Now reading...

[Nighthawk]

Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene
Christopher Hitchens - God's Not Great
Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Ernest

Also, from time to time: Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running


I've discovered audiobooks and I think I'm in love. I find it easier to concentrate, especially regarding polemic literature, when I hear the arguments, preferably while playing some reflex-heavy game (something with cars whizzing by, for instance). If I try to read something like that, I take a break every now and then to argue with myself. Or just give up. I need to multitask, otherwise I get bored.

[Mystique]

Matija Mažuranić - Pogled u Bosnu (engl. A Glance Into Ottoman Bosnia) *sighs*


@Nighthawk: Have you read Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion? Is it any good?

[Nighthawk]

@Nighthawk: Have you read Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion? Is it any good?

I have.

Well, it depends. It's definitely a good read

As for what the book sets out to do:
1) If you're a firm theist (or deist, or any kind of adherent to the idea of the supreme), chances are Dawkins' aggressive approach will put you off. His arguments might bounce off, good though some of them are, if for no other reason than because he's unapologetic in his firm denial of the validity of faith in a higher power. Given a chance, he'll explain why that's not a valid option.

2) If you're a wavering borderline atheist, there's a good chance he'll push you over to our godless side. We have cookies

3) If you're an irrational atheist (and by that I mean not atheistic because you believe Reason demands it, but because), he gives a good case why you're as wrong as firm theists.

4) If you're a rational atheist, he's preaching to the choir but gives a few good examples of arguments theists use to give validity to their claims and offers a few rebuttals.

Now, those are just my predictions that may or may not turn out to be true for some people.

I'd recommend the book no matter what your stance on faith and religion is. If Christians, Muslims and the like can have their say as to why their sets of religious beliefs hold great(er) merit, then it's only fair that we have a chance to explain why reason and why materialism. More books are needed and more patience in explaining.

Patience is hard to find, though. When you see a certain point as obvious, self-restraint is needed in elaborating why it's obvious to those who don't see it as such. Dawkins does a good job trying to explain his views, but he does so from within his value system. Not to the point theists tend to take it, but a certain degree of acceptance must be made in good faith (sic), just so you see the world from his point of view. Which is shorn of everything but the material, because that's the only thing we can witness, manipulate and explain. From that which is blatantly real, he explains why god (or gods) isn't a good idea. Even if they do exist


Sorry for the longish answer. Hope it was useful

[Mystique]

We have cookies

I should know 
I was interested because I, as a rational atheist, like to see other atheist's view of things, no matter if it's similar to mine or different, so the fact that this book was written from the author's point of view is just a plus, not a minus.
Anyway, thanks for your review, seems interesting. I'll take some time to read it next month, during holidays. Will let you know what I thought about it.

[Nighthawk]

We have cookies

I should know 

Yess, our army grows ever so larger! Soon we shall rule the world!

I was interested because I, as a rational atheist, like to see other atheist's view of things, no matter if it's similar to mine or different, so the fact that this book was written from the author's point of view is just a plus, not a minus.

When I said "the author's point of view" I primarily meant "the rational atheist's point of view", since the way rational materialists perceive the world is incompatible with the irrational spiritualistic view. For them to understand at what point our paths differ (which is the get-go), they need to imagine the author's view of the world. If they smuggle in the standard deus ex machinas, the whole thing fails. Unless they realize what they're smuggling.

If you're interested in books much more personal, I could recommend Hitchens. "God is not great" is, admittedly, the only book of his I've read, but I've read him in Vanity Fair and watched a lot of his TV appearances. He's a bit more personal, though I'm not sure if he'd admit it

Anyway, thanks for your review, seems interesting. I'll take some time to read it next month, during holidays. Will let you know what I thought about it.

Please do

[saphira]

After a very long time I began to read books again..
Right now I'm reading  Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World, Book One of THE WHEEL OF TIME
and also Don Miguel Ruiz - The Mastory of Love - A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship

[The One]

That Dawkins stuff sounds pretty good.
I need to get two copies. One for myself and one for my girl.

[Persephone]

Chaim Potok - The Chosen


Interesting reading It suprised me - I didn't want it to read cause the title "The Chosen" scared me away - I hate when the Jews do think of them that they are THE CHOSEN ONES, that's so stupid.
But actually it appears the title is meant in a different way - I cannot even say in which way really... but it's not that as I thought. It describes well the difference between chasidic jews and other maskilim for example... Nice.

[Luth]

I'm reading a book that can take ages to be finished... exactly, as long as it's written! My sister is writing a novel, and she is giving to me the chapters as soon as she writes them. Right now, I've read the second one   She's very good at writing, she used and use to win a lot of local or small literature competitions, and I think she is finally going for something more important. And I am not only one of the first readers, but a critics too!

If any time her novel is published (it's not easy, but I really think she has the hability), I'll claim being her first critic... thus, being partly the author too! 

[Markus]

Now, that's fantastic, Luth! Best of luck for your sister.

What is her novel about, if I may ask? When will it be published in English? What do we have to do for a signed copy?

Cheers!

Markus

[Luth]

I won't tell anything else about the novel in the open part of the forum... Of course nobody will ever read that and use it against the author, but I prefer not to say anything in open field 

About the signed copies, and the English translation, I'm working on that. You'll be the first one to know 

[Markus]

But of course you may admit that this is another ploy in our struggle for world domination. I mean, everybody knows that we're going for that, and literature is an important stone in the mosaic.

Cheers!

Markus

[lavaniegosII]

I wanted to read something different from the habitual, so i borrowed the book from a friend: The lost symbol - Dan Brown. I started on monday and I have founded very interesting, very fluid and easy to pictured in the mind.

[Monade]

I always reading several books at the same period of time...I think the book which is focus on is  «Orlando furioso» di Ludovico Ariosto by Italo Calvino, of course the Chinese version.

Sometimes I compare different translation with the same book, because different translation provide different version and sometime I need more infomation to cease the confusion made by translated term. I think I read 3 Chinese versions when I got into The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco……If I find the English version maybe I will read it again? I don't know even a little about Italian……

Now I think I met the same problem in «Orlando furioso» di Ludovico Ariosto, I knew a little about Orlando furioso before, but the strange translated terms confuse me again……

Maybe I just make the thing of reading too complicate……

[The One]

I'm currently reading Orientalism by Edward Said. Superfluous Postmodernism at its best.

[Lucy]

I always reading several books at the same period of time...I think the book which is focus on is  «Orlando furioso» di Ludovico Ariosto by Italo Calvino, of course the Chinese version.

Sometimes I compare different translation with the same book, because different translation provide different version and sometime I need more infomation to cease the confusion made by translated term. I think I read 3 Chinese versions when I got into The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco……If I find the English version maybe I will read it again? I don't know even a little about Italian……

Now I think I met the same problem in «Orlando furioso» di Ludovico Ariosto, I knew a little about Orlando furioso before, but the strange translated terms confuse me again……

Maybe I just make the thing of reading too complicate……

Congratulations! I still can't believe that you are such an expert of European culture. I know much less about Chinese one.

Well, The name of the rose is a very hard reading, I guess in every language, because Eco has used so many old languages and concepts. Orlando is the same difficult, and as I understand, you are reading some kind of academical literature? Wow wow wow...

[Luth]

I read The Name of the Rose, and I really enjoyed it. I think the difficult part is not the meaning, but to be able to read all the longs discussions of the characters. But, as I liked the subject of these discussions, it was not hard for me to read it 

[lavaniegosII]

I read The Name of the Rose, and I really enjoyed it. I think the difficult part is not the meaning, but to be able to read all the longs discussions of the characters. But, as I liked the subject of these discussions, it was not hard for me to read it 

I only saw the movie but I like it. In my carreer we read a lot of stuff of Umberto Eco but the themes about Theories of Communication.

[Markus]

Hey Monade,

I suppose it's pretty difficult to translate literature between languages which are as different as Chinese and European languages. I already notice that sometimes nuances and subtleties get lost in translation between German and English. How much more difficult must it be to translate poetry between Chinese and English! But I like your approach to compare several translation a lot. :thumbup!:

Cheers!

Markus

[Aluqak]

I read The Name of the Rose, and I really enjoyed it. I think the difficult part is not the meaning, but to be able to read all the longs discussions of the characters. But, as I liked the subject of these discussions, it was not hard for me to read it 

+1 On that one. I've read it twice, and both times I got pretty much into it. I got dreams about it while I was reading it!