Book Recommendations

[Imtherabbit]

However, after studying evolution as a part of my anthropology studies, I got more and more disenchanted with Christianity.

Evolution for the win!

LOL

Well HH I always wanted to do something like that too but I I never had the religion to go with the desire. That and hearing how missionary work actually took a lot of lives due to sickness spreading to people with no resistance, that pretty much showed me that if there was a God, he wasn't a fan of missionary work.

[Tilia]

Another book worth reading:

In search of memory by Eric Kandel

It's a both personal and scientific autobiography by the Noble prize winner and neurobiologist Eric Kandel. The best book to read if you want to know what science knows about the details of memory formation. The best book to read if you want to know something about the history of neurobiology in the 20th century.

[The_AV8R]

Brian Greene's Fabric Of The Cosmos. I read it last summer. It was a proper dose of humility and appreciation for what science is finding out for us.

[stan]

Brian Greene's Fabric Of The Cosmos. I read it last summer. It was a proper dose of humility and appreciation for what science is finding out for us.

I believe I noticed that book on a recent visit to either the library or to a local bookstore... Next time I'll actually pick it up.

--
Stan

[Happy Humanist]

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes is a great read about a (former) missionary and his life and study of language and culture of the Piraha, a very unique tribe in the Amazon. I highly recommend it

Thanks for recommending Don't Sleep, There are Snakes. It was fascinating. I really related to the author and his story.

I remember reading the story of Jim Elliot, mentioned in Don't Sleep There are Snakes. He and 4 other missionaries were killed trying to convert the Auca Indians in Equador. Their story inspired many young people to become missionaries. I was one of them. That was one of the main reasons I went to Bible college, but I learned later after taking anthropology that trying to foist western ideas upon primitive people was simply ethnocentricty at its worst. I wonder if people do it in order to self affirm their own beliefs and lifestyles more than really caring about others.

Have you ever seen the movie, Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford? It shows 2 people, one an inventor who thinks the natives need technology and the other a missionary who think they need Jesus. Both fail miserably at trying to change the natives and suffer the consequences.

The part about Everett's deconversion really struck home. He talked about how scared he was to admit to others he had stopped believing and it took him 20 years to come "out of the closet" about his atheism. Me too. His wife apparently left him because of it and it sounded as if he is or was estranged from his children. That is what I am trying to avoid in my life, but it isn't easy.








Of course Chapter 17, "Converting the Missionary," really got to me.

[E-lad]

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes is a great read about a (former) missionary and his life and study of language and culture of the Piraha, a very unique tribe in the Amazon. I highly recommend it

Thanks for recommending Don't Sleep, There are Snakes. It was fascinating. I really related to the author and his story.

I remember reading the story of Jim Elliot, mentioned in Don't Sleep There are Snakes. He and 4 other missionaries were killed trying to convert the Auca Indians in Equador. Their story inspired many young people to become missionaries. I was one of them. That was one of the main reasons I went to Bible college, but I learned later after taking anthropology that trying to foist western ideas upon primitive people was simply ethnocentricty at its worst. I wonder if people do it in order to self affirm their own beliefs and lifestyles more than really caring about others.

Have you ever seen the movie, Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford? It shows 2 people, one an inventor who thinks the natives need technology and the other a missionary who think they need Jesus. Both fail miserably at trying to change the natives and suffer the consequences.

The part about Everett's deconversion really struck home. He talked about how scared he was to admit to others he had stopped believing and it took him 20 years to come "out of the closet" about his atheism. Me too. His wife apparently left him because of it and it sounded as if he is or was estranged from his children. That is what I am trying to avoid in my life, but it isn't easy.

Of course Chapter 17, "Converting the Missionary," really got to me.

as if he is or was estranged from his children. That is what I am trying to avoid in my life, but it isn't easy.

Man, when it gets to that level, it's precarious. I compleely defer to your position, I have no experience that would allow me to comment on your present situation.

[MacGyverJr]

Has anyone read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre? I've heard it's excellent.

[MacGyverJr]

I am reading Atheist Universe by David Mills and almost finished. It's a great handbook to combat Christian fundamentalism. I highly recommend it for the non-scientist layperson who needs concise but satisfactory explanations as to why science and the bible don't mix.

[MacGyverJr]

I just (like 10 minutes ago) picked up irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up by John Allen Paulos, a Temple University Math Professor.

It approaches 12 Common Theist Arguments in 3 sections.

Classical Arguments

1. Argument from the First Cause
2. Argument from Design
3. Argument from Anthropic Principal
4. Ontological Argument

Subjective Arguments

1. Argument from Coincidence
2. Argument from Prophecy
3. Argument from Subjectivity
4. Argument from Interventions

The Psycho-Mathematical Arguments

1. Argument from Redefinition
2. Argument from Cognitive Tendancy
3. The Universality Argument
4. The Gambling Argument

The 1st chapter sold me on it.

[Happy Humanist]

I just (like 10 minutes ago) picked up irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up by John Allen Paulos, a Temple University Math Professor.

It approaches 12 Common Theist Arguments in 3 sections.

Classical Arguments

1. Argument from the First Cause
2. Argument from Design
3. Argument from Anthropic Principal
4. Ontological Argument

Subjective Arguments

1. Argument from Coincidence
2. Argument from Prophecy
3. Argument from Subjectivity
4. Argument from Interventions

The Psycho-Mathematical Arguments

1. Argument from Redefinition
2. Argument from Cognitive Tendancy
3. The Universality Argument
4. The Gambling Argument

The 1st chapter sold me on it.

I'd like to see that Paulos and Wm. Dembski (or Dumbski as I like to call him) in a dabate.
Dembski as most of us know is a mathematician and one of the loudest voices supporting ID.