At its heart, this book is about the difference between faith and reason. Faith is blind. It is not based on evidence or reason, and therefore offering evidence or reasons will not shake the faithful from their beliefs. Harris thinks that is very, very dangerous. It will come as no surprise to anyone that he began writing this book on September 12, 2001.

Harris argues that relying on faith instead of reason is a bad way to lead your life. It leads to all sorts of weird and dangerous beliefs, prevents important scientific discoveries, and stirs hatred between people who hold mutually inconsistent faith-based beliefs. Of course, people make mistakes when they rely on evidence and reason, but at least if we rely on reason and evidence, we are moving in the right direction and we are open to changing our minds when we are wrong. If our beliefs are based on faith, we are stuck forever.

This book will make religious people uncomfortable. Harris says exactly what he thinks, without making an attempt to spare the feelings of the religious. He does not, however, call anyone names or say anything in order to be mean or offensive. He simply states that facts as he sees them.

Some reviewers claim that Harris is "intolerant" or a "fundamentalist." They are wrong. Harris, unlike many religious leaders, fully supports the right to think, say and believe as you wish. He opposes any form of oppression. On other hand, Harris also reserves the right to think some beliefs are foolish. You probably do not respect the belief that Elvis is alive. Harris feels the same way about religious beliefs. He certainly would not want to see Elvis believers put in jail or denied rights, but he feels free to say that belief in Elvis is just plain wrong.

You need a brain to read this, if you've got one this book is very good and needs more readers for the sake of our world.

Excellent. Well reasoned, lucidly explained and comprehensive. Highly recommended.

Great book. Just like Dawkins, Sam Harris uses strong emotive language to convey his point.

Contrasting from 'the god delusion' which focuses on cristianity, Harris covers islam and judaism as well as the inquisition and holocaust.

A great read, recommended.

THANKS FISHPOND!!!

At last, someone has written a book that is relevant to the present time, and the dangers people have to face. Pretending that in the 21st century relegious fanaticism does not exist or exists only in a small way is dangerous. If we do not learn from history, it has a habit of repeating itself. I want to congratulate Sam Harris for putting this material together. It is very well researched and makes no apologies for the truth. The title of the book says it all. This is a wake up call to all, particularly to those in government. The material in the book could make most relegious people uncomfortable, but this is time to wake up, dust off the myths and face reality. Sam's material must be discussed by all. There is no political correctness to the truth.

Courageous, to the point, scary! I'm becoming much more pessimistic about my optimism for survival of the human species.