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Our selection of books and associated reviews. Each cover is an affiliate link to Amazon for purchase.
The Case Against Christianity
This book is the most systematic philosophical critique of Christianity ever written. Michael Martin discusses the historicity of Jesus, the resurrection, the virgin birth, the second coming, the incarnation, Christian ethics, salvation by faith, the divine command theory, and the atonement.
The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where Do the Laws of Physics Come From?
Book Description In a series of remarkable developments in the 20th century and continuing into the 21st, elementary particle physicists, astronomers, and cosmologists have removed much of the mystery that surrounds our understanding of the physical universe. We now have mathematical models that are consistent with all observational data, including measurements of incredible precision, and […]
The Emergence of Life on Earth: A Historical and Scientific Overview
How did life emerge on Earth? Is there life on other worlds? These questions, until recently confined to the pages of speculative essays and tabloid headlines, are now the subject of legitimate scientific research. This book presents a unique perspective-a combined historical, scientific, and philosophical analysis, which does justice to the complex nature of the […]
The Faith Healers
James Randi, the celebrated magician, has written a damning indictment of the faith-healing practices of the leading televangelists and others who claim divine healing powers. Randi and his team of researchers attended scores of “miracle services” and often were pronounced “healed” of the nonexistent illnesses they claimed. They viewed first-hand the tragedies resulting from the […]
The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science
Is there a God, or a spiritual reality beyond nature? Physicist Taner Edis takes a fresh look at this age-old question, focusing on what we have learned about our world rather than on traditional metaphysical disputes. Emphasizing a search for explanation rather than listing flaws in theistic metaphysics, Edis uses the results of natural science […]
The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions
H.P. Lovecraft, the creator of Cthulhu Mythos, is the acknowledged modern master of the macabre, but he also worked with many younger pulp writers. Collected here are a dozen experiments in arcane terror, unearthly horror, and inhuman evil. Adding his inimitable touch, Lovecraft revised these tales of terror into frightful shadows of his own unique […]
The Jesus Puzzle
A new presentation of the argument that no historical Jesus existed. A full and comprehensive survey of the question through an examination of the early Christian record, canonical and non-canonical, from Q to the Gospels, from the earliest Pauline epistles to the second century apologists, along with Jewish, Gnostic, and Greco-Roman documents of the time. […]
The Loved Dead : And Other Revisions
H.P. Lovecraft, aside from devising his own works in his Cthulhu Mythos cycle, also collaborated in his day with many younger writers of the uncanny and eerie. Available for the first time in paperback, this collection features stories to which the master of horror added his own ingenious touch.
The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are
Subtitled: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology An accessible introduction to the science of evolutionary psychology and how it explains many aspects of human nature. Unlike many books on the topic,which focus on abstractions like kin selection, this book focuses on Darwinian explanations of why we are the way we are–emotionally and morally. Wright deals […]
The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings
This new edition of Bart Ehrman’s highly successful introduction approaches the New Testament from a comparative historical perspective, emphasizing the rich diversity of the earliest Christian literature. Ehrman shows why scholars continue to argue over such significant issues as how the books of the New Testament came into being, who produced them, what they mean, […]
The Plague
The Plague is a riveting story of an Algerian town forced to quarantine itself from the outside world after an outbreak of bubonic plague. The actions and behavior of the characters in the novel follow patterns of authentic and inauthentic behavior in the face of certain death. In this sense, the town is a metaphor […]
The Reason Driven Life: What Am I Here on Earth For?
Book Description With more than 25,000,000 copies sold, Pastor Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life has been both a commercially successful best-seller and a widely influential book in the Christian community. In The Reason Driven Life Price offers the first parody and critique of Warren’s bestseller. Warren’s God, Price says, is a “Frankenstein Monster, a divine […]
The Seven Mighty Blows to Traditional Beliefs
A.J. Mattill, Jr. (B.A., B.D. and Ph.D. in Bible and theology) has revised and greatly enlarged The Seven Mighty Blows to Traditional Beliefs in order to produce this second edition. The seven blows are: 1. The Astronomical Blow: Do “the heavans declare the glory of God?”2. The Biological Blow: “Is evolution atheism?”3. The Archeological Blow: […]
The Triumph of Evolution: And the Failure of Creationism
Niles Eldredge, a leading expert on evolution and the diversity of life, has studied creationism and debated creationists for over two decades. In The Triumph of Evolution, he presents the most up-to-date examination of the creation-evolution confrontation available. In this incisive narrative, he reveals the creationists’ basic argument and their strategies for advancing it — […]
The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus
Book Description From the Preface: Meanwhile we may reflect with comfort on the words of Dupuis: “There are large numbers of men so perversely minded that they will believe everything except what is recommended by sound intelligence and reason, and shrink from philosophy as the hydrophobic shrinks from water. These people will not read us, […]
Under the Net
Murdoch’s existential burlesque novel centers on Jake, a hack writer and popular-novel translator, as he attempts to find himself and his own authentic existence. This novel explores the theme of how we see ourselves as projected through the eyes of others.
What About Gods?
A skeptical treatment of religion in a book designed to be read by, or to, children.
Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of the Christian Myth
Description Burton Mack proposes that the Gospels are fictional mythologies created by different communities for various purposes and are only distantly related to the actual historical Jesus. Comment “Certainly Mack’s book should take a place in the front ranks of the many fine introductions available to students of the New Testament in both academic and […]
Why the Holocaust Happened: Its Religious Cause & Scholarly Cover-Up
This is the first work ever to examine the thousands of pages of Adolf Hitler’s personal notes, letters, and statements to intimates and supporters, in order to answer the question: Did Hitler himself explain, to himself and to those in whom he confided, why he was so obsessed to exterminate “the Jews”? It turns out […]
A Brief History of Western Philosophy
“Anthony Kenny surveys the history of Western philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. This is a well-written survey of the most important contributions of some of the major philosophers, but it is far from comprehensive. Particularly disappointing was the absence of any commentary on the half-century of philosophy since Wittgenstein, the […]
A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to a Quantum Computer
The first book to prepare general readers for the next big–perhaps the biggest–breakthrough in the short history of the cyberworld: the development of the quantum computer. The newest Pentium chip driving personal computers packs 40 million electronic switches onto a piece of silicon the size of a thumbnail. It is dramatically smaller and more powerful […]
An Illusion of Harmony: Science And Religion in Islam
Book Description Current discussions in the West on the relation of science and religion focus mainly on science’s uneasy relationship with the traditional Judeo-Christian view of life. But a parallel controversy exists in the Muslim world regarding ways to integrate science with Islam. As physicist Taner Edis demonstrates in this fascinating glimpse into contemporary Muslim […]
Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
Atheism is often considered to be a negative, dark, and pessimistic belief which is characterised by a rejection of values and purpose and a fierce opposition to religion. Atheism: A Very Short Introduction sets out to dispel the myths that surround atheism and show how a life without religious belief can be positive, meaningful, and […]
Before the Beginning
“Although we cannot observe them (and they may be forever inaccessible), other universes are a natural expectation from current cosmology. Moreover, many features of our universe that otherwise seem baffling fall into place once we recognize this.” Sir Martin Rees, the British Astronomer Royal, gives a vivid, occasionally acid tour of current astrophysics and cosmology, […]
Bible Prophecy: Failure or Fulfillment?
In this much-needed book, Tim Callahan refutes Biblical literalists who claim that the Bible contains prophecies, divinely inspired and fulfilled.
Can We Trust the New Testament?
Can We Trust the New Testament? questions the historical accuracy of widely held views of early Christianity. In this book radical Bible scholar G. A. Wells examines Biblical accounts of the lives of the apostles Peter and Paul and presents evidence that the events described in the New Testament were written over time to support […]
Common Sense, the Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine
The eighteenth century was an age both of enlightenment and of revolution. No man more dramatically embodied this spirit of knowledge and change than did Thomas Paine. One of the world’s most eloquent and persuasive proponents of human liberty and democracy, Paine stirred the hearts and minds of men to action. His writings were key […]
Darwin: A Very Short Introduction
Darwin’s theory of evolution, which implied that our anscestors were apes, caused a furore in the scientific world and beyond when The Origin of Species was published in 1859. Arguments still rage about the implications of his evolutionary theory, and scepticism about the value of Darwin’s contribution to knowledge is widespread. In this analysis of […]
Defending Evolution: A Guide to the Evolution/Creation Controversy
Defending Evolution is a novel handbook that explains why so many secondary and college students reject evolution and are antagonistic toward its teaching. Defending Evolution helps science instructors better understand their students’ Creationist beliefs (including those of intelligent design advocates) and the bearing those beliefs have on learning evolution. The book provides instructors with a […]
Double Star
One minute, down and out actor Lorenzo Smythe was drinking away his troubles in a bar. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knew, he was being shanghaied to Mars. There he found himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who had […]
