Ever since my girlfriend, Georgette, and I have been living together we have set aside the summer to trek to the bookstore and pick out books to read. This is a wonderful way to exercise our brains and a very satisfying way of expanding our horizons. Georgette reads more for fun and relaxation since she has been in nursing school and seeks time away from the factual data of bio, pathophys, and nursing lab course work. I on the other hand have already been thru that mill and seek to read non fiction. I enjoy reading about ideas that I have had but never dove much into in the past. Last summer I found books about Atheism and Religion. I myself do not believe nor have ever had the need for the belief in a higher power. I was brought up Jewish but it never stuck. For me it was always about what made sense not about faith. I was always interested in the world around me and how it worked. I wanted answers about my world. Faith was not an active mode for me. In was the opposite, it was about non action.
The two always seemed as opposites to me.
So I picked up "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris' "The End of Faith", and the Atheist Universe by David Mills. David Mills' book was about a previously religious man who turned atheist. His writing was not polished but his work was very educational. There was alot of factual information that was well organized. It introduced me to the arguments atheists use against claims made by theists and the reasoning behind them. I must say it was very entertaining. But seeing David on the internet I also felt he was not a good poster person for atheism. Sort of like having the shock jock as a libertarian candidate for president. It just doesn't work. Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris were more academic in their approaches. Sam Harris seems to have the bigger ax to grind against fundamentalist religion. Even moderates get some sand kicked at them in his book. I do understand his position but I'm still not convinced that atheists need be so militant in their reactions towards ALL theists. Richard Dawkins is a bit more my speed in that he seems to get the idea that theists are as varied as non believers in the degree to which they endanger the human race by their thought processes or lack of them.
This summer I'm looking for books on Capitalism and politics. I am interested in reading about the ideas of the founding fathers. I am interested in seeing where our country has gone astray (and yes I believe it has REALLY gone astray). The story of this disarray is long and involved which is why it's so critical to do alot of reading in this area.
Personally i'm sick and tired of people complaining year to year about how bad things are in the US and still only seeing that we either elect a democrat or a republican. People still don't seem to understand alot of basic ideas and philosophies that follow from a democratic world. I find it very interesting that people understand you can't be all things to all people all of the time but that they don't see this in terms of the government they want to live in. I'm specifically talking about how so many people believe that government is about helping the people instead of people helping themselves. I would love to know where it was written that the US government was created to create more government to give tax money to an infinite number of social programs? To me, THIS is the biggest reason we are in such an economic mess. You can't expect to tax the people to the hilt and then expect that you will ever have enough money to pay for all the wishes that the people will ever have. SOMEONE has to be dissappointed by not being able to have SOMETHING.
Should anyone want to add some of their ideas in terms of books already read or comments on the above books feel free to post reasonable comments. Wishing everyone a great day......
