The God Delusion

By Richard Dawkins

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Average Rating: (See all 5 reviews) Format: Paperback, Ireland / Export ed Edition Published In: United Kingdom, 02 October 2006 Publisher: Bantam Press ISBN: 0593058259 EAN: 9780593058251

Let me begin by saying that this book is an extremely good read. It is written by the now uber famous biologist Richard Dawkins, writer of the best-sellers `The Selfish Gene' and `The Blind Watchmaker'. What I will say though, is this: Don't read it thinking it is the definitive volume on Atheism, that it will answer all your questions. Think of it as a fantastic Atheism 101.

Dawkins' main justification for the book is that religion has the potential to be very, very dangerous. This is mainly because religion confers virtue on people who believe without evidence. This in itself is o.k. for the majority, but has the potential to cause great harm, since someone who believes without evidence can be compelled to do a great many irrational things given the right environment e.g. become a suicide bomber.

He also gives the very interesting insight that religion is a virus of the mind (a meme) and that it has probably come about due to an offshoot of something else, something that probably has some value in natural selection. He guesses the pervasiveness of religion comes from the valuable quality of being naïve and gullible as a child and therefore believing everything your parents say e.g. a child that believes its parents when they say that if they keep on walking they will fall off a cliff and die, has a higher chance of survival than a child that doesn't believe his/her parents. This however, leaves us open to believing nonsensical things our parents say, like 'god exists'.

Another example of Dawkins' points is that that children should not be labelled as having a religious denomination, claiming that it is similar to calling a child a `Marxist child.'

Some of the book's detractors claim that it doesn't delve enough into the scriptures, I myself don't believe it delves enough into concept of human nature, but that's not the point of the book. This is a book written primarily to raise consciousness about atheism, and to lay out the broad ill-effects of religion on humanity. In my opinion, Dawkins doesn't need to waste time analysing all the scriptures to get his point across  that Christians and Jews cherry pick the `nice' passages and stories from the Bible. He doesn't need to because it become quite clear that the criteria upon which they cherry pick is something that both religious and non-religious people possess. Therefore, to say that we get our morals and values from religion is simply wrong.

This book is not written with the same eloquence of The Selfish Gene or the comprehensive analysis of the Blind Watchmaker, rather, it broadly tackles the overwhelming topic of religion, specifically Christianity and Islam. It is written primarily for the American audience, which means (and I don't mean this arrogantly) that some detail probably had to be forgone in favour of more punchy prose.

This is a tome that should interest any thinking person and propel them into more in-depth study. Books I further recommend to enhance understanding on the topics of evolution and `god' are Dawkins' "The Blind Watchmaker" and Karen Armstrong's very in-depth (but perhaps not user-friendly) "The History of God" respectively.

The nature of the reviews so far shows that this book is a very polarising piece.

I thought the book was a fantastic read with humour, intelligence and some very interesting data. Every time I put down the book I couldn't wait to pick it up again. I'm onto my second reading at the moment.

As someone who attended a Catholic school, it is like water to a man dying of thirst to hear someone finally express what has been rattling around in my head for years - all of this God/religion stuff is nonsense! I honestly feel that I've gained a new appreciation for life and the world around us. To think of life without a magical sky-daddy is more freeing than I had imagined.

Those who have rated it 1 star and said that it is full of lies and deceit obviously have an axe to grind. I've yet to see anyone point out anything false in this book. Dawkins is an eminent scientist and a brilliant mind. The reasoning and the points in this book are impossible to dodge and are illuminating.

I would highly recommend this book to believers and non-believers alike!

The book is enjoyable and very interesting, some parts are even amusing. However, I had been hoping that Dawkins would go more in depth with the scientific issues of how religion evolved in people's brains and is useful function as a societal survival mechanism. I was somewhat disappointed that the book was brief and didn't go in depth on many subjects, is just a brief outline of many areas. I still recommend it to anyone interested though, all agnostics should read/listen to it for some food for thought. At the end, however, I was still agnostic rather than atheist.

I bought this book thinking that there may be a few good arguments refuting Religion. Man was I disappointed! If I could sum up the book in two words they would be; lies and deceit. I don't think that a page went by without Dawkins relying on either lies or deceit to advance his ideas, some concepts have been long abandoned by philosophers, and for good reasons (though that doesn’t stop Dawkins!). Dawkins seems to rely solely on the reader’s ignorance for his ideas to succeed, and unfortunately many people are very ignorant of the Bible, philosophy and religion. Almost every concept that he proposed I could refute instantly, or simply tried banging my head against the densest object that I could find in frustration, such is the fallacious content of the book. He consistently makes assertions that are entirely misleading or are just downright false.
I have read many comments from professors of philosophy on this book and it is alarming! Though I shouldn’t be surprised that so many philosophers find Dawkins work appalling, after all Dawkins is only a biologist!
Don’t think that I am a ‘Dawkins hater’ though, this is not the case. I find all his other works eloquently written and based on empirical evidence. But as many people believe, his latest work is far removed from his past glory!

If you think I am just bluffing then I suggest purchasing "The Dawkins Delusion" by Alister McGrath for a concise and authoritative refutation of Dawkins latest work (by a highly esteemed philosopher).

If you are interested in justifying your atheism DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!!! I’m sure there are better ones out there.
Such is the poor philosophical and theological content of this book.

This book seems to be selling very well at the moment on the shelves of Myer. I was almost interesting in reading the back cover until I read the reviews on this website. Sounds like another money making scam for the author to me. Another Da Vinci Code style of book- built on lies and deceit in every way.