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Our selection of books and associated reviews. Each cover is an affiliate link to Amazon for purchase.
Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy
Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy describes what the Vatican did–or did not do–to help Jews in Italy in World War II. Author Susan Zuccotti, who has written two other books about the Holocaust, demonstrates that little help of any kind came from Popes Pius XI and XII or their […]
Western Atheism: A Short History
Thrower’s excellent little tome (at 151 pages) introduces you to the major currents of atheistic thought within Western Civilization. It makes a great addition to your home library.
Who Wrote the Gospels?
The names we associate with the gospel writers are all second century guesses. If this comes as a surprise, welcome to the cutting edge of modern biblical scholarship. According to Helms, the gospels were written to convert or confirm their highly colored arguments of powerful authors, not just transparent windows upon the historical Jesus. If […]
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
UFO abductions… television psychics… creationism… Holocaust denial. Faced with the rapid changes and anxiety of modern life, many people are turning to the alluring comforts of pseudoscience and the occult. In Why People Believe Weird Things, science historian Michael Shermer, the publisher of Skeptic magazine and director of the Skeptics Society, explores the very human […]
A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
Was there a beginning of time? Will there be an end? In this landmark volume, Professor Hawking shares his blazing intellect with nonscientists everywhere, guiding us to confront the supreme questions of the nature of time and the universe. Hawking, who has earned an international reputation as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein, shares […]
A Second Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism
As the influence of religion increasingly insinuates itself into society, aided by media messages touting the personal and social advantages of Christian-defined moral virtues, the need to express well-developed criticism of religious propaganda and to support clearly-stated secular ideals assumes a new urgency. Freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and rationalists will rejoice to discover that Dr. […]
An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding
David Hume’s aim in writing An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) was to introduce his philosophy to a European culture in which many educated people read original works of philosophy. He gives an elegant and accessible presentation of strikingly original and challenging views about the limited powers of human understanding, the attractions of scepticism, the […]
Atheism: A Reader
Atheism: A Reader is a unique anthology that presents for the first time a comprehensive selection of writings on atheism, agnosticism, and skepticism by some of the world’s most celebrated thinkers, past and present. Arranged thematically, the essays in this valuable collection cover many of the significant areas in which atheists have questioned religious orthodoxy. […]
Bare-faced Messiah: the true story of L. Ron Hubbard
The classic account of the life of L Ron Hubbard and the extraordinary true story of how the Church of Scientology began.
Beyond the Fall of Night
Premier science fiction writers Arthur C. Clarke and Gregory Benford team up to tell a riveting and moving story – continuing a journey begun by Clarke with his classic novella Against the Fall of Night. Diaspar is the last living city on Earth. Timid and untried, the only humans in existence have stagnated there for […]
Can We Be Good Without God: Biology, Behavior, and the Need to Believe
Recent neurological studies have shown that there are regions of the brain that seem predisposed to create beliefs. Are we hardwired to believe? And if so, why do beliefs sometimes inspire major contributions to society, while on other occasions they precipitate horrendous acts of destruction? In this provocative and stimulating study of the connection between […]
Coming Of Age In The Milky Way
Twelve years in the making and impeccably researched, Coming of Age in the Milky Way chronicles the awakening of the human species to the vastness of our cosmos and shows how each time the model of the universe has been altered, tremors have rumbled through such realms as theology and politics. Winner of the 1988 […]
Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology
Cultural Software offers a new theory about how ideologies and beliefs grow, spread, and develop– a theory of cultural evolution, which explains both shared understandings and disagreement and diversity within cultures. Cultural evolution occurs through transmission and spread of cultural information and know-how– or “cultural software “– in human minds. Individuals embody cultural software: they […]
Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason
Description Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason is a well-written autobiography told with humor and heart by an “average” person. It is the story lived by many thousands of people in America and around the World every day–a story that could very well be your story of doubt and loss of religious faith. The […]
Does God Exist: The Craig-Flew Debate
This book presents the most recent debates by leading contemporary philosophers of enduring themes and issues concerning the question of God’s existence. William Craig and Antony Flew met on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God’s existence in a public debate. The core of this book contains the […]
Eternal Lovecraft : The Persistence of HPL in Popular Culture
Return to Arkham and behold the Old Gods in all their horrific darkness. Eighteen authors take a stab at interpreting the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, master of a compelling style and setting so unique it has spawned a name — Lovecraftian — describing the unique blend of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that made him […]
Facing Death: Epicurus And His Critics
The ancient philosophical school of Epicureanism tried to argue that death is “nothing to us.” Were they right? James Warren provides a comprehensive study and articulation of the interlocking arguments against the fear of death found not only in the writings of Epicurus himself, but also in Lucretius’ poem “De rerum natura” and in Philodemus’ […]
Foundation
In Foundation, Isaac Asimov draws a compelling portrait of the Foundation’s embryonic development and rise to peripheral power – domination of kingdoms on the outskirts of the Galaxy. Foundation begins a new chapter in the story of man’s future life. The Old Empire was crumbling into ancient barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy. […]
God and the Burden of Proof
In debating the existence of God, a fundamental question is who — if anyone — should bear the burden of proof. In God and the Burden of Proof, Keith Parsons explains why theists (but not nontheists) bear the burden of proof. Along the way, he manages to provide a nontechnical response to two of the […]
Gospel Time Bomb
Despite the fact that this book was written back in 1984, The Gospel Time Bomb retains its relevance to American Christianity today. Researcher and anti-cult activist Lowell Streiker examines manipulative sect leaders, faith healers, exorcists, deliverance ministers, doomsday prophets, and their potential threats to Christianity and to America as a whole. Christian-friendly, thoughtful, and politically […]
How Do You Know It’s True?
Superstition still requires that many buildings have no floor numbered thirteen. More than 25% of Americans say they believe in astrology. Knocking on wood is an almost universal habit. Are these harmless notions – or dangerous delusions? Unfortunately, “fairy-tale thinking” is still the greatest enemy of progress, and education often bypasses the teaching of cognitive […]
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
Description “I’m a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say ‘yes’ to everything. Today I have decided to say ‘no.'” Forced by her father to marry a man three times her age, young Nujood Ali was sent away from her […]
Intolerance and the Gospel: Selected Texts from the New Testament
Book Description Tolerance or intolerance? Which of the two is promoted by the New Testament? And why? Contemporary Christians usually suppose that Christianity is quite congenial to the democratic ideals that are the basis of free, open Western societies. Among these ideals is freedom of religion, which encourages a broad tolerance for different belief systems. […]
Jesus After 2000 Years
It is widely recognized by New Testament scholars that many of the sayings and actions attributed to Jesus in the gospels cannot be factually traced to him. The gospels, written many decades after the death of Jesus, are composites of hearsay, legends, and theological interpolations, reflecting the hopes and beliefs of the early Christian community […]
Language, Truth, and Logic
First published in 1936, this first full-length presentation in English of the Logical Positivism of Carnap, Neurath, and others has gone through many printings to become a classic of thought and communication. A first-rate antidote for fuzzy thought and muddled writing, this remarkable book has helped philosophers, writers, speakers, teachers, students, and general readers.
Lourdes
In this moving depiction of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, the master French realist Émile Zola (1840-1902) has created a novel of vivid characters and subtle commentary on suffering and the belief in miracles as the last desperate refuge from pain. Zola’s brilliant powers of observation are at their best as he moves from character […]
Modern Cosmology & Philosophy
The second edition of the 1990 book features 26 contributions discussing such issues as relativistic theories of the universe, the Big Bang, the problems of God and creation, cosmology and verifiability, coincidences, the origin and evolution of the universe, multiple universe theories, infinity, chaos, life forms, the end of time, and the limits of our […]
New World New Mind : Moving Toward Conscious Evolution
This 1989 book discusses the emerging ability of mankind to alter the genomes of various species, up to and including Homo Sapiens itself.
One Jesus, Many Christs: How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, But Many
Book Description In One Jesus, Many Christs Gregory Riley reveals that–from the very beginning–there was not just one true Christianity, but many different Christianities. Riley shows that early Christianity harbored major doctrinal differences about all aspects of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and divinity. United by passionate allegiance to Jesus as hero, these early, doctrinally diverse […]
Permutation City
In the not-too-distant future, technology has given birth to immortality. The human mind can be scanned and downloaded into a virtual reality program to become a perfect electronic “Copy,” aware of itself. The bad news is, someone has blocked the bail-out option that allows a Copy, by law, to return to flash-and-blood life. From the […]
