Outgrowing God : a beginner's guide / Richard Dawkins.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2019]Copyright date: ©2019Edition: First U.S. editionDescription: 294 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits (some color) ; 22 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781984853912
- 1984853910
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 211.8 D271 | Available | 33111009729951 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Should we believe in God? In this brisk introduction to modern atheism, one of the world's greatest science writers tells us why we shouldn't.
Richard Dawkins was fifteen when he stopped believing in God.
Deeply impressed by the beauty and complexity of living things, he'd felt certain they must have had a designer. Learning about evolution changed his mind. Now one of the world's best and bestselling science communicators, Dawkins has given readers, young and old, the same opportunity to rethink the big questions.
In twelve fiercely funny, mind-expanding chapters, Dawkins explains how the natural world arose without a designer--the improbability and beauty of the "bottom-up programming" that engineers an embryo or a flock of starlings--and challenges head-on some of the most basic assumptions made by the world's religions: Do you believe in God? Which one? Is the Bible a "Good Book"? Is adhering to a religion necessary, or even likely, to make people good to one another? Dissecting everything from Abraham's abuse of Isaac to the construction of a snowflake, Outgrowing God is a concise, provocative guide to thinking for yourself.
Praise for Outgrowing God
"My son came home from his first day in the sixth grade with arms outstretched plaintively demanding to know: 'Have you ever heard of Jesus?' We burst out laughing. Maybe not our finest parenting moment, given that he was genuinely distraught. He felt that he had woken up one day to a world in which his peers were expressing beliefs he found frighteningly unreasonable. He began devouring books like The God Delusion , books that helped him formulate his own arguments and helped him stand his ground . Dawkins's new book is special in the terrain of atheists' pleas for humanism and rationalism precisely since it speaks to those most vulnerable to the coercive tactics of religion. As Dawkins himself says in the dedication, this book is for 'all young people when they're old enough to decide for themselves.' It is also, I must add, for their parents."-- Janna Levin, author of Black Hole Blues
"When someone is considering atheism I tell them to read the Bible first and then Dawkins. Outgrowing God --second only to the Bible!"-- Penn Jillette, author of God, No!
"Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a Penguin Random House UK Company, in 2019."--Title page verso.
Explains how the natural world arose without a designer and challenges the basic assumptions of world religions to argue that faith is not a necessary component of good behavior.
Includes index.
Goodbye God -- So many gods! -- But is it true? -- Myths and how they start -- The good book? -- Do we need God in order to be good? -- How do we decide what is good? -- Evolution and beyond -- Surely there must be a designer? -- Steps towards improbability -- Crystals and jigsaw puzzles -- Bottom up or top down? -- Did we evolve to be religious? Did we evolve to be nice? -- Taking courage from science.