documentaries, which I hope that you all have been able to see.
But it's still good information and its clear that he's doing this to
make the book more accessible to a more general audience.
I'm about half-way through it myself. I keep finding references to other
people I've read, other works I own. Dawkins and I seem to have similar
tastes. I expect he's a bit smarter than I am, though. :)
--
Enkidu AA#2165
http://www.thoughts.leaddogs.org/
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
"If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray
for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the
absence of prayers."
-James A. Haught
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| User: "skyeyes" |
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| Title: Re: Dawkins' _God Delusion_ Book Is Totally Awesome |
05 Oct 2006 05:13:22 PM |
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quibbler wrote:
I hadn't seen much discussion of Dawkins' new book _The God Delusion_,
except some references to its promising initial sales.
I got my copy this morning from amazon, since all the bookstores in my
area were sold out.
<Sniip remainder for bandwidth's sake>
I got mine in the mail a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, I also
ordered Sam Harris' _The End of Faith_ at the same time, and started
reading that first. Decisions, decisions! (I flipped a coin to decide
which to start first.)
I've never read Dawkins before, and am looking forward to the book.
I'll chime in with an opinion when I've read it.
Brenda Nelson, A.A.#34
EAC Professor of Feline Thermometrics and Cat-Herding
skyeyes at dakotacom dot net
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