Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Summer Reading from Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins never misses any chance to fire off his scud missiles on religion and other assorted stupidities. When asked for a recommendation of a book to be read in summer holidays, he replies:

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris (Free Press) is a genuinely frightening book about terrorism, and the central role played by religion in justifying and rewarding it. Others blame "extremists" who "distort" the "true" message of religion. Harris goes to the root of the problem: religion itself. Even moderate religion is a menace, because it leads us to respect and "cherish the idea that certain fantastic propositions can be believed without evidence". Why do men like Bin Laden commit their hideous cruelties? The answer is that they "actually believe what they say they believe". Read Sam Harris and wake up.

3 comments:

adhyayan said...

my ex cubicle mate at office suggetsed that I read this book.. Should see if I will get to it

adhyayan said...

The othe rbooks he suggested are 'The Desert of Tartars' by Dino Buzatti and 'The Book of Forgetting and Laughter' by Milan Kundera

Alok said...

I have read the Kundera book. It is quite good. Haven't read the other ones... will check out. thanks.