false 29501 12 Sam Harris cranks out blunt, hard-hitting chapters to make his case for why faith itself is the most dangerous element of modern life. And if the devil's in the details, then you'll find Satan waiting at the back of the book in the very substantial notes section where Harris saves his more esoteric discussions to avoid sidetracking the urgency of his message. <P> Interestingly, Harris is not just focused on debunking religious faith, though he makes his compelling arguments with verve and intellectual clarity. <i>The End of Faith</i> is also a bit of a philosophical Swiss Army knife. Once he has presented his arguments on why, in an age of Weapons of Mass Destruction, belief is now a hazard of great proportions, he focuses on proposing alternate approaches to the mysteries of life. Harris recognizes the truth of the human condition, that we fear death, and we often crave "something more" we cannot easily define, and which is not met by accumulating more material possessions. But by attempting to provide the cure for the ills it defines, the book bites off a bit more than it can comfortably chew in its modest page count (however the rich Bibliography provides more than enough background for an intrigued reader to follow up for months on any particular strand of the author' musings.) <P> Harris' heart is not as much in the latter chapters, though, but in presenting his main premise. Simply stated, any belief system that speaks with assurance about the hereafter has the potential to place far less value on the here and now. And thus the corollary -- when death is simply a door translating us from one existence to another, it loses its sting and finality. Harris pointedly asks us to consider that those who do not fear death for themselves, and who also revere ancient scriptures instructing them to mete it out generously to others, may soon have these weapons in their own hands. If thoughts along the same line haunt you, this is your book.--<i>Ed Dobeas</i> 2399497 2004 The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason total:2712|5:837|4:1043|3:595|2:168|1:69| 2712 10547 4182 475 4 8 true false Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Apr 15 14:26:35 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 15 14:39:29 -0700 2007 The End of Faith, many of which I agree with enthusiastically, some of which I regard with caution, and one or two that I find so strange as to wonder whether Harris wrote the last few chapters while in too.. contemplative a state, as he might say.

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Many individua...more...]]> 1 4 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Aug 01 13:34:14 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 21:42:19 -0700 2007
Well, if I could give this bo...more...]]> 3 5 false false Sat Jun 30 20:12:01 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 19:15:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Mar 05 10:19:19 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 10:46:57 -0800 2008
The things I liked:
1. Brilliant writing style. Incisive, funny, powerful. (His followup to this book, a 94 page tract called "Letter to a Christian Na...more...]]> 3 4 false false Tue Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Nov 11 07:40:13 -0800 2007 Sat Aug 30 07:53:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 5 false false Wed Jun 06 13:33:42 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 12:20:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 19:16:18 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 15:15:40 -0800 2009 more...]]> 1 2 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 16:56:42 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 17:28:46 -0800 2009 obvious that theism is false. If you won't give up your theistic beli...more...]]> 0 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Oct 02 14:48:59 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 15:09:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Jul 26 07:18:47 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 07:19:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 2 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 08 17:03:55 -0700 2007 Wed May 16 14:36:23 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 3 false false Thu Oct 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 20:38:32 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 20:25:13 -0700 2009

This is from DFW's 2005 Kenyon Commencement Speech:

"Here's another didactic little story. There are these two guys sitting togethe...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 18:07:31 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 19:43:17 -0800 2009 Letter to a Christian Nation which was his response to all the hate mail he received.) Harris makes a ve...more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 20:55:10 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 17 19:32:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 13:24:17 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 18:37:39 -0700 2008 The End Of Faith is a frustrating book, mixing important facts and keen insight with misinformation, appeals to fear, insults, and almost willful misunderstanding. Harris’s fundamental thesis is that faith by his definition — the willingness to believe something in spite of a lack of evide...more...]]> 2 1 true false Sun Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 07:03:10 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 07:22:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 2 false false Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Jan 16 16:39:28 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 06:14:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jan 03 19:37:57 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 03 19:45:41 -0800 2008
I'm sympathetic to Harris' arguments: I've been an atheist since I was a teenager. But Harris' book is hypocritical, shallow, and unpleasant. Religion is bad--unless it's his own brand of Buddhism, apparently. And ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Dec 20 04:17:04 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 20 04:28:10 -0800 2007 more...]]>