I just started Next by Michael Crichton.  I just finished The Stand by Stephen King so between all the genetic experimentation and government-made super-flu stuff, I should be good and paranoid by the end of the summer.

I am now reading Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres. It’s a memoir about growing up in a Christian Reformed home and church in Indiana and being sent to a boarding school in the Dominican Republic with her adopted black brother. Very good book.

I think Julia Scheeres would be an EXCELLENT speaker for Freethought, so Jeff knows this now.

I am reading 1984 by George Orwell. I’m not too far into it but I am rather pleased so far.

I am on and off reading “Arguing for Gods,""Arguing for Atheism,” “God,Freewill and Immortality,” Nielsen’s two books on naturalism, Michael Martin’s and others.These are for the more advanced naturalistis. Now we have so many atheist books!

I just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It’s a post-apocalyptic road novel and a very intense read. It’s the best book I’ve read in a while. Warning: It’s extremely dark!

I just read “The God Delusion” too and really enjoyed it for the most part.  I think it starts a lot stronger than it ends, with Dawkins providing and awful lot for his critics to latch onto in the last third, or so, of the book.  Don’t get me wrong, I agree with most of what he says, I just think sometimes he makes it to easy for his enemies.

I also just reread “Candide,” which was a favorite of mine when I first read it a few years ago.  Turns out, I still really like it.  That Voltaire was one hell of a satirist and a wonderful Freethinker.

Next on my plate, after I read something else fun, I’m going to take on the Bible.  I already know it better than most christians I talk to, now I just want to be able to say that I have, in fact, read the damn thing from cover to cover.  Any recommendations on what version I should read?  At least the King James sound pretty . . .

I finished “the end of faith”, and “the world is flat”.

There is good stuff on the web- Takl Reason, IIDB reading room and Skeptic Society reading room.

I just finished Hitchens’ new one “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”. I HIGHLY recommend it. I read Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” right before that. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge Dawkins fan, and I think “The God Delusion” is excellent. I honestly like Hitchens book better. As godlessdave mentioned earlier, Dawkins has a tendency to leave the door open to enemies/attackers from time to time. I also think he holds back a bit at times. Not the case whatsoever with Christopher Hitchens. He is absolutely relentless (as the title suggests), and his research and arguments are very solid and thought provoking. If you haven’t read “God Is Not Great” yet, please do. You won’t be disappointed.

P.S. I’m currently reading “The End Of Faith” by Sam Harris.

I’ve read the first half of The God Delusion, as well as Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Dennett.  Dennett comes across as much more… polite.  Dawkins is adament enough to make me cringe at times.  A lot of things can sway you just because they’re stated emphatically—and Dawkins states a lot of things emphatically.

Additionally, ironically enough, I found Origins Reconsidered by Richard Leakey at my Christian University’s bookstore, as well as The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating, a provocatively-covered book that’s more useful to makes friends laugh than anything else.

I’ve also checked out Buddhism: The Religion of Analysis (Nolan Pliny Jacobson, 1966) from the school library, which is very well written, IMO, even if it’s old.

Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ve also got Origin by Design, published by academics of the denomination that owns the University I attend.  For a new earth Creationism book, it’s pretty cogent—detailed enough that I haven’t been able to wade far into it yet.

And the other day I picked up one called The Atheist’s Bible (An anthology of quotes) and Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians.

If you haven’t noticed, I tend to get lots of books and slowly meander through them… which means most of my bookshelf is only half read.

SigmaX

I’ve been listening rather than reading - i’m rather a fan of radio - and here are two interviews by Terri Gross on her NPR program *Fresh Air*, given the weeks before Easter of this year. The topic was ‘Are science and religion compatible?’

On the No side was Dawkins, who needs no introduction to this group:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9180871

On the Yes side was Francis Collins, who headed the Human Genome Project:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9207913

My reading this summer has been some heavy-duty research on one of the most important figures of the Scientific Revolution, who is not well known to people today (unless you’re a fan of the Moon, or know *2001: A Space Odyssey* by heart), Christopher Clavius, the most important theoretical astronomer of his day. I’m afraid most of what he wrote is still in Latin, except for what i’ve translated myself. I find him insteresting because despite the fact that he was a Jesuit theologian also, he rigorously avoids arguing from Scripture. His praise - and criticism - of Copernicus is pretty much on the mark for the state of knowledge at the time. (If you’re looking to dislike him, you’ll find plenty if you hated math classes, since he’s the first figure in Europe to push hard for a thorough grounding in mathematics for all students!)

I find Clavius interesting for his theory of science, and his theory of how to choose form among scientific theories. He had a crater named after him, if you’re wondering about the Moon reference, and that crater is where AC Clark puts one of the big, black slabs.

kirk

i am currently reading, ”Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts” and it’s fairly entertaining. on the other hand, it’s a bit distracting to notice how often the authors use anecdotes that are quite political. it’s not distracting in the sense that i care what the authors believe, but it’s distracting because i think they have a nice premise and i’d like to discuss it with folks, but i think the anecdotes would be a hang up for some individuals who would focus more on that than the arguments being made. hmmm.

I recently finished Sam Harris’ The End of Faith and Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell. Next on my list is Christopher Hitchens book God is Not Great.

now i’ve moved on to Northern Lights, which is coming out as Movie fairly soon (the golden compass, i believe). i hadn’t heard of the book until my kids’ public school principal sent an email warning parents about the movie . . . since it’s written by an atheist and apparently “god” is killed in the book(s)—a trilogy. so that made me curious. heh.

There are some videos of Phillip Pullman talking about The Golden Compass movie at http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/2007/11/exclusive-video-philip-pulman.html#more