Category: Review

Andy Norman, Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think, with a foreword by Steven Pinker. (New York, NY: HarperWave, 2021. ISBN 978-0-06-300298-2.) 397 pp. Hardcover, $29.99. Brian T. Watson, Headed into the Abyss: The Story of Our Time, and the Future We’ll Face. (Swampscott, MA: Anvilside Press, 2019. …

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters, by Steven Pinker (New York, NY: Random House/Penguin/Viking, 2021, ISBN 9780525561996). 432 pp. Hardcover, $32.00. Steven Pinker is one of my intellectual heroes. I have read and benefitted from his previous work on language (The Language Instinct, Words and Rules), cognition (How the Mind …

Walter Kaufmann: Philosopher, Humanist, Heretic, by Stanley Corngold (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0-691-16501-1). 744 pp. Hardcover, $39.95. Within the world of atheists, humanists, and freethinkers, there are some who take inspiration from the world of science and mathematics and others who take it from the arts and humanities. The former group includes …

Atheism: The Basics, by Graham Oppy (London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2019, ISBN 9781138506961). 190 pp. Paperback, $24.95. A few years back, an anomaly shook up the publishing world—atheist books became best sellers. Books by Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and others attracted a broad readership and garnered much attention. These so-called New Atheists offered …

The Reality of Religious Violence, by Hector Avalos (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2019, ISBN 9781910928585). xiv + 499 pp. Hardcover, $97.50. In his 2005 book Fighting Words: The Origin of Religious Violence (Prometheus Books), the late secular humanist religious studies scholar Hector Avalos advanced a bold thesis. He argued that religious language and concepts …

Christianity and the Triumph of Humor: From Dante to David Javerbaum, by Bernard Schweizer. (New York: Routledge, 2020, ISBN 9780367785338). 254 pp. Softcover, $48.95. In 2001, psychologist Richard Wiseman set out to identify the world’s funniest joke. To that end, he created a website where people could submit and rate jokes. He eventually conceded that …

Why Trust Science?, by Naomi Oreskes (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2019, ISBN 9780691179001). 360 pp. Hardcover, $24.95. Naomi Oreskes’s new book, Why Trust Science? asks a question that secular humanists should be able to answer. We are often touting the trustworthiness of science, or at least scientific reasoning, over faith. But exactly how …

A Response to Jill Filipovic’s New York Times Review of Prey Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s latest book, Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights (Harper Collins, 2021), has not only altered my perspective on immigration, but it has also—as her epigraph promises—“triggered” me. Her descriptions and documentation of the crimes and sexual abuse by …

What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life by Phil Zuckerman (Berkeley, California: Counterpoint Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-64009-274-7). 360 pp. Hardcover, $28.00. Where does contemporary morality, with its historical emphasis on anything connected to sex, come from? Peter Heather, renowned English scholar, tells us in his marvelous …

An Archaeology of Disbelief: The Origin of Secular Philosophy, by Edward Jayne. Lanham: Hamilton Books, 2018. xx & 198 pages. 978-0-7618-6966-5 (cloth); 978-0-7618-6967-2 (electronic). Edward Jayne, an English professor emeritus in his eighty-third year at the time of publication of this book, offers in eight chapters a compact survey of skeptics and (more rarely) outright …

Cogento, by Thü, translated from German by Lena Blos and Thü; English editing and proofreading by Camille De Kok (Baar, Switzerland: Ecliptic Planetary Publishing, 2019, ISBN 978-3-033-07501-6). 493 pp. Hardcover, $28.00. Also available in e-book formats for all devices. One thing’s for sure: you’ve never read anything quite like Cogento. Author Thü (a.k.a. Thomas Hürlimann) …

Wayward: A Memoir of Spiritual Warfare and Sexual Purity, by Alice Greczyn. (Austin, Texas: River Grove Books, 2021, ISBN 1632993546). 366 pp. Softcover, $19.95.   This harrowing memoir (excerpted in Free Inquiry’s previous issue) offers the most disturbing picture yet of growing up in the purity-focused Christian fundamentalist subculture of the past three decades—and that’s …

All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change, by Michael T. Klare (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2019, ISBN 978-1-62779-248-6). 293 pp. Hardcover, $30.00.   “There is, therefore, a direct clash between current White House doctrine on climate change and the Pentagon’s determination to overcome climate related threats to military preparedness.”—Michael T. Klare “We …

Witcraft: The Investigation of Philosophy in English, by Jonathan Rée (United Kingdom: Penguin, 2019, ISBN: 978-0300247367). 726+ xii pp. Hardcover, $37.50.   Jonathan Rée’s book Witcraft: The Investigation of Philosophy in English has as its scope “philosophy in English.” But this is not to say that Rée confines himself to distinctly English traditions. When discussing …

Blip: Humanity’s 300 Year Self-Terminating Experiment with Industrialism, by Christopher O. Clugston. (Booklocker.com, 2019, ISBN 978-1644380680). 392 pp. Softcover, $19.95.   Free Inquiry prefers to review books from major publishers. Now and again, we make an exception. Readers who recall my review of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming by David Wallace-Wells (October/November 2019) know …

Doing Philosophy: From Common Curiosity to Logical Reasoning, by Timothy Williamson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0198822516). 176 pp. Hardcover, $18.95. Philosophy and philosophers have always had their detractors. In his Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defined philosophy as “a route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.” When Bertrand Russell decided to study …

Unbelievers—an Emotional History of Doubt, by Alec Ryrie (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, an imprint of Harvard University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0674241824). 272 pp. Hardcover, $27.95.   If, like me, you were educated in a parochial system of any stripe, you likely came away with the notion that the human race was from the get-go unremittingly …

The Lost Song of Goliath, by Ronald A. Lindsay (Washington, D.C.: Nineteenth Street Publishers, 2019, ISBN 978-1-7337338-0-9). 289 pp. Softcover, $11.99.   Ronald A. Lindsay, former president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, whose nonfiction includes Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas (Prometheus Books, 2008) and The Necessity of Secularism (Pitchstone, 2014), here …

God Is a Question, Not an Answer: Finding Common Ground in Our Uncertainty, by William Irwin (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018, ISBN: 978-1538115886). 160 pp. Hardcover, $24.95. William Irwin has written a very clear and articulate argument in support of the special value of doubt. Modest and yet far-ranging, the book delves into both …

Leaving the Allah Delusion Behind: Atheism and Freethought in Islam, by Ibn Warraq (Berlin, Germany: Verlag Schiler, 2020, ISBN 9783899302561). 752 pp. Hardcover, €68.00.   Who has an illusion about Allah? Most obviously, Muslims hold an illusion about Allah, a delusion about the Arab god. They deem him real, but he isn’t. In a sense …

Religion and Development in the Global South, by Rumy Hasan (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-57062-4). 225 pp. Hardcover, $109.99.   I agreed to review this book believing that Rumy Hasan had found and compiled compelling evidence that religion slows socio-economic development (that is how the book is described in promotional materials). The idea that …

Secularity and Science: What Scientists around the World Really Think about Religion, by Elaine Howard Ecklund, David R. Johnson, Brandon Vaidyanathan, Kirstin R. W. Matthews, Steven W. Lewis, Robert A. Thomson Jr., and Di Di (New York, Oxford University Press, 2019, ISBN 9780190926755). 352 pp. Hardcover, $29.95.   Elaine Howard Ecklund is a sociology professor …

Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again, by Marty Essen (Victor, Montana: Encante Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0-9778599-6-2). 236 pp. Softcover, $14.95.   Behold, born to us is a sequel to Marty Essen’s Time Is Irreverent, the madcap sci-fi metanovel that I reviewed favorably in these pages (FI, October/November 2018). As before, the book is …

Atheism, Morality, and the Kingdom of God, by David K. Clark (Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-5275-1963-3). 177 pp. Hardcover, £58.99.   How should an atheist read the Judaic/Christian scriptures, the Old and New Testaments? Some atheists see no other use for the Bible than to mine it for passages to discomfort believers. There …

My Life as a Rat, by Joyce Carol Oates (New York: Ecco, 2019, ISBN 978-0-06-289983-5). 416 pp. Hardcover, $28.99.   There are certain things you don’t talk about, such as your brothers cleaning their murder weapon, the math teacher who drugged you, or the uncle who lusted after you. In this riveting yet grim forty-fourth …

Identity—the Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, by Francis Fukuyama (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018, ISBN 978-0-37-412929-3). 240 pp. Hardcover, $26.00.   Francis Fukuyama’s 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man importantly broadened my political perspective. Now he’s written Identity—the Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. …

Atheism and Agnosticism, by Graham Oppy (Elements in the Philosophy of Religion Series, Cambridge University Press, 2018, ISBN 978-1108454728). 67 pp. Softcover, $18.00.   The Cambridge Elements series aims to provide brief, authoritative introductions to subjects of interest. This volume delivers admirably. At sixty-seven pages, it’s nearly too short to stand alone as a book. …

Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely, by Andrew S. Curran (New York, New York: Other Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-59051-670-6). 320 pp. Hardcover, $26.95.             “Skepticism is the first step toward truth.” —Denis Diderot Denis Diderot just wanted to level the playing field: religious zealots on one side, and he …

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life, by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore (New York: Norton, 2018, ISBN 978-0-393-25496-9). 236 pp. Hardcover, $26.95.   Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore’s new book, Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic, carries the subtitle Atheists in American Public Life. But it could just …

The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American, by Andrew L. Seidel (New York: Sterling, 2019, ISBN 978-1454933274). 343 pp. Hardcover, $24.95.   The term game changer is tossed around too often in publishing these days. That’s a shame, because every now and then, a book comes along that really does change the game. However, …

The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism, by Russell Blackford (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, ISBN 978-1-3500-5600-8). 244 pp. Paperback, $26.95.   A liberal Muslim who opposes Islamists, is critical of Islamic fundamentalism, and calls for Muslims to accept secular government is labeled an anti-Muslim extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center. An …

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming, by David Wallace-Wells (New York: Tim Duggan Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2019, ISBN 9780525576709). 320 pp. Hardcover, $27.00.   So, how bad do you think climate change is going to be? Take a minute. Nah. It’ll be way …

The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money, by Bryan Caplan (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0-17465-5). 395 pp. Hardcover, $29.95.   This truly awful screed is reviewed here only because it has received peculiarly favorable ratings on Amazon and because it was extruded by, and therefore …

A Meaning to Life, by Michael Ruse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0-19-093322-7). 216 pp. Hardcover, $21.95.             “What is the meaning of life?” That is the kind of question that philosophers are presumed to address, yet many professional philosophers never ponder the issue, at least not explicitly. Surely, …

Disenchanted Lives: Apostasy and Ex-Mormonism among the Latter-day Saints, by E. Marshall Brooks (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0-8135-9218-3). 258 pp., $34.95.   Studies of people’s religious beliefs follow two basic forms. Most commonly, many people are surveyed and from their answers we learn about general trends in the population. Gallup, Pew, and …

Dangerous Illusions: How Religion Deprives Us of Happiness, by Vitaly Malkin, translated and adapted from the Russian by an unknown party (or parties) (London and New York: Arcadia Publishing, 2019, ISBN 9781911350286). 416 pp. Hardcover, $30.00.   Vitaly Malkin, sequentially a physicist, banker, Russian senator, and billionaire oligarch, aspires to a new (fifth?) career as …

Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even If the Universe Doesn’t, by Ralph Lewis, MD (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2018, ISBN 978-1-63388-385-7). 352 pp., Hardcover, $26.00.             At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life, by Guy P. Harrison (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2018, ISBN 978-1-63388-405-2). …

The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, by Catherine Nixey (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. ISBN 978-0544800885). 315 pp. Hardcover, $28.00.   In the final centuries of the Roman Empire, the Christian Church, as part of “God’s will,” annihilated the classical world of architecture, sculpture, painting, and literature to …

Plagues and the Paradox of Progress: Why the World Is Getting Healthier in Worrisome Ways, by Thomas J. Bollyky (MIT Press, Cambridge, 2018. ISBN 978-0-262-03844-4). 272 pages. $27.95   This book explains the history of infectious diseases and plagues and shows how science has worked to overcome them; the author, Thomas Bollyky, argues that the …

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, by Alec Nevala-Lee (New York: Dey St. [HarperCollins] 2018, ISBN 978-0-06-257194-6). 533 pp. Hardcover, $28.99.   In November 1988, Isaac Asimov asked me to introduce him at a major awards conference and ceremony held jointly at …