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Theme Changer

 Topic: What book are you reading?

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  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #930 - February 01, 2013, 02:34 AM
    Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World



    Quote
    Some fourteen hundred years after the Prophet Muhammad first articulated God’s law—the shari‘a—its earthly interpreters are still arguing about what it means. Hard-liners reduce it to am­putations, veiling, holy war, and stonings. Others say that it is humanity’s only guarantee of a just society. And as colossal acts of terrorism made the word “shari‘a” more controversial than ever during the past decade, the legal historian and human rights lawyer Sadakat Kadri realized that many people in the West harbored ideas about Islamic law that were hazy or simply wrong. Heaven on Earth describes his journey, through ancient texts and across modern borders, in search of the facts behind the myths.

    Kadri brings lucid analysis and enlivening wit to the turbulent story of Islam’s foundation and expansion, showing how the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings evolved gradually into con­cepts of justice. Traveling the Muslim world to see the shari‘a’s principles in action, he encounters a cacophony of legal claims. At the ancient Indian grave of his Sufi ancestor, unruly jinns are exor­cised in the name of the shari‘a. In Pakistan’s ma­drasas, stern scholars ridicule his talk of human rights and demand explanations for NATO drone attacks in Afghanistan. In Iran, he hears that God is forgiving enough to subsidize sex-change operations—but requires the execution of Mus­lims who change religion. Yet the stories of com­pulsion and violence are only part of a picture that also emphasizes compassion and equity. Many of Islam’s first judges refused even to rule on cases for fear that a mistake would damn them, and scholars from Delhi to Cairo maintain that gov­ernments have no business enforcing faith.

    The shari‘a continues to shape explosive po­litical events and the daily lives of more than a billion Muslims. Heaven on Earth is a brilliantly iconoclastic tour through one of humanity’s great collective intellectual achievements—and an es­sential guide to one of the most disputed but least understood controversies of modern times.


    I would recommend this book he points out the fallacies of the shariah historically. historically judges didn't want to apply shariah because it was hypothetically perfect so they avoided it as much as possible. ibn taymiyyah supported the Satanic verses because it showed the flexibility of Mohammed to forgive bad verses.  It was good.
    So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
    My political philosophy below
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
    Just kidding, here are some true heros
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #931 - February 01, 2013, 02:56 AM
    Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker's Adventures in the New Iran [Paperback]



    Quote
    When Jamie Maslin decides to backpack the entire length of the Silk Road, he doesn’t plan, he just does. So when he gets unexpectedly stranded in Iran, a country he’s only read about in newspapers, he has to make the best of it, secretly wondering whether he’ll live to tell the tale. In this unique memoir Booklist calls “intrepid, observant, funny, and charming,” Maslin explores Tabriz, Tehran, Esfahn, and the ancient city of Persepolis; visits museums, bazaars, and nightclubs; eats well and drinks loads of tea, and, on one wild night, 96-proof ethanol (the possession of alcohol is punishable by hand-amputation). Maslin marvels at the subversive, contradictory world of Iranian subculture, where he is embraced by locals who are more than happy to show him the true Iran as they live it—where unmarried men and women mingle in Western clothes at secret parties, where alcohol is readily available on the black market, where Christian churches are national heritage sites, and where he discovers the real meaning of friendship, nationality, and hospitality. This is the astonishing account of one Westerner’s life-altering rambles across Iran that will rid you of any preconceived notions about this infamous land.


    This booked sucked, it teased that it was interesting but it was a normal travel blog with nothing really too interesting. Overall good but I wouldn't recommend it.
    So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
    My political philosophy below
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
    Just kidding, here are some true heros
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #932 - February 01, 2013, 03:14 AM
    http://www.amazon.com/Arguing-about-Gods-Graham-Oppy/dp/0521122643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359687979&sr=1-1&keywords=arguing+about+gods



    Quote
    http://In this book, Graham Oppy examines arguments for and against the existence of God. He shows that none of these arguments is powerful enough to change the minds of reasonable participants in debates on the question of the existence of God. His conclusion is supported by detailed analyses of the arguments as well as by the development of a theory about the purpose of arguments and the criteria that should be used in judging whether or not arguments are successful. Oppy discusses the work of a wide array of philosophers, including Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Kant, Hume and, more recently, Plantinga, Dembski, White, Dawkins, Bergman, Gale and Pruss

    The book is long and dry, but a must if you want the academic reasons to reject the theistic arguments for god .  
    So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
    My political philosophy below
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
    Just kidding, here are some true heros
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #933 - February 04, 2013, 01:29 AM
    Toxic Parents looks interesting!!!
    Quote from: ZooBear 

    • Surah Al-Fil: In an epic game of Angry Birds, Allah uses birds (that drop pebbles) to destroy an army riding elephants whose intentions were to destroy the Kaaba. No one has beaten the high score.

  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #934 - February 04, 2013, 01:36 AM
    Quote from: Stardust on February 01, 2013, 12:59 AM
    Think this might be a good read for a lot of members here.

    (Clicky for piccy!)

    I have that book. Grin

    Haven't read it though. Haven't read anything in a long time. (like, a year and a half)
    Life is what happens to you while you're staring at your smartphone.

    Eternal Sunshine of the Religionless Mind
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #935 - February 05, 2013, 01:46 PM
    Quote from: deusvult on February 01, 2013, 03:14 AM
    http://www.amazon.com/Arguing-about-Gods-Graham-Oppy/dp/0521122643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359687979&sr=1-1&keywords=arguing+about+gods

    (Clicky for piccy!)
    The book is long and dry, but a must if you want the academic reasons to reject the theistic arguments for god .  


    Read it Needs a fair amount of concentration.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #936 - February 05, 2013, 03:45 PM
    I've decided to read more fiction in the future. Maybe some allegorical narrations, Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm. Social science fiction if you like. Any good candidates?
    Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #937 - February 05, 2013, 04:10 PM
    @minimow

    Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 is for you grin12
    Quote from: ZooBear 

    • Surah Al-Fil: In an epic game of Angry Birds, Allah uses birds (that drop pebbles) to destroy an army riding elephants whose intentions were to destroy the Kaaba. No one has beaten the high score.

  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #938 - February 05, 2013, 04:37 PM
    Genome by Matt Ridley.  23 chapters for every set of our chromosomes.  Quite dated but very good.

    Against the ruin of the world, there
    is only one defense: the creative act.

    -- Kenneth Rexroth
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #939 - February 05, 2013, 05:29 PM
    haha that reminds me of the "man and woman" repeated 23 times miracle in the quraan
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #940 - February 07, 2013, 08:17 AM
    A friend has just gifted me a lovely little book of short essays by Khalil Gibran on Music, written in 1905.  It might have been Gibran's first publication.

    Against the ruin of the world, there
    is only one defense: the creative act.

    -- Kenneth Rexroth
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #941 - February 08, 2013, 12:51 PM
    @deusvult
     
    wow...you read all those books on your "vacation"?  thats pretty impressive. anyway i will def check out Saints & Sultan.
    The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

    William Arthur Ward
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #942 - February 08, 2013, 01:19 PM
    Quote from: deusvult on February 01, 2013, 03:14 AM
    http://www.amazon.com/Arguing-about-Gods-Graham-Oppy/dp/0521122643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359687979&sr=1-1&keywords=arguing+about+gods

    (Clicky for piccy!)
    The book is long and dry, but a must if you want the academic reasons to reject the theistic arguments for god .  


    What do you think of the book?
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #943 - February 16, 2013, 06:44 PM
    Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell



    Excellent book so far, I'm in love with Russell's clear and precise writing style. I can't believe this book was written in 1930, it seems so recent and up-to-date.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #944 - February 18, 2013, 07:58 PM
    Double Bind by Gita Sahgal, Meridith Tax and others. Proud to have it signed, looking forward to more publications especially those that are concerned with inter-communal tension within Muslim countries and the apathy of various political groups towards them.
    "I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure,
    Sky-bound was the mind, earth-bound the body rests."
    [Kepler's epitaph]
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #945 - February 18, 2013, 08:01 PM
    Quote from: deusvult on February 01, 2013, 03:14 AM
    http://www.amazon.com/Arguing-about-Gods-Graham-Oppy/dp/0521122643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359687979&sr=1-1&keywords=arguing+about+gods

    (Clicky for piccy!)
    The book is long and dry, but a must if you want the academic reasons to reject the theistic arguments for god .  


    If your into that also check out

    " Logic and Theism" by Sobel


    They come in handy if your planning on doing a formal debate with a theist.
    In my opinion a life without curiosity is not a life worth living
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #946 - February 18, 2013, 09:04 PM
    Quote from: Omaar Khayaam on February 08, 2013, 01:19 PM
    What do you think of the book?

     its very good. It has all the theistic arguments and a few I hadn't heard it. It's very academic and very dry and detailed so it's not easy reading.
    So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
    My political philosophy below
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
    Just kidding, here are some true heros
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #947 - February 18, 2013, 09:04 PM
    Quote from: TheDarkRebel on February 18, 2013, 08:01 PM
    If your into that also check out

    " Logic and Theism" by Sobel


    They come in handy if your planning on doing a formal debate with a theist.

    yep that's next on my list.
    So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
    My political philosophy below
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
    Just kidding, here are some true heros
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #948 - February 18, 2013, 10:12 PM
    ^

    Right now after I finish my dawkins book,  I'm going to read


    "Theism and Explanation" which I downloaded and then try to find " Arguing about Gods"


    For those interested here is a link to a list of Academic books on Atheism and Theism

    Best Atheism Books of The Decade
    In my opinion a life without curiosity is not a life worth living
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #949 - February 19, 2013, 06:27 PM
    Quote from: deusvult on February 18, 2013, 09:04 PM
    yep that's next on my list.


    I've read all the books on that list except numbers 4, 6 and 9. I have number 6 on my kindle, not read it yet though. I don't think I'll crack it open. Pretty much done with that stuff.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #950 - February 21, 2013, 06:37 PM
    Just finished D.H Lawrence's Women In Love (apparently not a good introductory book for Lawrence and for good reason). He writes with an uncanny mixture of desperation and arrogance - as if through his writing he aims to save humanity and truly believes that his awry philosophies (garbage for the most part), spoken through a character who is obviously supposed to be him (the one with the existential crises) can do so. Given the time he lived at, it's understandable but meh - some of his writing is pretty but more often than not it just feels sloppy.

    Some 100 pages in on the Mill on the Floss (is my fetish for Canon literature showing?) and almost finished Camus' Myth of Sisyphus. I've got my eye on some Nietzsche and Plath next - yummy combination.
    "The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline toward the religion of solitude."


    "i used to steal my sisters barbies so i could take their clothes off and perv on them" - prince spinoza
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #951 - February 21, 2013, 06:44 PM

    Yeah I've got to say I've never been a big admirer of DH Lawrence. It just didn't click with me.
    "we can smell traitors and country haters"


    Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
    God is Love.
    Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.

  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #952 - February 21, 2013, 06:52 PM
    Quote from: billy on February 21, 2013, 06:44 PM
    Yeah I've got to say I've never been a big admirer of DH Lawrence. It just didn't click with me.


    Thank God I'm not the only one - he really irks me, although his meticulous descriptions do well to evoke some emotion on the odd occasion but I just find him to be so out of tune with - absolutely everything! His characters just aren't believable - nor like-able - and they behave in a way which isn't true to life at all. Won't be picking up another of his works in a hurry.
    "The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline toward the religion of solitude."


    "i used to steal my sisters barbies so i could take their clothes off and perv on them" - prince spinoza
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #953 - March 14, 2013, 04:04 PM
    I'm currently reading Christopher Hitchens' memoir Hitch-22. I'm rather mesmerized by the clarity of thought and the grasp of prose and literature this man had. He writes like a fucking god.
    Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #954 - March 29, 2013, 02:27 AM
    The Beloved, Khalil Gibran

    Oh how I love this author mysmilie_977
    Quote from: ZooBear 

    • Surah Al-Fil: In an epic game of Angry Birds, Allah uses birds (that drop pebbles) to destroy an army riding elephants whose intentions were to destroy the Kaaba. No one has beaten the high score.

  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #955 - March 29, 2013, 02:33 AM
    I've just started reading a collection of essays from George Orwell. I'm also halfway through George Lakoff's "The Looming Tower" and the classic "Origin of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt.
    Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #956 - March 29, 2013, 02:40 AM
    Tao Te Ching

    Although finding a decent translation has been frustrating.  I have never seen a book that has such vastly differing translations in my life.  Sheesh.  At least with the Quran, they were pretty much all the same.

    Do not go gentle into that good night.
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #957 - March 29, 2013, 02:42 AM
    Oh and this guy is really interesting too http://www.dougfine.com/  'Farewell, My Subaru' was a good read....especially for anyone who has ever considered going off the grid.
    Do not go gentle into that good night.
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #958 - March 30, 2013, 02:30 PM
    Started from the bottom, now I'm here
    Started from the bottom, now my whole extended family's here

    JOIN THE CHAT
  • What book are you reading?
     Reply #959 - April 12, 2013, 05:52 PM
    Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
    "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor E. Frankl

    'Life is just the extreme expression of complex chemistry' - Neil deGrasse Tyson
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