What book are you reading?

[Jon]

I'm still reading Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion.

[kgrunt]

I continue my Pratchett marathon with "Making Money" which I am enjoying.

[Sandyfromvancouver]

I'm still reading Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion.

What's your impression so far?

[Jon]

I'm still reading Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion.

What's your impression so far?

I'm an atheist with a semi querying mind as far as religion goes. I don't mind skimming through the bible and I've read parts of the Bhagavad Gita - I was bought up Church Of England and apart from Primary school trips to church for the Harvest Festival my only encounters with religion have been funerals and weddings - but I'm really enjoying the arguments being put forward and Dawkins has really put some time and effort into the book and injected some real humour to make it an excellent read.

I'd read a review of the book while reading Derren Brown's book, Mind Control who says that Dawkins converted him into Atheism, which it won't do for me but it does put up a powerful argument.

[Sandyfromvancouver]

I'm still reading Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion.

What's your impression so far?

I'm an atheist with a semi querying mind as far as religion goes. I don't mind skimming through the bible and I've read parts of the Bhagavad Gita - I was bought up Church Of England and apart from Primary school trips to church for the Harvest Festival my only encounters with religion have been funerals and weddings - but I'm really enjoying the arguments being put forward and Dawkins has really put some time and effort into the book and injected some real humour to make it an excellent read.

I haven't read the book, but I did hear him lecture recently. I found his approach to be fundamentalist and intolerant of difference. Dawkins came off as contemptuous of anyone who disagrees with him, it seemed to me. I'm a "lapsed" Catholic, so I'm no fan of stuffed shirts in skirts. But Dawkins seemed rather similar to those he skewers.

[Jon]

I'm still reading Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion.

What's your impression so far?

I'm an atheist with a semi querying mind as far as religion goes. I don't mind skimming through the bible and I've read parts of the Bhagavad Gita - I was bought up Church Of England and apart from Primary school trips to church for the Harvest Festival my only encounters with religion have been funerals and weddings - but I'm really enjoying the arguments being put forward and Dawkins has really put some time and effort into the book and injected some real humour to make it an excellent read.

I haven't read the book, but I did hear him lecture recently. I found his approach to be fundamentalist and intolerant of difference. Dawkins came off as contemptuous of anyone who disagrees with him, it seemed to me. I'm a "lapsed" Catholic, so I'm no fan of stuffed shirts in skirts. But Dawkins seemed rather similar to those he skewers.

I've not seen him 'in the flesh', but I've caught snippets of TV shows that he's been on - and as they're pre-recorded his views could be ironed out in the interest of making a watchable program, however there are sections in the book where I've felt that he's repeatedly banged on a couple of ideas without expanding on them as he'd already dealt with them in a previous book and as I don't own any other Dawkins material, I find it a tad annoying.

Ironically his fundamentalist approach isn't too disimilar of his religious counterparts on the other side of the debate, but then I'd hoped it would be.

[philipchevron]

I don't think Dawkins would disagree that he as proselytising and intolerant in his atheism as he would accuse his detractors/subjects of being, but I feel he would argue with some justification that while he has all the forces of rationalism at his back, they do not.

Dawkins takes the line "You think I'm intolerant because I mock your belief in fairies at the bottom of the garden? Damn straight I do!"

That the burden of "proof" still appears to rest more with atheists than believers, even hundreds of years after the beginning of Enlightenment thought demonstrates only that we're not as advanced a society as we think we are. Future generations, while marvelling at how we used the 20th Century to accelerate massive advances in technology, medicine, communications and so much more, will puzzle over our enduring reluctance to fully sever the God umbilical cord.

[philipchevron]

Tom Murphy: The Politics Of Magic by Fintan O'Toole (New Island)
Talking About Tom Murphy Edited by Nicholas Grene (Carysfort)
Plays 2 Tom Murphy (Methuen)

The Post-American World Fareed Zakaria (Allen Lane)

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the new face of American War Evan Wright (Putnam's)

On this latter, has anyone caught David Simon's HBO adaptation of this yet? How is it?

[RIF]

When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris
A Wolf at the Table, Burroughs
Hollywood, Bukowski
Kinski Uncut
The Caucasion Chalk Circle, Brecht

Somebody was reading Welsh's Porno? Spud lost some favor with me in that novel.
Character was brought much further down in it, I think.

[Sandyfromvancouver]

I don't think Dawkins would disagree that he as proselytising and intolerant in his atheism as he would accuse his detractors/subjects of being, but I feel he would argue with some justification that while he has all the forces of rationalism at his back, they do not.

Is Dawkins' intolerance rational? I doubt intolerance is ever primarily based on reason. For sure Dawkins does a service in skewering hypocrisy. But he ultimately makes me think of Ghandi's line: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

[Irishbookish]

Labyrinth - Kate Mosse

A little predictable and pedantic but nevertheless an okay read for school hols.

[Sandyfromvancouver]

Promise if you laugh you'll have the grace to do it behind my back?? Ruth Rendall, Adam and Eve and Pinch Me.

[Clash Cadillac]

The Rose & The Briar - Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus (2005)

full URL

A devastatingly original work that plunges into the heart of the American psyche from America's beginnings to Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska."

The ballad has been part of American history since before the country had a name. In this book, Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus have assembled an astonishing group of writers and artists—Paul Muldoon, Stanley Crouch, R. Crumb, Jon Langford of the Mekons, John Rockwell, Luc Sante, Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Marsh, and more than a dozen other novelists, essayists, performers, and critics—to explore the ineffable power of the American ballad. In words and in drawings, the collaborators have tapped the veins of America's most imaginative and expressive form. From "Barbara Allen," one of the earliest, through "The Wreck of the Old 97," to contemporary ballads by Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, The Rose & the Briar presents a rich new patch of art and commentary—like the ballads, no two the same, but all of a piece, about stories, storytellers, and American death, love, and liberty.

[philipchevron]

The Rose & The Briar - Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus (2005)

full URL

A devastatingly original work that plunges into the heart of the American psyche from America's beginnings to Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska."

The ballad has been part of American history since before the country had a name. In this book, Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus have assembled an astonishing group of writers and artists—Paul Muldoon, Stanley Crouch, R. Crumb, Jon Langford of the Mekons, John Rockwell, Luc Sante, Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Marsh, and more than a dozen other novelists, essayists, performers, and critics—to explore the ineffable power of the American ballad. In words and in drawings, the collaborators have tapped the veins of America's most imaginative and expressive form. From "Barbara Allen," one of the earliest, through "The Wreck of the Old 97," to contemporary ballads by Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, The Rose & the Briar presents a rich new patch of art and commentary—like the ballads, no two the same, but all of a piece, about stories, storytellers, and American death, love, and liberty.

Great book. I think I'm right in saying there's a CD that goes with it too.

[Clash Cadillac]

The Rose & The Briar - Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus (2005)

Great book. I think I'm right in saying there's a CD that goes with it too.

You are... Amazon Link