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Are there any logical reasons to believe in God? Mathematician and bestselling author Paulos thinks not. In "Irreligion" he presents the case for his own worldview, organizing his book into 12 chapters that refute the 12 arguments most often put forward for believing in Gods existence.
| ISBN | 0809059193 | | Pages | 176 | | ISBN13 | 9780809059195
(What's this?) | | Volumes | 1 | | Publisher | Hill & Wang Inc.,U.S. | | Weight (grammes) | 254 | | Imprint | Hill & Wang Inc.,U.S. | | Height (mm) | 196 | | Format | Hardback | | Width (mm) | 144 | | Publication date | 01 Dec 2007 | | Spine width (mm) | 18 | | Library of Congress | 2007012210 | | Academic level | General | | DEWEY | 212.1 | | Alternative ISBN | 9781607756248 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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| | | Preface | | | | | | Four Classical Arguments | | | | | | The Argument from First Cause (and Unnecessary Intermediaries) | | 3 | | | | The Argument from Design (and Same Creationist Calculations) | | 10 | | | | A Personally Crafted Pseudoscience | | 23 | | | | The Argument from the Anthropic Principle (and a Probabilistic Doomsday) | | 27 | | | | The Ontological Argument (and Logical Abracadabra) | | 34 | | | | Self-Reference, Recursion, and Creation | | 44 | | | | Four Subjective Arguments | | | | | | The Argument from Coincidence (and 9/11 Oddities) | | 51 | | | | The Argument from Prophecy (and the Bible Codes) | | 60 | | | | An Anecdote on Emotional Need | | 71 | | | | The Argument from Subjectivity (and Faith, Emptiness, and Self) | | 74 | | | | The Argument from Interventions (and Miracles, Prayers, and Witnesses) | | 83 | | | | Remarks on Jesus and Other Figures | | 90 | | | | Four Psycho-Mathematical Arguments | | | | | | The Argument from Redefinition (and Incomprehensible Complexity) | | 99 | | | | The Argument from Cognitive Tendency (and Some Simple Programs) | | 106 | | | | My Dreamy Instant Message Exchange with God | | 116 | | | | The Universality Argument (and the Relevance of Morality and Mathematics) | | 122 | | | | The Gambling Argument (and Emotions from Prudence to Fear) | | 133 | | | | Atheists, Agnostics, and "Brights" | | 142 | | | | Index | | 151 |
"He's done it again. John Allen Paulos has written a charming book that takes you on a sojourn of flawless logic, with simple and clear examples drawn from math, science, and pop culture. At journey's end, Paulos has left you with plenty to think about, whether you are religious, irreligious, or anything in between." --Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History and author of ""Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries"" "For years John Allen Paulos has been our guide for reading newspapers, playing the stock market, and understanding what all those graphs and charts and formulas really mean. No one knows how to dissect an argument better than Paulos. Now he has turned his rapier wit to the grandest question of them all: is there a God? Those who are religious skeptics will find in Paulos's analysis new ways of looking at both old and new arguments, and those who believe that God's existence can be proven through science, reason, and logic will have to answer to this mathematician's penetrating analysis." --Michael Shermer, Publisher of "Skeptic" magazine, monthly columnist for "Scientific American," and the author of "How We Believe, The Science of Good and Evil," and "Why Darwin Matters" "Using the methods of mathematics, reason and logic, Paulos wrestles religious belief systems to the ground and in the process proves he is as good a writer as he is a mathematician. The book is short, to the point and humorous, and God knows, this subject could use more humor."--Joan Konner, Dean Emerita of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and editor of "The Atheist's Bible ""Another virtuoso performance from a master in the use of mathematics toexplore the conundrums and mysteries of everyday life."--Sylvia Nasar, author of "A Beautiful Mind" "John Allen Paulos has done us all a great service. ""Irreligion"" is an elegant and timely response to the manifold ignorance that still goes by the name of 'faith' in the 21st century."-- Sam Harris, author of the New York Times best sellers, "The End of Faith "and "Letter to a Christian Nation"
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