God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything799 reviews Christopher Hitchens Emblem Editions, 2008 The book is great, but.. + Reason and Free-Thought Can Prevail Over Dictums + One of my new favorites ..how about actually reading the book BEFORE writing the review. It's just like religious "science": belivers don't need to research before writing. Please spare us this crap. You only make bigger fools out of yourselfs, how that is even possible.             Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society17 reviews David Sloan Wilson University Of Chicago Press, 2003 An Exciting and Thougtht Provoking Look at Human Nature + Excellent book + Not for the casual reader. + evolutionism and functionalism             Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth6 reviews Andrew Newberg, Mark Robert Waldman Free Press, 2006 Why We Believe What We Believe + Free Yourself From Your Belief in Beliefs. + Very interesting and helpful + Well-written and compelling, although with obvious biases             The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God12 reviews Carl Sagan Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007 Carl Sagan Knows How To Reason Effectively + Why Dr. Sagan Was a Fulfilled Agnostic + The Varieties of Sagan's Experience + read it + Excellent Reading.             The God Delusion1276 reviews Richard Dawkins Mariner Books, 2008 Another Dawkins Hit + Important Information + well researched and a pleasure to read. I have read Dawkins' other books about genes and evolution, The Selfish Gene and The Third Chimpanzee. I never knew he was such an avid Atheist. His other books so greatly expanded my understanding of evolution and how the world works but I wasn't sure how much I could learn about Atheism, since ...             The Future of an Illusion20 reviews Sigmund Freud, James Strachey, ... W. W. Norton & Company, 1989 Roger Schmeeckle Misrepresents Freud + A must-read for all that are interested in Psychology or just can't get enough of Freud + Concise and Hits at the Heart of the Matter In his 27 Feb 2006 review of Freud's The Future of an Illusion, Roger Schmeeckle misrepresents Freud's explanation (on pages 38-42 of this Norton publication) between Illusion and Delusion. Roger correctly identified Freud's concept of Delusion as "something that is believed that is not true" -- ...             In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion (Evolution and Cognition Series)15 reviews Scott Atran Oxford University Press, USA, 2002 Very sad + A difficult read, but insightful + An excellent first step + Thoughtful analysis of the origin of religious beliefs             The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God84 reviews Matthew Alper Sourcebooks, Inc., 2008 I Review, therefore I AM... + Extremely captivating, yet difficult to accept A reader, such as myself, initially might be drawn to this book for "ANSWERS", but I think tantamount are the "QUESTIONS" Matthew Alper asks himself , then poses to we, the readers. The author presents vast amounts of information, for example Chapter 3, "A Very Brief History of Time or ...             Why Would Anyone Believe in God? (Cognitive Science of Religion Series)7 reviews Justin L. Barrett AltaMira Press, 2004 Why indeed? + atheism is the odd man out + Well written: scientific yet accessible without unnecessary jargon This is a truly excellent introduction to the cognitive study of religion. Justin Barrett has an amazing gift for communicating difficult ideas and concepts in very simple language. Indeed, as an educational reference it should become a classic in the field, but it is full of seminal and important ...             The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes32 reviews Dean H. Hamer Anchor, 2005 Entertaining, erratic To start with, the title is misleading. The important parts of the book are about spirituality (as in what Buddhists seek), which has little connection with God or churches. He does a moderately good job of describing evidence that he has identified a gene that influences spirituality. He makes ...             Religion Explained62 reviews Pascal Boyer Basic Books, 2002 Close... but Computational Book thesis: Religious concepts, notions, beliefs are the byproducts of useful evolutionary, cognitive systems. I missed a graduate class on "God" that featured this book, and after hearing all the buzz about how cool the seminar was I decided to buy it on my own. I have to say I was ...             Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up45 reviews John Allen Paulos Hill and Wang, 2008 the logician + A good survey of the classical arguments for God's existence, and how they fall short. + God is dead! Long live God! + Fascinating but ultimately irrelevant             The Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study of Human Nature - A Psychology Classic on Religious Impulse William James Exposure Publishing, 2008 A paperback version is also available, ISBN 978-184778-0799             Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion3 reviews Todd Tremlin Oxford University Press, USA, 2006 My Review: + Do you have God in Mind? + Excellent, But Incomplete, Overview of Cognitive Science of Religion I'll just say that Todd really does a good job solidifying his arguments, and doesn't leave much out. He chooses his words very carefully and draws heavily on previous peoples work (Justin Barrett, Ilka Pyysiainen, Pascal Boyer are constantly being referenced). His careful wording, in turn, ...             Religion Is Not About God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological Nature And What to Expect When ...2 reviews Loyal Rue Rutgers, 2006 A Naturalistic-Friendly theory of Religion I finished this book over a month ago, and it will not leave my mind. In fact I have decided to use it as the subject of my upcoming series of Sunday School lessons, and explaining my planned presentation will be the best way to convey the book to you. First I will make a HUGE spreadsheet filling ...             The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason838 reviews Sam Harris W. W. Norton, 2005 Sam Harris presages Sarah Palin. + Anti-theism without explicit atheism plus 9/11 causation revealed + From a former christian + It actually worked! + Well worth it - even after reading Dawkins, Dennett and Hitchens             God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist145 reviews Victor J. Stenger Prometheus Books, 2008 Relief + Best of its kind + A Pantheist's take on this book Believers will not be swayed by this book of rational arguments, of course, because they are not interested in separating history from mythology when it comes to their beliefs. Their faith is blind faith and most will defend it to the death, usually someone else'. So this book is not for them. ...             Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon151 reviews Daniel C. Dennett Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007 Fills a niche. + Is It 'Breaking' the Spell or 'Casting' the Spell? A Brilliant Cognitive Philosopher casts his net! + Good work! + A Powerful Book             Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief76 reviews Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, ... Ballantine Books, 2002 An interesting perspective on the neuroethology of religion This book explores the relationship between the brain's functioning and religion and myth. The authors note that (page 8): "Gradually, we shaped a hypothesis that suggests that spiritual experience, at its very root, is intimately interwoven with human biology. That biology, in some way, compels ...             Abuse of Evil: The Corruption of Politics and Religion since 9/11 (Themes for the 21st Century Ser.)3 reviews Richard J. Bernstein Polity, 2006 Manichaean Manipulators Unmasked + Richard Bernstein on Evil in the Post 9/11 World Taking as his subject the danger political and religious absolutism poses to democracy, Richard J. Bernstein, a professor at Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, seeks to show in THE ABUSE OF EVIL: The Corruption of Politics and Relgion Since 911 (Polity, 2005) how the Bush ...