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A review by chrysemys
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett
2.0
2.5*
This book is extremely dense and apparently so am I.
On one hand, it is nice to have a perspective other than that of Richard Dawkins (although Dennett refers to his work frequently) when reading about religion, skepticism, and biological/mimetic fitness. On the other hand, Dawkins does a really good job at writing about these things--feeding the reader small bits of information and then returning to the point he is making--while Dennett... is a philosopher. About halfway through I lost track of what Dennett was trying to accomplish.
Unfortunately (for me, anyway) the subtitle "Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" mostly does not entail examining the minutiae of the interconnections between religious belief/practice and human biological existence. Dennett largely seems to be using this book as a platform to advocate studying religion impartially and rigorously, as just another non-supernatural human enterprise. Sounds fine to me, Dan.
I might take another whack at this book at a later date, but for now I'm looking for something mindless as a palate cleanser.
This book is extremely dense and apparently so am I.
On one hand, it is nice to have a perspective other than that of Richard Dawkins (although Dennett refers to his work frequently) when reading about religion, skepticism, and biological/mimetic fitness. On the other hand, Dawkins does a really good job at writing about these things--feeding the reader small bits of information and then returning to the point he is making--while Dennett... is a philosopher. About halfway through I lost track of what Dennett was trying to accomplish.
Unfortunately (for me, anyway) the subtitle "Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" mostly does not entail examining the minutiae of the interconnections between religious belief/practice and human biological existence. Dennett largely seems to be using this book as a platform to advocate studying religion impartially and rigorously, as just another non-supernatural human enterprise. Sounds fine to me, Dan.
I might take another whack at this book at a later date, but for now I'm looking for something mindless as a palate cleanser.