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Our selection of books and associated reviews. Each cover is an affiliate link to Amazon for purchase.
Atheistic Humanism
This collection of essays by one of the world’s best-known philosophers directly addresses the many and diverse aspects of this branch of humanist philosophy. Included in the author’s theses are “Fundamentals of Unbelief, ” “Defending Knowledge and Responsibility,” “Scientific Socialism, ” and “Freedom and Human Nature.”
Betrayal of Science and Reason
Subtitled: How Anti-Environment Rhetoric Threatens Our Future The authors are angered by what they perceive as deliberate efforts to subvert media interest in pressing environmental issues. They suggest that the planet is in real peril from overpopulation, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, and loss of biodiversity, and that each of these threats is […]
Breaking Faith: The Pope, the People, and the Fate of Catholicism
As John Paul II’s papacy darws to a close, the Catholic Church, its policies, and its future are being scrutinized around the globe. The election of the next Pope will have a greater impact on world affairs than that of the next president of the United States – or the leader of any single nation. […]
Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity
Description Christ’s Ventriloquists is a work of investigative history. It documents and describes Christianity’s creation-event, in the year 49 or 50, in Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey), 20 years after Jesus had been crucified in Jerusalem for sedition against Roman rule. On this occasion, Paul broke away from the Jewish sect that Jesus had begun, and […]
Created From Animals: The Moral Implications of Darwinism
Western philosophy and religion, James Rachels argues, have been shaken by the implications of Darwin’s work, most notably the controversial idea that humans are simply a more complex kind of animal. Here, Rachels assesses a number of studies that suggest how closely humans are linked to other primates in behavior, and then goes on to […]
Darwin’s Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated
Biologists have a dirty little secret: while practically everyone knows of The Origin of Species (and owes much to it), almost nobody has read it. British geneticist Steve Jones wants to make the arguments contained in that great text accessible to modern audiences, and succeeds with the delightful Darwin’s Ghost. Approximating the structure of Darwin’s […]
Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social-Movement Activism
Religion has long played a central role in many social and political movements. Solidarity in Poland, anti-apartheid in South Africa, Operation Rescue in the United States–each of these movements is driven by the energy and sustained by the commitment of many individuals and organizations whose ideologies are shaped and powered by religious faith. In many […]
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
In this articulate and insightful book, D. Michael Quinn reconstructs the world view of an earlier age in America, finding ample evidence for treasure seeking and folk magic in Joseph Smith’s formative years. Folk magic was not unusual for the times and is important in understanding how Mormons may have interpreted developments. Quinn’s impressive research […]
Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts
The premier historical Jesus authority and a brilliant archaeologist search the texts and stones of antiquity to offer the most complete picture of Jesus ever presented. Joining the best of biblical studies and archaeology John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed dig down into the earliest layers of the Bible and the ancient world, focusing […]
Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence
Is religion inherently violent? If not, what provokes violence in the name of religion? Do we mischaracterize religion by focusing too much on its violent side? In this intriguing, original study of religious violence, Prof. Hector Avalos offers a new theory for the role of religion in violent conflicts. Starting with the premise that most […]
Future Shock
“This book provide the historical perspective on the Industrial Revolution that is lacking in Spengler’s book, above. Toffler correctly ascertains that the industrial Revolution is the first wave of a massive change in human society. The full effect of this change will be equivalent to the Agricultural Revolution of several thousand years ago. However, Toffler’s […]
God: The Failed Hypothesis–How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
Book Description Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology. In the meantime, science has sat on the sidelines and quietly watched this game of words march up and down the field. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and […]
His Dark Materials (Boxed Set)
Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy has been called the atheistic counterpart to The Chronicles of Narnia, and the successor to The Lord of the Rings. Pullman takes us to a world in which people’s souls walk along side them as shape-shifting animals, where witches and armored bears roam distant lands, and where the Church rules […]
Human Natures : Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect
It’s common to blame “human nature” for some of the unpleasant facts of life–road rage, say, or murder, or war. The problem with this convenient out, argues the distinguished scientist Paul Ehrlich, is that there really is no single human nature. Humans, it’s true, share a common genetic code with remarkably few large-scale differences (if […]
In Lieu of Heaven
It was a journey of faith that led to a gift of liberation–from God… In Lieu of Heaven tells of two men’s quests for God. One man’s search takes him through the wilderness, following an inherited faith and the sanction of tradition. The other man has settled simply and comfortably in a secluded garden, having […]
Is There Life After Death? An Examination of the Empirical Evidence
Book Description Is there life after death? Belief in some form of afterlife has persisted nearly universally across cultures for thousands of years. But what of the empirical evidence for survival of bodily death? Has there been rigorous research into phenomena purported to provide evidence for survival after death, such as ‘past life memories,’ near-death […]
Ken’s Guide to the Bible
The Bible is a thick, imposing, often unreadable, damnedly religious book. Most people don’t have the time or the patience even to attempt reading it. But everyone knows they’re supposed to know what’s in the world’s most widely quoted book. To whom can you turn? Ken Smith, co-author of the best-selling Roadside America books, goes […]
Life, the Universe and Everything
The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads–so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the white killer robots of Krikkit and their goal of total annihilation. They are Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered space and time traveler, who […]
Merely Mortal? : Can You Survive Your Own Death?
“Whether we are to live in a future state . . . is the most important question which can possibly be asked. . . . Yet strange perplexities have been raised about the meaning of that identity or sameness of person, which is implied in the notion of our being now and hereafter. . . […]
Natural Atheism
From the Introduction “I was born an Atheist. All humans are born Atheists. No baby born into the world arrives with specific religious beliefs or knowledge. Such beliefs and knowledge must be acquired, which means that they must first exist before and apart from the new life and that they must be presented to and […]
Nothing: Something to Believe In
Book Description “It’s like this–all my friends are something. Vanessa is a Unitarian, Michelle is Catholic, Lucy is Presbyterian … so I just want to know–what am I?” “We’re nothing.” My father was looking right at me; he had a pleasant, friendly kind of an expression. “Nothing,” he said again. “That’s right,” said my mother. […]
Outside, Looking In
The three Geminni brothers were of superior intellect, yet the trio followed downward spirals until only Gene, the oldest at age thirty with a wife and two daughters, was able to pull back on the wheel and end the nose dive for himself. His siblings never do find their way, and they end up broken […]
Prayers in the Precincts : The Christian Right in the 1998 Elections
In the wake of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the Christian Right expected major victories in the 1998 elections. Instead, many of its allies lost close contests, and the movement was seen as a liability in some high-profile campaigns. In the only in-depth study of the Christian Right’s role in these races, leading scholars analyze the role […]
Reason for the Hope Within
Anthology of modern Christian apologetics.
Reviews of Creationist Books
A collection of book reviews of creationist books. A very handy reference!
Science and Nonbelief
Book Description Can science and religious belief coexist? Many people–including many practicing scientists–insist that one can simultaneously follow the principles of the scientific method and believe in a particular spiritual tradition. But throughout history there have been people for whom science challenges the very validity of religious belief. Whether called atheists, agnostics, skeptics, or “infidels,” […]
Slaves to Faith: A Therapist Looks Inside the Fundamentalist Mind
Description Based upon the author’s twenty years of classroom and clinical study, Slaves of Faith explores and explains the emotionally laden dynamic at work in the fundamentalist mind. As Dr. Mercer posits, the fundamentalist is fundamentally driven by anxiety layered over a fragile sense of self-identity constructed upon a system of beliefs that is both […]
Story of Philosophy
An endlessly inspiring and instructive chronicle of the world’s great thinkers, from Aristotle to Santayana. Eleven years of research and three years of writing went into the creation of this work, which should appeal to the layman as well as educators.
Teranesia
Nine-year-old Prabir Suresh lives alone with his baby sister, Madhusree, and his biologist parents on a tropical Indonesian isle. Teranesia is so small and remote, it’s not on the maps, and its strange native species of butterfly remained undiscovered until the 21st century. Prabir never wants to leave, but war forces him to flee with […]
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882
Charles Darwin’s Autobiography was first published in 1887, five years after his death. It was a bowdlerized edition: Darwin’s family, attempting to protect his posthumous reputation, had deleted all the passages they considered too personal or controversial. The present complete edition did not appear until 1959, one hundred years after the publication of The Origin […]
