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Our selection of books and associated reviews. Each cover is an affiliate link to Amazon for purchase.
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 […]
Questioning the Millennium
“In the bestselling short-history format of Longitude and How the Irish Saved Civilization, this elegant volume by the author of such well-known works as The Panda’s Thumb and The Flamingo’s Smile explores the rational and religious roots of human fascination with the millennium. 16 illustrations.”
Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement
According to Michael Barkun, many white supremacist groups of the radical right are deeply committed to the distinctive but little-recognized religious position known as Christian identity. In Religion and the Racist Right, Barkun provides the first sustained exploration of the ideological and organizational development of the Christian identity movement. In a new chapter written for […]
Robot Dreams
Robot Dreams spans the body of Asimov’s fiction from the 1940s to the mid-80s, and features classic Asimovian themes, from the scientific puzzle to the extraterrestrial thriller, all introduced in an exclusive essay written especially for this collection.’
Sci-Fi Private Eye
Including tales by Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, and Robert Silverberg, an anthology of nine stories of interstellar crime fighting in the high-tech future pits galactic gumshoes against antagonistic aliens.
Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage
A study of Mormonism’s changing doctrine on plural marriage.
Superstition in All Ages
From Reviewer Will Murphy: “First of all, this work was not written by Jean Meslier, and the real title is not ‘Superstition In All Ages.’ In reality, this work is Baron d’Holbach’s masterpiece, ‘Good’ or ‘Common Sense.’ Due to the severe restrictions on the press in the 18th century, d’Holbach published virtually all of his […]
The Age of Reason
Thomas Paine, defender of freedom, independence, and rational common sense during America’s turbulent revolutionary period, offers insights into religion which ring sharply true more than two centuries later. This unabrdiged edition of The Age of Reason sets forth Paine’s provocative observations of the place of religion in society.
The Best of Humanism
Questions about human nature, immortality, the unknown, faith, reason, free will, and more are addressed by a host of renowned humanists.
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 […]
