Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
48 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
By a practising Muslim..., 14 Mar 2009
An excellent book, very well-written and thoughtfully argued. Stimulating and challenging - at times scathing - but something which definitely propels one to delve deeper into the reasons for belief - or indeed lack of them.
Dawkins' central thesis seems to be that the evolutionary process of natural selection, as propounded by Darwin and bolstered by the amalgamation of much subsequent indicatory evidence, provides a viable and real alternative to the "God Hypothesis" - indeed it blows it out of the water. But, why then - if blatantly false - is religion so ubiquitous? Evoking theories of evolutionary psychology and the human need for consolation and meaning (as well as the scientific ignorance of our ancestors), Dawkins explains the popularity of religion in purely secular terms.
But what, then, about morality? How can we derive our principles of right and wrong if not from an absolute source of incontrovertible authority (God / revelation)? Again Dawkins responds by explaining how the roots of morality have Darwinian origins and includes a chapter on how the moral lessons of traditional religion (quoting biblical scripture, although I suspect his treatment of the Quran or other sacred texts would be equally unsympathetic) are not that endearing anyway. Why be so hostile though - isn't religion a good thing, a quaint yet harmless cultural phenomenon? Well no, look at the fundamentalists, terrorists, homophobes and other fanatics being spawned by the religious project in increasingly large numbers. Dawkins is unequivocal: religion is dangerous and we need to protect ourselves from it.
So what's the solution, what do we do? Simple, answers Richard with customary gusto: take a strong dose of courage followed by an even stronger one of rationalism, then cast off these restrictive fetters we've inherited from childhood. Grow up, for God's sake (no pun intended), and breathe the fresh, fragrant air of twenty first century scientific freedom! Our experiments have revealed, after all, that there are no fairies at the bottom of the garden.
This, in a nutshell, is a synopsis of the book and something, I must say, I found to be an exhilarating read. I approached the book with an open mind, determined not to allow the predilections of my preconceptions taint my appreciation of his arguments, and was sufficiently enthused to write directly to the author (I await his response). It's always refreshing to have your beliefs challenged, and Dawkins is an expert at doing that. He also has a brilliant knack of reducing complex scientific content down to digestible chunks (peppered with generous offerings of very entertaining humour), and this adds considerably to the readability value of the text. It's not for nothing that Dawkins was the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, demonstrating his ability to explain - in simple terms - science to the layperson. Also worth pointing out is one of the key benefits of the book in the way in which it collates into a single place so many of the classic as well as modern arguments for belief versus disbelief, making it into a cutting-edge handbook for reference.
So what of the key questions the text raises? How can people of faith come to terms with the structured and forceful arguments outlined above? Can we marry faith with modern twenty first century scientific rationalism or are the two fundamentally incompatible, consigned to follow paths of mutually irreconcilable divergence?
I, for one, remain content with my faith as a Muslim after reading Dawkins' book. Although appreciating the validity of many of his arguments, and recognising the negative impact that extreme religion can have, I'm not convinced entirely by the argument for blind and random evolution. Too many holes exist for my liking, and a "leap of faith" is required similar to what the religious person must commit to. I also found his section on the "anthropic principle" to be singularly unconvincing. Cosmology and the origin of life is something science is still stabbing in the dark at (although Dawkins says he has "faith" the answer will be found as the discoveries of science continue). I choose to have faith that the answer has been given to us, whilst fully respecting those who choose to disagree. Ultimately, it's the personal prerogative of each individual to forge an understanding of existence unique to them, whether buttressed by an accepted world-view or not. Dawkins challenges and stimulates us into believing that there is nothing outside of ourselves - we are the sum and substance of billions of years of chance occurrences and all supra-natural entities our ancestors believed in are nothing but the fictions of human imagination. What we choose to believe, though, is our individual and independent choice.
|
|
|
235 of 317 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
very enjoyable with a few misgivings, 2 Oct 2007
Like the penultimate reviewer, I enjoyed this a lot more than Dawkins' other books. He's great at exposing the absurdity of many religious beliefs and at how easily they crumble when exposed to reason. But where I feel the book is a little disappointing is in Dawkins' attempts to explain why religious beliefs are so powerful and so ubiquitous. Predictably, he tries to apply some of the ideas of evolutionary psychology but is never very convincing, or even very clear about exactly which explanation he's advocating. In my view, he doesn't understand the full implications of the `consoling' aspect of religion, or understand the psychological need that many human beings have for the sense of purpose, meaning and security which religion provides (even though based on an illusion). Religions developed in times when human life was incredibly difficult - usually very short and full of disease, violence, hunger and poverty. Life is still like this for many people in the world -and the function of religion is to provide some consolation for this suffering, and the illusion that a `higher power' has control over the random chaos of our lives. There is a very enlightening view of the psychological origins of religion in a great book called The Fall by Steve Taylor. It has a chapter called `The Origins of God' which is one of the most convincing explanations of religion I have read.
|
|
|
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling read after which you can make up your own mind..., 10 May 2009
It's amazing how some books can so completely split reviewers opinion to low or high scores, yet I for one will question whether those views are based on the reviewers' opinion of the subject or the book itself.
In The God Delusion Dawkins takes the view that there's no reason to believe in any form of religion and anyone who does must be delusional... he doesn't actually say these words but I think that's a fair interpretation of the title. He then proceeds to pick at a series of topics and using argument of evolution and science put (in his view) sufficient doubt into the mind of the reader so that the argument for religion is not a foregone conclusion and therefore can be denied (since no physical proof of religion is given).
In this form of writing I think Dawkins is successful - from a scientific perspective I see no argument with his statements and rather than having a conclusion of these statements, he has focussed on a hypothesis which he then looks to prove with the commentary that follows. Where the controversy starts is that the book itself focusses on something which many people will refuse to discuss the science of.
All I would add to that argument is that if you are considering not reading the book because of the reviews, then read it anyway to get your own opinion.
I found the book to be an excellent read, a very interesting topic and well-read... I found myself on many chapters thinking to myself "oh, but he hasn't argued this point" only to find it in the next section.
The only negative is I found the book to be a bit of an ego trip and far too self-congratulatory regarding conferences he has spoken at, as well as books he has contributed to (hence the dropped point in the review score)
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Watch the author talk about this book in Windows Media
Player format: 
by Richard Dawkins
by Richard Dawkins
by Christopher Hitchens
See all Product Description
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home