The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
---------
Richard Dawkins no doubt is a great writer. If you have ready his previous books you will quite easily realise this. He is witty and amusing and makes excellent case for non-belief. He creates striking metaphors that is accessible to any reader.
Some people have said his philosophical understanding is not that good. But I don't care much about philosophy. 2000 years of philosophical quest for God yielded nothing! Did philosophy invent the penicillin or take us to the moon?
To find Universal Truths using the power of Thought Alone is kind of bonkers approach!
This was the second book I read on atheism. When it came out in 2006, I squinted at it and dare not pick it up. The first book I read was "Atheist Universe" by David Mills. It's the book that took me to the edge. I only have one grumble about these books and it's that the target audience is always judeo/christian. There are times when I switch off and can't connect, simply because the theology is different.
----------
Why Evolution is True - Jerry A. Coyne
----------
This is an excellent book if you are looking for evidence of evolution. Writing is good too.
-------
This was the best book I read on this subject, clear and lucid. I saw a lecture of his on YouTube from AAI 09
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources - Martin Lings
-------
This is a devotional book. If you are believer you will love this book. When I read it I was a believer. And some parts of it were quite moving.
When I was muslim I enjoyed the book and even had a lecture series on this read by Hamza Yusuf. It really did bring the whole thing alive and was very moving. There was one chapter which made me frown. It was the chapter about the prophets encounter with Zainab. It really made me raise an eyebrow. I prefer reading something more objective now though.
--------
Al-Ghazali on the Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife - Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al- Ghazali
Al-Ghazali's Path to Sufism: His Deliverance from Error - Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali
---------
If you want to know about Sufism - then Ghazzali lays the foundations and makes it acceptable to the Ulema.
Hmm.. Hujjat-Al-Islam. The chap who reversed the whole enterprise. Mr Dogma himself. I prefer Ibn Rushd. Sadly Ibn Rushd just seemed to have been cast aside by the orthodox.
-------
Breaking The Spell - Daniel Dennett
Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life - Daniel C. Dennett
--------
To me Dennets writings is not witty and amusing as Dawkins.
Not read any of his books. Out of the four horsemen, he's probably the most academic and a deeper thinker. He's more witty in his lectures.
-----
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
------
I think "Midnight's children" still remains his best book.
Satanic Verses has some excellent bits in it. And some bits are quite tedious.
I just want to read these books out of curiousity. I'm not a huge fan of fiction.
Topic: Reading List