Book- the god delusion
Author: Richard Dawkins
Score:9/10
Year: 2006 (my copy 2007)
Publisher: Black swan.
ISBN 978-0-552-77429-1
419 Pages (463 including appendices & index)
Language: English
Richard Dawkins breaks down in a very scientific way all the various
dogmatic religious principles and beliefs, inviting the readers to use critical
thinking and throw god back where he belongs : to human inventive imagination.
Indeed, Dawkins postulates that god almost certainly does not exist -
partially because this supernatural being's existence would raise more
questions than it can really answer.
This book starts off with a rather easy language at first, but quickly
becomes very technical. Richard is after all a scientist. He's an ethologist
and evolutionary biologist, to be precise.
He uses some scientific jargon, mostly from these fields, but sometimes
from other branches, as supporting tools to his critic of creationism and
intelligent design, and thus as the book progresses, the reading slows down for
most of us - me included.
The middle was my slowest reading, before I picked speed back up,
finishing the last 5 chapters (which is almost half of the book) in just 4 days
(180 pages).
I enjoy the clarity of Richard's explanations and his humour - which is
much needed at moments because the ills humans have brought on this planet in
the name of religions are heavy topics and it's good to spice this up a bit
with some acerbic remarks in a lighter form.
As I grew up in a religious cult and needed many years to stop believing
the nonsense I was fed, this is a book I wish I had found much earlier in my
life. I read it and confirm my choice to be an atheist as my belief system
shifted from a creationist standpoint to disbelieving, as my own critical mind
and curiosity evolved - and my psyche became more apte to distance myself from
the fears I was brought up into, ie eternal damnation.
I really think that it's high time for humanity to pursue the process of
deleting gods - from poly to monotheist to a-theism ; from many, to one, to
none - and grow into better human beings who don't need a supernatural being as
a guide to be the best persons they can be - especially since that particular
god the majority of this world's population believes in is a sadist, elitist
and misogynist (to name but a few of his flaws), and that he was invented by
our ancestors and still in the core of today's minds.
It's time to shake off this bad habit!
Richard Dawkins invites his readers to understand the fallacies, lies
and deceptions of our religious upbringing, our belief systems and embrace
critical thinking and the beauty of science, and the universe in the
ever-learning and growing knowledge that each one of can achieve - provided we
distance ourselves from theism.
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