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jasperburns's review against another edition
5.0
View my best reviews and a collection of mental models at jasperburns.blog.
alanffm's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great read. I pretty much agree with 90% of both Sam Harris and Majid Nawaz arguments. My only disappointment is that this book is far too short. I'm also no too sure what Nawaz represents. At one point he mentions that human's know what is good and bad. This is a humanist argument. I don't think I understood how he re-conciliates his religious and humanist views together, when - at least to me - they fundamentally represent different things. Nevertheless I'm quite happy with this book and recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.
cameronbradley's review against another edition
5.0
This slim volume isn't a typical anti-religion manifesto by Sam Harris, nor is it a structured essay about Islam's dire need of reformation; it is literally a transcript of a spoken dialogue between Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz about the topic of Islam and the difficulties of integration and criticism.
I had the benefit of enjoying this read via audiobook, which to me seems like the ideal way to "read" a dialogue between two people. The fact that the book is read by the authors themselves is an added bonus. When the audiobook was recorded, the authors were naturally reading the transcripts of their previously-recorded conversation, so it felt slightly stilted and inauthentic, but I was pleased to discover that the last hour of the audiobook was a dialogue between the authors in real-time, discussing the subject matter of the book and how they think it has been received by the public.
I recommend anyone who is interested in religion in general and Islam in particular to check this book out. While you're at it, read Maajid Nawaz's memoir Radical and take a look at some of his interviews on YouTube. He is a very articulate speaker on Islam and he is doing extremely important and dangerous work de-radicalizing Islamists and former Jihadists that unfortunately many people on the left deny the necessity of.
I had the benefit of enjoying this read via audiobook, which to me seems like the ideal way to "read" a dialogue between two people. The fact that the book is read by the authors themselves is an added bonus. When the audiobook was recorded, the authors were naturally reading the transcripts of their previously-recorded conversation, so it felt slightly stilted and inauthentic, but I was pleased to discover that the last hour of the audiobook was a dialogue between the authors in real-time, discussing the subject matter of the book and how they think it has been received by the public.
I recommend anyone who is interested in religion in general and Islam in particular to check this book out. While you're at it, read Maajid Nawaz's memoir Radical and take a look at some of his interviews on YouTube. He is a very articulate speaker on Islam and he is doing extremely important and dangerous work de-radicalizing Islamists and former Jihadists that unfortunately many people on the left deny the necessity of.
thejdizzler's review against another edition
5.0
A thoughtful conversation between a Muslim reformer and a staunch atheist. I was very impressed with the civility of their conversation, even if they disagreed on many points. This should be the model of public discourse. Not screaming across the aisle at "libtards" or "fascists". As far as the actual content goes, this was an informative look at what is wrong with Islam, and we in the west need to stop apologizing for its many atrocities. Yet at the same time, we need to a tred a careful line between criticizing the ideology and criticizing the people who had adhere to it. The fact that Islam is a religion of peace may be a lie, but that does not mean that the vast majority of Muslims do not deserve our respect.
branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
A quick read, and absolutely a worthwhile endeavor, but ultimately less interesting than I'd hoped. If you've read Harris, you already know the arguments he makes against Islam, and he repeats them here in challenge to Nawaz. Nawaz is clearly a smart guy, and he's taken on a thankless job in attempting to push for a reform of Islam, so he's to be commended for that effort. But his responses to Harris are mostly along the lines of "The questions you've raised are serious problems for Muslims to address in our age." (p. 87) Yes, it's great to hear a Muslim even acknowledge that, but he fails to propose satisfying suggestions for how to address those questions. His writing is less clear than that of Harris, maybe because he has less clear positions to support. While Harris can make very pointed statements such as "Nor can one say that the central message of Islam is pacifism." (p. 68), Nawaz can only respond by proposing methodologies for interpreting scripture such as pointing out that "no text speaks for itself" (which is debatable) and emphasizing "relationship to scripture" in order to view "religion as more a spiritual journey, and less a set of legal injunctions." (p. 89) Again, I wouldn't call that a clearly stated position exactly, but if it means that Muslims need to do as many progressive Christians have done and simply start ignoring the parts of scripture that prevent them from participating in modern civilization, then I could not agree more.
expat37's review against another edition
5.0
An enlightening conversation that is well worth a read.
rinnyssance's review against another edition
5.0
Great book for anybody who doesn't understand the nuances in Islamic terrorism or the tribal wars in the middle east. But I will say if you don't like Sam Harris, you probably won't like this book. Majid Nawaz is very informative and I always love to hear his perspective, as he was once part of a terrorist organization himself. I plan to read more books by him.
kb_208's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really good short read. It's a well constructed and relevant conversation centered around discussing the common goals of a secularized government. There isn't much disagreement between them, as they have similar goals, just different thoughts on how to get there. I really enjoyed the respectful conversation between the authors. It gives a good incite about what needs to happen around the world and in Muslim theocracies to end the bloodshed based on literal readings of the holy book.