xJane's profile

14 ratings (3.21 avg)
11 reviews

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xJane's bookshelves

read ‎(12)

currently-reading ‎(9)

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xJane is currently reading

	09/17 xJane is currently reading: Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance are Changing the World (Hardcover) by Alex Counts bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	09/07 xJane is currently reading: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback) by Oscar Wilde bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	07/04 xJane is currently reading: Istanbul: Memories and the City (Paperback) by Orhan Pamuk bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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xJane's recent updates (rss)

March 13

xJane added:
Watchmen (Paperback)
by Alan Moore

my rating:

read in March, 2009

1 comment

November 14, 2008

xJane marked as to-read:
Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment (Hardcover)
by Phil Zuckerman
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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November 12, 2008

xJane gave

to:
Eclipse (Twilight, #3)
by Stephenie Meyer

my rating:

recommended to xJane by: Barnes & Noble
recommended for: anyone who wants to read the final book in the series
read in October, 2008

xJane said: "meh. Another middle book that was unneccessary. And? I can do without the sexual assault, especially when the characters (a) don't call it out and (b) go on as if it didn't happen. I'm sorry, Ms. Meyer, but your patriarchy is showing. "

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November 06, 2008

xJane gave

to:
New Moon (Twilight, #2)
by Stephenie Meyer

my rating:

recommended to xJane by: Barnes & Noble's "what's hot" section
recommended for: my cousin
read in October, 2008

xJane said: "This one was okay—I'm looking forward to the next one. It's what I feel to be the classic "middle" book. It serves merely as a bridge between the first and the third. It takes place in the world that I wanted to return to (similar to the ...more "

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xJane made a comment on Sean's review of The Language of Power: The Steerswoman Series, Book 4

xJane wrote: "Now that I look at this, it's probably a work of fiction, but the title reminded me of The Alphabet ...more "

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October 15, 2008

xJane gave

to:
The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions (Hardcover)
by David Berlinski

my rating:

recommended for: atheists who want to learn to argue better; theists who wish they were right
read in October, 2008

xJane said: "Berlinski's book is, from its title, a rebuttal to Richard Dawkins' the God Delusion. It is, however, more often a rebuttal of Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation specifically and broadly to all atheist works. Having read neither, I will tak...more Berlinski's book is, from its title, a rebuttal to Richard Dawkins' the God Delusion. It is, however, more often a rebuttal of Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation specifically and broadly to all atheist works. Having read neither, I will take as a given that both Dawkins and Harris say what Berlinski says they say. However, given how inconsistent his own internal arguments are, I wonder.

Berlinski starts by assuaging the fear of his atheist readers. He is not a theist! He proclaims, he is rather, "a secular Jew". From that description one might assume that he is of Jewish heritage and descent but does not believe in a (specifically Jewish) deity. However, this quickly is disproved as, through his arguments, Berlinski states that a deity must necessarily exist.

Contrary to most debates in internet fora, Berlinski's arguments start with ad Hitlerum arguments, broken up briefly by ad hominem attacks. Beginning with calling Harris (and his ilk, by association) a terrorist, he continues by calling them anti-Semites.

The first chapter asserts that science is a god, like any other, whose adherents refuse to admit to the existence of other deities. As evidence for this, he sites the fact that Dawkins/Harris are scientists. If this is the case, it is surely news to Harris, a philosopher.

Continuing this argument into the second chapter, Berlinski asserts that science was the cause of the Holocaust. Once again, this must surely be news to many Germans and Historians alike. Citing the fact that the world is still a horrible place (and listing the number of deaths caused by wars in the 20th century), Berlinski concludes that a deity must exist. (The argument goes something like this: since atheism is wrong, &c.) One wonders just what kind of "secular Jew" it is who argues for but does not worship a deity—perhaps there is no hell for him to go to for his lack of faith. We heretics have no such luxury.

In the third chapter, he delves into physics, a subject about which I understand admittedly little, but about which he seems to understand even less. Somewhere in there is a flying horse, but I was left unsure whether its existence was proven or disproven by neutrinos with fingers.

He continues in such baffling manner, creating "atheistic" arguments for him to refute with both theology and physics. By the end, the reader is left wondering if Berlinski believes in anything at all, a failing he notes in atheistic arguments. It seems to me that Berlinski is, in fact, an atheist. He is simply not a militant atheist, an epithet he despises and wishes so much to distance himself from that he talks himself into a theistic/atheistic corner, wanting to have it both ways, and calling all atheists who speak up fundamentalists with no grasp of logic, history, or physics.

All in all, Berlinski comes across as someone I'd love to have to dinner and who really does have some wonderful arguments against the evils of fundamentalism—be it religious or atheistic. However, his disgust of atheistic fundamentalism manifests in bizarre and, yes, entertaining ways. The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions is a great book to hone an atheist's analytical skills.(less) "

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October 02, 2008