What Books Are You Reading Right Now?

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What Books Are You Reading Right Now?

EDITED IN FROM SAPIENT: ALL BOOKS IN THIS THREAD CAN BE PURCHASED AT AMAZON AND A 5% COMMISSION WILL GO TO SUPPORT THIS WEBSITE.  USE THIS LINK: AMAZON BOOKS 

 

I've just finished Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel, which I liked ok, tho found a bit unsettling. Reading bad things about mad people you already don't like, who seem to be all around you, is a bit dumb.

Right now I'm reading Stenger's Failed Hypothesis. I like Stenger. Given I'm just at the beginning, the thing I like about this book is the flat observation that god is a human concept and the god model can only be proved if supported by data.

The idea of god as a model that must be proved like any other hypothesis is obvious but as we know, almost no theist will accept this. They'll revert to their proof by design or demand some 'beginning' that happens to be their loving heavenly father, a model that is completely undefined, never detected and yet invested with a blend of human and supernatural qualities.

I have Homer's Iliad one third-read on the bedside table but there's something about men constantly falling down with gouts of blood spraying and clashing armour as the light fades from their eyes that's repetitive and annoying. And so many, many gods.

What about you folks - any recommendations?

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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I am enjoying Timothy

I am enjoying Timothy Leary's The Politics of Ecstasy. The whole first chapter is about a study he performed when he got the churches permission to give some of their divinity students LSD and  recorded their spiritual experience's it has stats in there too.  Other than that i have on my list to read Dakwins The god delusion, Darwin Origin of Species then Dakwinks again in the Selfish Gene. I am actually new to any atheist authors or many in general expect authors of my school books so if anyone can recommend some good books to me  i would be delighted Smiling I also love essays


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I don't have any paper books

I don't have any paper books lined up to read - I may never buy another one, or very few.

The last 'books' I listened to, from Audible, on my iPod, were:

1. Pump Six and Other Stories (Unabridged), by Paolo Bacigalupi , an interestingly fresh style in Sci-Fi stories.

2. Collider (Unabridged) by Paul Halpern, a nice account of the stories behind the LHC, and accounts of the science hoped to come out of it.

Most recent one I have started actually reading, on my iPad, is the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", including the original artwork. I was inspired to go back to this after watching on DVD the recent film, "Alice in Wonderland", which I quite enjoyed.

Most memorable one in recent years was SlaughterHouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. (Audio book).  

 

Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality

"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris

The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me

From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology


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I haven't actually read the

I haven't actually read the book yet, since I have been traveling all over my province for work, but I did pick up the new Keith Richards book Life. I am a great fan of music and musicians and I have read so many books on them, but I haven't read anything on the stones, so i figured I might as well start with one of the more interesting guys in the bad, and lets admit a great guitarist as well.


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Right now, the book on the

Right now, the book on the night table is Hitchen's Portable Atheist (portable my ass it is huge).  For those who want essays on Atheism, that is a good set of several dozen.

 

In the bathroom, I am working on Richard Feynman's lost lecture.

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Cormac McCarthy

I am currently reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. He's hard to actually classify for the fiction genre. If you like William Faulkner, you would love Cormac McCarthy. Just returned a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison to the library.

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


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books

I'm reading The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller.  First in the series, I started by reading the 3rd - The Prodigal Mage and am working my way from the beginning.  Since I already know the ending, well..... But I like knowing the details of the entire story so I'll finish it and the second in the series.

Just finished Much Fall of Blood, the third in a series by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer.  If you don't like blood, you won't like this series.  I was thinking some of the bad guys were real drags.  Sort of like in Megamind where she is saying the crocodiles are so clichéd.

On the table waiting to be read is My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.  This book was written by a neurologist who had a stroke and she writes of her recovery.  My doctor strongly recommends it.   Stroke can happen to anyone regardless of their overall health and lack (or presence) of risk factors.

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

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I'm a devout reader.

 

 

 

                     Or has my mother use to say a 'heavy reader' .  Just to keep up appirences I am now feasting on "Uncle John's bathroom reader #23; plus 'Uncle John's Sports Spectacular', and 'Uncle John's "Quintessential Collection of Notable Quotables".   You can find them in the humor section of any book store;  I highly recommend any "Uncle John" books.

 

 

                    I am also reading Stephen Hawkings latest  "Grand design".  I do believe that Mr.Hawkings is dumping out his life long ambitions just before death comes. I believe he intends to make adjustments to that book IF nature allows him the time.

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I'm Reading "No god but God"

I'm Reading "No god but God" by Reza Aslan.... which is suicide inducing.

I need to finish so I can start reading this:  http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Rites-Christianity-Diana-Agorio/dp/0984610006/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282793008&sr=8-1 Which was written by a really cool chick I met on Facebook...

 


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 I'm reading "Dexter by

 I'm reading "Dexter by Design" the 4th Dexter novel by Jeff Lindsay and I also have the 5th as soon as I finish. Jeff is a fellow Floridan I met in 2008 at a book signing when he was promoting the 3rd book "Dexter in the Dark" so I have a signed 1st Edition of that one.

I just finished reading the 5th Dexta novel by CJ Ryan a sex filled pulp Sci-Fi book called "Kiss of the Gods".

And for my history hobby I'm working my way through Warren Treadgold's "A History of the Byzantine State & Society" about 1000 pages.

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"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me

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currently reading Human

currently reading Human Action by Ludwig von Mises

 

will take a break from that and read The Towers of Midnight as soon as Amazon delivers it


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I'm reading Genius, a

I'm reading Genius, a biography of Richard Feynmann. Just started, but so far it's pretty good.

Also, A Mind at a Time, by Mel Levine, which is about education and learning, and how teaching children requires understanding their individual differences in learning abilities and attention and other aspects of their brain function. Quite interesting and useful in my current job as a tutor.

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Lots of options

The Atheists Way, Eric Maisel

Reviews the importance of and methodology for making meaning in life.  Believers might search for their place in a divine plan, attempting to 'find' meaning.  Atheists understand that there is no divine plan, but rather an uninterested universe.  There are great opportunities to influence other individuals and the world around us to flourish and grow.  The Atheist's Way talks about the intentional activity of making meaning for our lives that leads to personal flourishing and a lasting, positive personal legacy.

A website and about 40 podcasts are also available.

 


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I just finished Valerie

I just finished Valerie Tarico's "Trusting Doubt" in Kindle format from Amazon. She's an ex-evangelical and a psychologist. Most of it will be familiar to followers of ex-somethings, but there are always some bits that are informative and I enjoyed it.

 

I'm also nearing the end of Susan Jacoby's "Freethinkers - a history of American Secularism" and that's been quite informative. Watching the ebb and flow of non-believers in U.S. history and how they were once tolerated as well as the changing landscape from Enlightenment thinking to evangelicalism by the turn of the nation's first century, and how freethought influenced changes can be fascinating.

 

I also downloaded that Christmas for Atheists book that Brian and Hemant linked to. What little I've read was entertaining.

 

 


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My reading habits are mostly

My reading habits are mostly pretty predictable.  I'm currently reading Dawkins' The Greatest Show On Earth and Hawking's The Grand Design.  I'm not very far into them yet so there's not much for me to say except that I'm finding them interesting. 

Just for shits and giggles, I'm also reading Dan Brown's Angels & Demons.  It's not to be taken seriously, of course, but it's an easy and entertaining read.  What -- you never eat any junk food at all?!

(My reading had fallen off in recent years due to difficulty in seeing the letters clearly.  I got new reading glasses this year so now I'm catching up.)

Not long ago, I finished Hitchens' Hitch 22 , which I enjoyed.  However, I found myself wondering whether it was really necessary for him to send his readers to the dictionary quite so often.  Not long before that, I read God is Not Great.  In that one, I actually learned about some horrors of religion that were new to me.

Last year, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I don't watch a lot of movies and I hadn't heard of or seen the film version of the book -- I was just bored, stranded in a small town while car repairs were being done and the book caught my eye in a drugstore.  It's certainly not a pleasant read -- it's a rather dark and desolate story -- but I found it quite compelling.  If I recall correctly, it pretty godless, too.

 

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Tucker Max

 I'm reading I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL by Tucker Max, from http://tuckermax.com/

He leads the kind if amoral life that I find suitable for myself, and I aspire to be this man.

 


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natural wrote:I'm reading

natural wrote:

I'm reading Genius, a biography of Richard Feynmann. Just started, but so far it's pretty good.

Also, A Mind at a Time, by Mel Levine, which is about education and learning, and how teaching children requires understanding their individual differences in learning abilities and attention and other aspects of their brain function. Quite interesting and useful in my current job as a tutor.

 

I read A Mind at a Time.  Excellent.  I wish it had come out years ago when my sons were young.  My middle son is ADHD but slow (more common in girls), and the youngest son has a communication disorder.  It would have really helped me cope with teachers who had no clue and who should not have been teaching special ed kids in a regular class.

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


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cj wrote:natural wrote:I'm

cj wrote:

natural wrote:

I'm reading Genius, a biography of Richard Feynmann. Just started, but so far it's pretty good.

Also, A Mind at a Time, by Mel Levine, which is about education and learning, and how teaching children requires understanding their individual differences in learning abilities and attention and other aspects of their brain function. Quite interesting and useful in my current job as a tutor.

 

I read A Mind at a Time.  Excellent.  I wish it had come out years ago when my sons were young.  My middle son is ADHD but slow (more common in girls), and the youngest son has a communication disorder.  It would have really helped me cope with teachers who had no clue and who should not have been teaching special ed kids in a regular class.

 

I have the non-hyperactive version of ADHD, too. Just got diagnosed a little over a year ago. Explains a whole lot about my life.

The kids I work with are at all different levels, and it's really striking to me just how differently they learn, and how that affects my teaching approach.

I bet there's a lot that folks here at RRS could get out of a book like that in terms of applying it to discussions with theists and other people. In a sense, we're trying to teach them critical thinking skills, in a way. Makes sense that we might be able to use knowledge about the different types of learning difficulties even adults are still dealing with.

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cj
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natural wrote:cj

natural wrote:

cj wrote:

natural wrote:

I'm reading Genius, a biography of Richard Feynmann. Just started, but so far it's pretty good.

Also, A Mind at a Time, by Mel Levine, which is about education and learning, and how teaching children requires understanding their individual differences in learning abilities and attention and other aspects of their brain function. Quite interesting and useful in my current job as a tutor.

 

I read A Mind at a Time.  Excellent.  I wish it had come out years ago when my sons were young.  My middle son is ADHD but slow (more common in girls), and the youngest son has a communication disorder.  It would have really helped me cope with teachers who had no clue and who should not have been teaching special ed kids in a regular class.

 

I have the non-hyperactive version of ADHD, too. Just got diagnosed a little over a year ago. Explains a whole lot about my life.

The kids I work with are at all different levels, and it's really striking to me just how differently they learn, and how that affects my teaching approach.

I bet there's a lot that folks here at RRS could get out of a book like that in terms of applying it to discussions with theists and other people. In a sense, we're trying to teach them critical thinking skills, in a way. Makes sense that we might be able to use knowledge about the different types of learning difficulties even adults are still dealing with.

 

My son was bad enough he couldn't follow Sesame Street at times.  And getting him dressed for school was a major battle.  Hope you aren't struggling as much.

There are obvious learning style differences.  Seems to me that most of us RRS folks are more analytical in their mental processing.  The book was addressing basic academic skills - reading and following a lecture - but I don't recall much in the way of addressing increasing critical thinking skills.  And determining how a person learns requires more than a few paragraphs written anonymously on a forum.

Drives me crazy - if I get a computer user who says "just tell me what buttons to push" I am so out of there.  And it seems a lot of the theist types are from the button pushers group.

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


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Dead set?

BobSpence1 wrote:

I don't have any paper books lined up to read - I may never buy another one, or very few.

The last 'books' I listened to, from Audible, on my iPod, were:

1. Pump Six and Other Stories (Unabridged), by Paolo Bacigalupi , an interestingly fresh style in Sci-Fi stories.

2. Collider (Unabridged) by Paul Halpern, a nice account of the stories behind the LHC, and accounts of the science hoped to come out of it.

Most recent one I have started actually reading, on my iPad, is the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", including the original artwork. I was inspired to go back to this after watching on DVD the recent film, "Alice in Wonderland", which I quite enjoyed.

Most memorable one in recent years was SlaughterHouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. (Audio book).  

 

No more paper books ever? Have been thinking about the Kindle but I like owning books... Do you find you always get the titles you want?

I was attracted to the Kindle as a means of carrying 50 books away on holiday rather than a replacement for a library. What's the reading experience like?

 

 

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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Atheistextremist

Atheistextremist wrote:

BobSpence1 wrote:

I don't have any paper books lined up to read - I may never buy another one, or very few.

The last 'books' I listened to, from Audible, on my iPod, were:

1. Pump Six and Other Stories (Unabridged), by Paolo Bacigalupi , an interestingly fresh style in Sci-Fi stories.

2. Collider (Unabridged) by Paul Halpern, a nice account of the stories behind the LHC, and accounts of the science hoped to come out of it.

Most recent one I have started actually reading, on my iPad, is the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", including the original artwork. I was inspired to go back to this after watching on DVD the recent film, "Alice in Wonderland", which I quite enjoyed.

Most memorable one in recent years was SlaughterHouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. (Audio book).  

 

No more paper books ever? Have been thinking about the Kindle but I like owning books... Do you find you always get the titles you want?

I was attracted to the Kindle as a means of carrying 50 books away on holiday rather than a replacement for a library. What's the reading experience like?

I did insert 'may' in there, but reading a book on the iPad is great, in anything but bright sunlight, and I would retire to the shade then anyway to avoid the melanoma germs. And it allows me to do a shit load of other things, like browsing the web, even writing, and working stuff out with a spreadsheet, watching movies/videos, with the one device.

Audio books are a compromise, can't go back and forth to specific passages, or search for when something was mentioned, but they do allow me to catch up on titles while doing stuff which is relatively mindless, like walking, shopping, cycling, riding public transport, even driving (in not too demanding conditions).

I have no particular attachment to paper books, although it is nice to have ones with actual signatures of people like Richard Dawkins and James Randi.

If I could all the books cluttering my house onto my iPad, illustrations, colour or b/w, the lot, I'd toss em out like a shot. Well maybe not all, there a few which do have some 'sentimental' value.

Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality

"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris

The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me

From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology


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Amazon comes through with a

Amazon comes through with a quick delivery on The Towers of Midnight, woot!


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Just started the amber

Just started the amber spyglass in the his dark materials trilogy. For anyone who doesn't know its part of the golden compass series.

Girlfriend is getting me the god delusion for christmas. Super excited about that


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AtheistExtremist wrote:What Books are you reading ?

     I just got done reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali "Nomads"and Noam Chomsky's book "Rethinking Camalot" a very good book that's about JFK (Hawk) internal records show that he was not going to pull out American soldiers from Viet-Nam until victory was assured,  and all the bullshit that people believe about his administration.I also just ordered a few books from Amazon (1)" Interventions" by Noam Chomsky,(2)"Profit Over People"by Noam Chomsky,(3)"Triple Cross:How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA,The Green Berets and the FBI-and why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him"by Peter Lance I also got a few books from the Library-"Einstein's Cosmos"by Michio Kaku, " Hyperspace:A  Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes,Time Warps,and the 10th Dimension"by Michio Kaku and "Visions"by Michio Kaku.I'm also reading "Chomsky on Anarchism","Everything You Know is Wrong"by Russ Kick there are so many books that I want to read,but I don't have the time. 

Signature ? How ?


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Hello

Hello,

I'm currently going through the Book of Daniel in the Bible. A good book. Especially since it's inspired by God. I was also reading through the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (8 Volumes). It's a fascinating set. Especially the parts regarding empiricism and Rationalism. Freedom was also interesting as it talked about the negation of freedom via free will. More specifically, free will is a negation from something.

Which begs the question. Whom is your will free from?

I'm sure all atheists on here will jump at the question and answer with glee.

It also has an historical reference of negative of freedom among the Pagan Greek Stoics. But more on that later.

Though at some point I need to get back to reading Clark's book on Historography.  A difficult book since it is in technical language, but fascinating via some of the history and methods used by secular pagans and heretics of today. Many are my friends I would gladly share a beer with.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).

A Rational Christian of Intelligence (rare)with a valid and sound justification for my epistemology and a logical refutation for those with logical fallacies and false worldviews upon their normative of thinking in retrospect to objective normative(s). This is only understood via the imago dei in which we all are.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).


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You really are the embodiment of Poe's Law, Jean.

 

Jean Chauvin wrote:

Hello,

I'm currently going through the Book of Daniel in the Bible. A good book. Especially since it's inspired by God.

 

You can tell it's inspired by god because the prose is so beautiful it glitters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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Hi

Hi Atheist Extremist,

Nice one. Are you an extremist, like a Jihad Atheist? What is meant by extremist. Would you ever have a beer with me or would you shoot me? Relax and argue. Daniel is inspired by God as an axiom first principle. And the doctrines are implications of the axiom. So when we read about the Pit of Fire in Revelation 20 during the White throne Judgment. And we read that if your name is not read in the book of life, you will be thrown into the pit.

That's you.

Unless of course, you call 1-800-heaven. It's a free call. Only through Jesus and Jesus alone can one be with the Father (John 14:6). This can only happen if God raises you from the dead, and your nature corresponds to your choices. Though God may hate you, I'm not sure. You will not know this until you die. All those at the White Throne Judgment will be eternal toast.

Praise God, for He is Merciful, and JUST.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).

A Rational Christian of Intelligence (rare)with a valid and sound justification for my epistemology and a logical refutation for those with logical fallacies and false worldviews upon their normative of thinking in retrospect to objective normative(s). This is only understood via the imago dei in which we all are.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).


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 For entertainment I just

 For entertainment I just finished The Night Angel Trilogy written by Brent Weeks, a new and very talented fantasy writer. Now I am reading Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha LAG Play by Jeff Hwang.

On a more serious note I am reading Bourbon For Breakfast by Jeffrey Tucker (political book) and Towards a Theoretical Framework for British and International Economic History: Early Modern England by Sudha R. Shenoy.

If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X


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Reccomend Cormac McCarthy

NoDeity wrote:
.

Last year, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I don't watch a lot of movies and I hadn't heard of or seen the film version of the book -- I was just bored, stranded in a small town while car repairs were being done and the book caught my eye in a drugstore.  It's certainly not a pleasant read -- it's a rather dark and desolate story -- but I found it quite compelling.  If I recall correctly, it pretty godless, too.

 

The Road is a pretty good read, but not my personal favorite of Cormac McCarthy. Most of Cormac McCarthy books are pretty desolate and dark. But if I were going to reccomend picking up any of them, it would probably be Suttree. I agree that much of McCarthy's work hints at the possibility of a godless world, but his gift of prose and description is why I like him. There is a very subtle hint of godlessness in his book, Child of God, a story about a deranged murderer that lives in the countryside and is told from his point of view. At first glance, Child of God seemed to be just another shock-value type of story filled with depravity. But the second time that I picked it up, I saw all sorts of implied meanings and ideas underneath the surface. Whether that was the author's intention or just my imagination is anybody's guess.

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


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There's that implicit threat from the 'loving' god again.

Jean Chauvin wrote:

Hi Atheist Extremist,

Nice one. Are you an extremist, like a Jihad Atheist? What is meant by extremist. Would you ever have a beer with me or would you shoot me? Relax and argue. Daniel is inspired by God as an axiom first principle. And the doctrines are implications of the axiom. So when we read about the Pit of Fire in Revelation 20 during the White throne Judgment. And we read that if your name is not read in the book of life, you will be thrown into the pit.

That's you.

Unless of course, you call 1-800-heaven. It's a free call. Only through Jesus and Jesus alone can one be with the Father (John 14:6). This can only happen if God raises you from the dead, and your nature corresponds to your choices. Though God may hate you, I'm not sure. You will not know this until you die. All those at the White Throne Judgment will be eternal toast.

Praise God, for He is Merciful, and JUST.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).

 

At least we know where you stand on morality, now Jean. Squarely for yourself.

 

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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Hi AtheistExtremist

HI AtheistExtremist,

You are growing on me. Your hood thing is a little creepy, but I enjoy sparing with you.

Have you ever read the Bible? Or do you use it to help make fires?

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).

A Rational Christian of Intelligence (rare)with a valid and sound justification for my epistemology and a logical refutation for those with logical fallacies and false worldviews upon their normative of thinking in retrospect to objective normative(s). This is only understood via the imago dei in which we all are.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).


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Ummmm

Jean Chauvin wrote:

HI AtheistExtremist,

You are growing on me. Your hood thing is a little creepy, but I enjoy sparing with you.

Have you ever read the Bible? Or do you use it to help make fires?

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).

 

Dad evangelical minister, mother brethren missionary in lebanon for ten years, brother lay preacher, brother in law preacher, my sis-in laws parents are both preachers. My great, great uncle was a founder of the Pentecostal church in NZ. I'm actually dating a preacher's daugher at the moment.

My entire family down to my great neices and great nephews are gospel christians mostly with interpretative tendencies, particularly elder brother, tho mum and my bro in law are diehard fundies of the NZ Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

I know bible but only in English. I think our leading biblical scholars here are JGadfly and John Paul. They are both decent, patient debaters with solid grounding in bible and biblical history among other things. 

Personally, I spent many of my latter-day three sermons a week fantasising about Michelle Simpson and Fiona Flowers but it's hard not to imbibe some church spirit when you grow up in the manse.

I have a large number of bibles. About 5 I think. And the Koran, the Gnostic, the Nag Hammadi and some Eastern. I did burn a copy of the scottish psalter as a boy but it was an accident. 

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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books

Currently I am re-reading The Lord of the Rings(great book IMO).  Next on the docket will be Stephen King's Just After Sunset.  Will be reading Angels and Demons soon.

The last non-fiction I read was The God Delusion.  Will probably pick up The Grand Design as soon as I have the money.

Anybody else know of some great horror fiction? I am always looking for those.

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Taking a break from James

Taking a break from James Joyce's Ulysses (reading along with an audiobook has helped, but that is a MONSTER of a book) to read Henry David Thoreau's Walden. It's such a great example of finding beauty and significance in empirical reality.

"The Aim of an Argument...should not be victory, but progress."
-Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

"All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed."
-Richard Adams, Watership Down, 1972


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Hi Extremeist

Hi Extremeist,

Most PK Kids are brats. They rebel and hate God. This is because the pastors are so busy with others, they don't take time for their kids. I too married a pk kid.

Pentecostals are strange indeed. Some are even cultic. I was at the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Conference in 2006 in LA. I saw a few people demon possessed.

The TBN folks are cultic. Copeland, Hinn, Hagin, Price, etc, etc. Copeland said God is a little taller then he is. About 6"2, 6"3 maybe.

Pentecostals are really into mysticism and feelings. They tend to be absurd. No wonder you became an atheist.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).

A Rational Christian of Intelligence (rare)with a valid and sound justification for my epistemology and a logical refutation for those with logical fallacies and false worldviews upon their normative of thinking in retrospect to objective normative(s). This is only understood via the imago dei in which we all are.

Respectfully,

Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).


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Just finished the his dark

Just finished the his dark materials trilogy. Very touching. Will stay with me for a long time coming. Next will be the god delusion but it will have to wait until after christmas I'm afraid. I'm impatient lol


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harleysportster

harleysportster wrote:

NoDeity wrote:
.

Last year, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I don't watch a lot of movies and I hadn't heard of or seen the film version of the book -- I was just bored, stranded in a small town while car repairs were being done and the book caught my eye in a drugstore.  It's certainly not a pleasant read -- it's a rather dark and desolate story -- but I found it quite compelling.  If I recall correctly, it pretty godless, too.

 

The Road is a pretty good read, but not my personal favorite of Cormac McCarthy. Most of Cormac McCarthy books are pretty desolate and dark. But if I were going to reccomend picking up any of them, it would probably be Suttree. I agree that much of McCarthy's work hints at the possibility of a godless world, but his gift of prose and description is why I like him. There is a very subtle hint of godlessness in his book, Child of God, a story about a deranged murderer that lives in the countryside and is told from his point of view. At first glance, Child of God seemed to be just another shock-value type of story filled with depravity. But the second time that I picked it up, I saw all sorts of implied meanings and ideas underneath the surface. Whether that was the author's intention or just my imagination is anybody's guess.

Interesting.  I may look into more of his work, then.  Thanks.

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sbowman1983 wrote:Just

sbowman1983 wrote:
Just finished the his dark materials trilogy. Very touching. Will stay with me for a long time coming. Next will be the god delusion but it will have to wait until after christmas I'm afraid. I'm impatient lol

yeah, I read the series, too.  For some reason, I found it boring and a little creepy.  The thought of having a soul embodied in a creature that can be hurt - parents lying and who knows who is telling the truth - one step away from a theocracy - unsettling - creepy.  Boring because it seemed to me the entire story could have easily fit in one book.

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


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I have a bunch of

NoDeity wrote:

harleysportster wrote:

NoDeity wrote:
.

Last year, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I don't watch a lot of movies and I hadn't heard of or seen the film version of the book -- I was just bored, stranded in a small town while car repairs were being done and the book caught my eye in a drugstore.  It's certainly not a pleasant read -- it's a rather dark and desolate story -- but I found it quite compelling.  If I recall correctly, it pretty godless, too.

 

The Road is a pretty good read, but not my personal favorite of Cormac McCarthy. Most of Cormac McCarthy books are pretty desolate and dark. But if I were going to reccomend picking up any of them, it would probably be Suttree. I agree that much of McCarthy's work hints at the possibility of a godless world, but his gift of prose and description is why I like him. There is a very subtle hint of godlessness in his book, Child of God, a story about a deranged murderer that lives in the countryside and is told from his point of view. At first glance, Child of God seemed to be just another shock-value type of story filled with depravity. But the second time that I picked it up, I saw all sorts of implied meanings and ideas underneath the surface. Whether that was the author's intention or just my imagination is anybody's guess.

Interesting.  I may look into more of his work, then.  Thanks.

 

friends who enjoy McCarthy but I struggle with him. Blood Meridian I could not finish - I could barely get through the film The Road. The only people who grouped defensively were cannibals while the parents and kids were isolated? That's not how humans operate.

I tend to think of McCarthy as a sort of literary dementor. He freezes the life out of every good thing leaving you to read in SepiaTone. When The Road came out in mono I thought it was his perfect visual medium. Awful film. 

 

 

 

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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.......

The Origin of Species - C Darwin

The Greatest Show on earth - R Dawkins (Signed copy, no less)

CISSP Study Guide - Various (Syngress)

CEH - Various (Cengage)

 

Yes, I'm supremely dull.

 

How can not believing in something that is backed up with no empirical evidence be less scientific than believing in something that not only has no empirical evidence but actually goes against the laws of the universe and in many cases actually contradicts itself? - Ricky Gervais


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I think you're doing ok, Abu.

Abu Lahab wrote:

The Origin of Species - C Darwin

The Greatest Show on earth - R Dawkins (Signed copy, no less)

CISSP Study Guide - Various (Syngress)

CEH - Various (Cengage)

 

Yes, I'm supremely dull.

 

 

I'm reading Joe Reimer's The Promotion of Moral Growth in my lunchtimes. Two pages of it gives me the nods.

 

 

 

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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Abu Lahab wrote:The Origin

Abu Lahab wrote:

The Origin of Species - C Darwin

The Greatest Show on earth - R Dawkins (Signed copy, no less)

CISSP Study Guide - Various (Syngress)

CEH - Various (Cengage)

 

Yes, I'm supremely dull.

 

 

I got my CISSP last year.  I don't know that I could recommend a particular study guide of the ones I read.  They all seemed about the same and they all seemed to be about as useful for the test.

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


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 Well, if we are going into

 

Well, if we are going into computer books, I would recommend two series.

 

First would be the “Unleashed” series from SAMS publishing. Think of “Linux Unleashed” as the example here. Pretty much, it will be a college course that covers a couple of semesters in one book.

 

Second would be the “In a nutshell” series from O'Reilly publishing. In the same vein, “Linux in a nutshell”. That will be your quick reference book on the topic. It will nearly never go into detail but it will quickly tell you the proper syntax and arguments for the task at hand.

 

The first is the in depth book and the second is the quick reference book. For any give topic, they will work well together.

 

Obviously, if you want to get good at any topic, you need to go to school but you can get decent if you work the whole of the unleashed book. The nutshell book is there for the times when it is handy. Between the two, you have a good education in any topic.

 

In all honesty, I would say that you need to avoid the “In 21 days” series. It moves you through stuff fast enough that you will never get the deep knowledge.

 

There is a continuum here:

 

If you want to be pebkac, then you need frequent help from the odbc.

 

If you want to get past that, then get the “for dummies” books.

 

If you want to make a total stinking mess of your company that will take a real nerd months to sort out, the get the “In 21 days” books.

 

If you want to do a decent job that will work and will adapt to new factors, then get the two books that I recommend.

 

If you want the deep learning, the go to school.

 

There are also certifications that you can get. I will not say that they are useless but they are less useful than they used to be. Today, there is a glut in the market of people who got certs but never bothered going past that. Currently, it is a market controlled by employers.

 

Going to school puts you into more of an employee driven market.

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Atheistextremist wrote:

Atheistextremist wrote:
When

The Road

came out in mono I thought it was his perfect visual medium. Awful film.


Haven't seen the film and don't plan to.  I have a quirk that some people seem to find strange: I think almost all movies are terrible.  I did rather perversely enjoy the book but I can't imagine sitting through a film adaptation.

Reality is the graveyard of the gods.


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I'm not reading anything at

I'm not reading anything at the moment as I have exhausted my most recent purchase and it takes weeks, sometimes months, to get anything shipped here. I finished Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt a week ago.

It takes a village to raise an idiot.

Save a tree, eat a vegetarian.

Sometimes " The Majority " only means that all the fools are on the same side.


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Where are you in the

Desdenova wrote:

I'm not reading anything at the moment as I have exhausted my most recent purchase and it takes weeks, sometimes months, to get anything shipped here. 

 

world, Des?

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck


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Atheistextremist

Atheistextremist wrote:

world, Des?

Hmmm? Seems like the third world most of the time. Arctic circle. Inupiat trading hub village.

It takes a village to raise an idiot.

Save a tree, eat a vegetarian.

Sometimes " The Majority " only means that all the fools are on the same side.


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Desdenova

Desdenova wrote:

Atheistextremist wrote:

world, Des?

Hmmm? Seems like the third world most of the time. Arctic circle. Inupiat trading hub village.

 

i'm not familiar with the Inupiat - which continent?

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


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cj wrote:i'm not familiar

cj wrote:

i'm not familiar with the Inupiat - which continent?

Northernmost part of North America....Eskimo.

It takes a village to raise an idiot.

Save a tree, eat a vegetarian.

Sometimes " The Majority " only means that all the fools are on the same side.


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Desdenova wrote:cj wrote:i'm

Desdenova wrote:

cj wrote:

i'm not familiar with the Inupiat - which continent?

Northernmost part of North America....Eskimo.

 

My problem with "Eskimo" is it used to mean (for me if for no one else) any person who lived above the arctic circle who was not obviously caucasian.  I know better now, but I have not taken the time to get informed.

I would imagine this time of year especially it would be difficult to get shipments in.  We are having enough trouble here near Portland, OR.  Highways to the east of us have been ice/snow/sleet/rain in no particular order with large trucks jackknifed and people skidding around.  Visibility on Mt Hood tanked, so they closed that road for a half day.

I know, no where near as bad as near you.

 

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


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cj wrote:Desdenova wrote:cj

cj wrote:

Desdenova wrote:

cj wrote:

i'm not familiar with the Inupiat - which continent?

Northernmost part of North America....Eskimo.

 

My problem with "Eskimo" is it used to mean (for me if for no one else) any person who lived above the arctic circle who was not obviously caucasian.  I know better now, but I have not taken the time to get informed.

I would imagine this time of year especially it would be difficult to get shipments in.  We are having enough trouble here near Portland, OR.  Highways to the east of us have been ice/snow/sleet/rain in no particular order with large trucks jackknifed and people skidding around.  Visibility on Mt Hood tanked, so they closed that road for a half day.

I know, no where near as bad as near you.

 

It takes a village to raise an idiot.

Save a tree, eat a vegetarian.

Sometimes " The Majority " only means that all the fools are on the same side.