Book Description Pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives. Surgeons who pray in the operating room. Pro-life clinics and end-of-life interventions, intelligent-design activists and stem-cell-research opponents–is this the state of modern medicine in America? In an America that increasingly turns its back on the teachings of science, the worlds of religion and medicine have […]
Book Description In Christian No More Jeffrey Mark dismantles Christianity, showing how it is a fraud founded on myths that have no basis in reality, built on a theology of threats, including hell, that cannot be real. He takes the reader through a wonderful journey of science, history, myth–and even theology. Mark details his own […]
Cosmic Suicide is the definitive study of the Heaven’s Gate cult. Consisting of neither tabloid trash nor New Age pabulum, it details the group from its origin in the early 1970’s to the sensational mass suicide in 1997. By providing perspective and insight into the cult’s attitudes and beliefs, Cosmic Suicide places Heaven’s Gate within […]
From the book cover: “In the past couple of years, there has been an explosion of interest in ‘memes’. However, the one thing noticeably missing has been any kind of proper debate over the validity of a concept many regard as scientifically suspect. Darwinizing Culture pits leading intellectuals (both supporters and opponents of meme theory) […]
Durbin, history and philosophy of science scholar and writer, has created a volume that includes about 100 terms from the natural and social sciences. For each term there is an extended definition and discussion of related philosophic issues. Each entry, about three and one-half pages, also provides a bibliography of some six to a dozen […]
Near-death experiences (NDEs) have remarkably similar characteristics the world over, leading many to cite them as proof of a hereafter. Blackmore, a British psychologist, carefully reviews the literature and her own research for something like an opposite claim. NDEs do indeed have universal aspects, but that’s because they manifest the chemistry of dying brains; what’s […]
While its opponents may sneer that “it’s just a theory,” evolution has transcended that label to take its place as one of the most important ideas in human history. Science journalist Carl Zimmer explores its history and future in Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, a companion piece to the epic PBS series of the […]
Bill knew his destiny lay in the stars, but how was he to get there? George Lerner was shipping out for Ganymede to join the fledgling colony, and Bill wanted to go along. But his father would not hear of it — far too dangerous a mission! Bill finally talked his way aboard the colony […]
Isaac Asimov, the modern master of science fiction and fact, and Martin H. Greenberg, a leading anthologist of our time, team together to produce an unprecedented collection of science fiction audio books. This landmark series presents their favorite robot stories from Asimov’s private library, with a personal introduction read by the master himself. This volume […]
One minute Kip Russell was walking about in his backyard, testing out an old space suit and dreaming about going to the Moon — and the next he was out cold, the captive of an insidious space pirate. The whole thing seemed like a bad dream until Kip discovered there were other prisoners on board, […]
Howl came on the American scene during the Beat movement of the late 1950s. Ginsberg’s Howl was to Beat poetry what Kerouac’s On the Road was to Beat literature, proclaiming the subtle malaise that manifested itself among American youth, which eventually led to a full-blown crisis of meaning during the 1960s.
Explores one of the most colorful but least understood phenomena in American religion: controversies over Bible translation. Modern Bible translation controversies arose during the late nineteenth century, when rapid advances in textual criticism and translation seemed to threaten the inherited historical picture of Jesus. Unable to separate the quest for accurate translation from the quest […]
Description The gloves come off in this rowdy literary bout (originally hosted by, and published in, Christianity Today) as atheist Christopher Hitchens (“one of the beltway’s most respected public intellectuals,” “an intimidating intellectual Goliath”) and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson (“an ultra-conservative pastor from Idaho who looks like a lumberjack”) go head-to-head on this divisive question. […]
The most up-to-date and detailed historical and linguistic study of the rise and evolution of the concept of “Holy War” within Islam, tracing it to social, theological and pre-Islamic Arabic influences. As a study of a religious and ethical idea, Firestone’s work makes a nice supplement to Paul Fregosi’s Jihad in the West, which covers […]
A magisterial work of social history, Life After Death illuminates the many different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to us after we die. In a masterful exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, Alan F. Segal weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. A […]
As the religious right has increased in both power and visibility, there has been a commensurate growth in the prominence of Christian media. In this important and timely collection, the best minds in media studies, sociology, political science, religious studies, and gay and lesbian studies come together to paint a revealing portrait of conservative Christian […]
Description We are dealing with an influential fundamentalist international that has a clear strategy. In order to secure women’s rights, we need a democratic international of women otherwise we have absolutely no chance of conquering this beast. Not only Algerian, but Sudanese, Iranian, and Afghani women know what I am talking about. They know the […]
Book Description Not the Impossible Faith is a tour de force, dissecting and refuting the oft-repeated claim that Christianity could not have succeeded in the ancient world unless it were true. Dr. Carrier surveys a whole range of topics regarding the origin of Christianity and its cultural context, demonstrating that its success has entirely natural […]
Over the past twenty-five years, Thomas Nagel has played a major role in the philosophico-biological debate on subjectivity and consciousness. This extensive collection of published essays and reviews offers Nagel’s opinionated views on the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and political philosophy, as well as on fellow philosophers like Freud, Wittgenstein, Rawls, Dennet, Chomsky, Searle, Nozick, […]
Feldman, a professor of law, builds a persuasive case against the “dominant story of the separation of church and state.” The first claim of that story, that “the separation of church and state stands as a constitutional principle that promotes democracy and equally protects the religious liberty of all,” obscures the extent to which the […]
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) has been described by Richard Popkin as the key intellectual figure at the outset of the eighteenth century. Examinations of libraries from the period show him to have been by far the most successful author of the century, and his Historical and Critical Dictionary is in fact the philosophy best-seller of all […]
“My soul would be an outlaw,” begins the storyteller in this short tale of the timeless war between Conformity and Rebellion, in the guise of the Master Timekeeper (a.k.a. the Ticktockman) and the renegade Harlequin. In a completely regulated society, where being a minute late here and there shortens your life accordingly, the Ticktockman is […]
This powerhouse anthology contains essays by leading scientists, philosophers, and other scholars, including Stephen Jay Gould, Isaac Asimov, Kenneth Miller, Ashley Montagu, Sidney W. Fox, and Michael Ruse. Also included is the text of the 1982 court ruling by U.S. District Judge William Overton in the famous Arkansas case.
Written less than 15 years after the end of World War II, when anti-Communist paranoia was reaching fever-pitch in the United States, this book is very much a product of its time. Originally planned for a juvenile audience, Starship Troopers has become a classic of hard science fiction, albeit a controversial one. Heinlein creates a […]
In the 28 years since Roe v. Wade legal in the United States, the right of women to secure a safe abortion has been under almost constant assault. In court after court, community after community, state after state, anti-abortion forces have fought long, bitter, too-often violent battles to shut down access to safe, legal abortions. […]
So many books published these days seem to deliberately ignore the forest for the trees, or the leaves, or the chloroplasts, or the chemistry of biopigments. Readers interested in big questions usually have to make do with the obligatory summing-up at the end, in which the author tries to justify his or her narrow interest […]
Watson examines the Christian Coalition in the context of religious and political history in the United States, offering theories that help to explain its purpose, its popularity, and its power. He argues that the main motives for its existence are a longing for the restoration of America to a “purer,” homogeneous nation under God and […]
Electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot with extraordinary abilities, destined to dramatically change the landscape of everyday routine. Then, with wild success just within reach, Dan’s greedy partner and greedier fianc’e trick him into taking the long sleep — suspended animation for thirty years. They never […]
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