LiberatedMind » book review

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley: Book Review

LiberatedMind.com — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:20:06 +0000

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley Reading??? Yes, I do have short infrequent slivers of time in my week for the occasional read. How many qualifiers can a person use to quantify their lack of reading time in one sentence? I may need a few more… The latest read was Brave New World by Aldous …

Last Chance to See: Douglas Adams

LiberatedMind.com — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:53:21 +0000

Hands down the most refreshing book I have read in years. “Last Chance to See” by Douglas Adams fits into the non fiction section with a toe in the humor that characterizes Adams’ most famous series: “The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy“. Adams recounts his travels around the world in a last ditch attempt to …

Letter to A Christian Nation: Sam Harris (Book Review)

LiberatedMind.com — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:59:36 +0000

Letter to A Christian Nation was the first of Sam Harris' books that I picked up. Gathering assumptions from the title, I anticipated a book geared towards the religious infiltration into American politics. I found a bit of that mixed into Sam's book, but even better I found his straightforward approach to tackling American fundamentalists brilliantly refreshing. Written in the first person,[amazon ASIN="978-0307278777"]Letter to a Christian Nation[/amazon] bluntly points out the hypocracies American fundamentalist Christians show in opposing Muslim fundamentalists. Before doing this, he compactly brings down every major dogma of Christianity, laying the ground work for the final punch at the end. He rightly suggests that in order to combat the religious nonsense that drives Muslim suicide attacks, American Christians need to turn that finger around and examine their own radical, exclusive belief system.

The Greatest Show on Earth: Richard Dawkins

LiberatedMind.com — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:59:50 +0000

Perhaps the most comprehensive layman's book on the science of Evolution, The Greatest Show on Earth inspires a deeper understanding of life on planet Earth.

“The Family” who calls themselves the ‘Christian Mafia’ is exposed

LiberatedMind.com — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:50:47 +0000

Jeff Sharlet has the balls to unearth the dirty secrets of a Christian Mafia in his book "The FamilyThe Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power." This wealthy group was established during the great depression with the idology that power and wealth were bestowed by the christian god and should be things to be sought after. The Family openly admires Hitler, Stalin and Mau as men who understood how to attain and wield the type of power they seek to attain. The Family acts as a lobby group (unregistered) and claims non profit status as a religious organization. They also house prominent members of government in a sort of exclusive resort house call the "C Street House" where the officials are waited on hand and foot and served meals by college girls of the local Catholic College. Some of these men who are part of The Family who have recently been in the news for extramarital affairs have been Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, The Family regularily pays for countless statesmen and government officials to travel overseas to befriend third-world dictators and oppressive regimes. It is the philosophy of The Family that these dictators have god given power and deserve to be included in the christian mafia in an attempt to unite powerful, rich men all over the world with the goal of influencing public policy on a global scale.

Walking the Big Wild by Karsten Heuer: Book Review

LiberatedMind.com — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:10:21 +0000

Bear encounters, hardships, and breathtaking views keep the pages turning. As you journey with Heuer through the wilderness, you get a taste of the respect he felt by the end of the trip for the big wild.

Quantum, A guide for the Perplexed – Jim Al-Khalili

LiberatedMind.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:28:19 +0000

Quantum, A guide for the Perplexed by Jim Al-Khalili caught my eye at the bookstore because of the glossy pictures and example diagrams. Being a visual learner, I suspected that the best way to introduce myself to the weird world of quantum mechanics was through visual aid. This really did prove to be a great choice for my visual learning needs.

God is Not Great – Christopher Hitchens

LiberatedMind.com — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Hitchen's book "God is Not Great" presents a detailed look at why religion spoils everything. The extent of logic and examples he presents concerning many different religious cultures and how they commit atrocities will shock even a moderate atheist. His chapter on child abuse and religion was particularly revealing. He describes in depth the torture inflicted on young children through female circumcision in many religions (including Islam) and male circumcision in the Judeo-Christian religion (among others).

The God Delusion

LiberatedMind.com — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:31:00 +0000

In The God Delusion, Dawkins discusses evolutionary by-products. The example he chooses to use is a moth flying into a flame as a demonstration of what we see as abject stupidity. Why would a moth deliberately fly into a flame? This is not an example of natural selection....it is an example of natural selection gone wrong. Moths evolved to fly at night by using celestial objects as guides: Keep the light source in a certain position and you can navigate, much as we do with a compass which points north. Dawkins notes that it was not until comparatively late in evolutionary history that there was anything like artificial lights to throw off the moths. We see only the moths who get distracted by the flames. We do not see millions of moths who merrily go on their way without self-immolating themselves.

The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet

LiberatedMind.com — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Neil deGrasse Tyson is the hallmark face of today's front running scientists. Having the brains to converse with Einstein and the social charm to convey complex science concepts to the common person, Tyson is the perfect author for a book such as this.