ah I see
I have the God Delusion book but haven't read it yet. I have a feeling it'd be preachy.
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:23, archived)

i thought it was quite reasonable
but i do find dawkins a bit to evangelical when on the tv
( Derek Monte subthread killer: qu'est-ce que c'est, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:27, archived)

I might dip in when I've finished my other Thinking Books.

( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:27, archived)

It's definitely polemical
I enjoyed it but I prefer his biology stuff like the Selfish Gene.
( in vino veritas, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:28, archived)

what's that about?
if it's not a stupid question.
edit: Fanks both - I might have to swallow my pride and read it then. But I'll do so in Emma Dawson's voice.
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:30, archived)

It was Dawkins' rebuttal of all pro-God arguments
and pretty much said that if you believed in a religion you were narrow-minded and dim.

EDIT: I just realised that you probably meant what was The Selfish Gene about, not God Delusion. The Selfish Gene was about the gene being the unit of inheritance rather than the individual organism, so explaining behaviour that seems illogical - an individual might die to save their relatives, thus continuing the gene. Bad explanation, sorry. Good book though.
( in vino veritas, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:35, archived)

In addition to being a shouty Non-God-Botherer
he's also more or less defined the way we think about genetics and evolution for the past 35 years or so.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins#Evolutionary_biology
The Selfish Gene is a Very Good Book Indeed.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:37, archived)

It is, I suppose
there's nothing shatteringly new that's not been repeated in a thousand Internet Debates already; it's a decent collection of simple anti-theist responses to the main theist arguments.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:28, archived)

It might be more useful to have Proper Arguments
rather than just glaring at the Overtly Religious.
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:29, archived)

It might
but it's hard when you start from such fundamentally different positions.

I find this to be a great comfort.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:33, archived)

haha
I didn't know there was a proper definition for not giving two shits :P
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:37, archived)

ooh, now Hedonism
there's the school of thought for me.
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:39, archived)

I was so proud when I thought of that phrase
only to find Wiki already had an entry and there's an established Church of Apatheism. Bah.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:43, archived)

founding a Church of Apatheism sounds like a lot of work, if I'm honest

( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:46, archived)

Don't worry
you're already a member.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:51, archived)

I'd cheer, but, y'know.
Effort.
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 22:52, archived)