Richard Dawkins in one of the country's most famous scientists. He is also one of our most outspoken critics of religion. In "The God Delusion", he presents his arguments for atheism. While this audiobook is unashamedly polemical, Dawkins adopts the rigourous approach of a scientist and applies it to the questions of religion, religious faith and the existence of God. Some of the issues he addresses include: a history of religious conflict; the impossibility of disproving the existence of God - something that has become a 'get out of jail free' argument for the inviolability of religion; morality, where it becomes extra-religious - many moral changes and definition (e.g. women's rights, black civil rights) have occured sometimes against the resistance of the religious community; the fact that in some countries religion remains an excuse for the subjugation of women's rights; the fact that by forcing religious belief on our children we are denying them intellectual freedom; denial of evolution which is an impediment to intellectual progress; and science fulfilling the same psychological needs as religion. This is a hard-hitting, accessible and powerfully thought-out examination of religion in the modern world. While the West is becoming increasingly secularised, the rise of religious fundamentalism in other parts of the word is dividing opinion. This is a timely and extremely controversial audiobook that will be required reading for anyone interested in this most emotional and fundamental of subjects.

About the Author

Richard Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His previous books include The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, River out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable and Unweaving the Rainbow.

Prizes

A hugely controversial argument for atheism read by the author

Reviews

In this hard-hitting critique of religious belief, Dawkins (Oxford Univ.) explains why the belief in God is both wrong and dangerous. Unlike his past works that only touch on the subject (e.g., The Selfish Gene; The Blind Watchmaker), this book is thorough and pulls no punches. Dawkins starts his "attack" by covering the various definitions of God as well as nearly every classical argument for the existence of God. He then proceeds to build his case based on a Darwinian/scientific perspective of why he believes there is no God, period. He concludes by offering a scientific explanation for religious belief but not before treating religious-based morality to his rapierlike criticisms. While he does acknowledge that many of his criticisms would also apply to political or sociocultural beliefs, he does not take that line of thought any further, which is a shame. Nonetheless, both fans of Dawkins and his many opponents will want to read this book. Recommended for all academic libraries and larger public libraries with an interest in the topic. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]-Brad S. Matthies, Butler Univ. Lib., Indianapolis Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

The antireligion wars started by Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris will heat up even more with this salvo from celebrated Oxford biologist Dawkins. For a scientist who criticizes religion for its intolerance, Dawkins has written a surprisingly intolerant book, full of scorn for religion and those who believe. But Dawkins, who gave us the selfish gene, anticipates this criticism. He says it's the scientist and humanist in him that makes him hostile to religions fundamentalist Christianity and Islam come in for the most opprobrium that close people's minds to scientific truth, oppress women and abuse children psychologically with the notion of eternal damnation. While Dawkins can be witty, even confirmed atheists who agree with his advocacy of science and vigorous rationalism may have trouble stomaching some of the rhetoric: the biblical Yahweh is "psychotic," Aquinas's proofs of God's existence are "fatuous" and religion generally is "nonsense." The most effective chapters are those in which Dawkins calms down, for instance, drawing on evolution to disprove the ideas behind intelligent design. In other chapters, he attempts to construct a scientific scaffolding for atheism, such as using evolution again to rebut the notion that without God there can be no morality. He insists that religion is a divisive and oppressive force, but he is less convincing in arguing that the world would be better and more peaceful without it. (Oct. 18) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.