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cosmicvulture's reviews
531 reviews
God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales by Penn Jillette
4.0
If you like Penn Jillette, you’ll like this book. If you don’t you wont. The book is sold as a book sort of about Penn being an atheist and presenting his atheist suggestions corresponding to the Ten Commandments. And that is how it’s framed, but, it’s mostly just Penn ramblin’. He curses a lot, he talks a lot about sex, he’s pretty funny, he’s Penn.
God, No! is basically a vehicle for Penn to tell stories that are funny, crazy, sexy, heartfelt, or a combination of those. He makes them fit into some theme about why god doesn’t exist. So that’s cool with me. He makes some very strong points, but doesn’t harp on them. He’s not a scientist, or a philosopher, but those magicians have a pretty good track record in atheism and skepticism (no wonder), and his approach is still interesting (what a useless word, right?), even if it’s not as nuanced or rock solidly rational as something you might get from a “pro” at this.
If you like Penn (& Teller), have ever watched and enjoyed their show Bullshit!, or anything else featuring them, you’ll probably be able to hear this book in Penn’s voice when you read, because he’s got a memorable way of talking. Imagining him reading it to you makes the book even more enjoyable. I could tell you about most of the stories in this book, but I couldn’t really tell you which “commandment”/”suggestion” they were used as support for. But that’s fine. I don’t think Penn’s looking to gain any converts here. I think he’s speaking to his audience, and they’re there because they know they’ll enjoy it. I did.
God, No! is basically a vehicle for Penn to tell stories that are funny, crazy, sexy, heartfelt, or a combination of those. He makes them fit into some theme about why god doesn’t exist. So that’s cool with me. He makes some very strong points, but doesn’t harp on them. He’s not a scientist, or a philosopher, but those magicians have a pretty good track record in atheism and skepticism (no wonder), and his approach is still interesting (what a useless word, right?), even if it’s not as nuanced or rock solidly rational as something you might get from a “pro” at this.
If you like Penn (& Teller), have ever watched and enjoyed their show Bullshit!, or anything else featuring them, you’ll probably be able to hear this book in Penn’s voice when you read, because he’s got a memorable way of talking. Imagining him reading it to you makes the book even more enjoyable. I could tell you about most of the stories in this book, but I couldn’t really tell you which “commandment”/”suggestion” they were used as support for. But that’s fine. I don’t think Penn’s looking to gain any converts here. I think he’s speaking to his audience, and they’re there because they know they’ll enjoy it. I did.
An Extraordinary Life by Princess Mehrunissa of Rampur
4.0
Four stars because I know the author and can get a little more out of this than the average person picking up the book. She says herself the editing of this book was absolutely terrible. She's right. There's a real problem with jumping around in time, with things sounding very out of place. It's sometimes hard to keep reading without thinking, "why would she write it this way?" Since the book is so short, you can pretty easily just recall where this one paragraph or section SHOULD have gone, and pretend it was there. Putting these issues aside, what an amazing story. I don't think most people, especially Americans, have any concept of the fact that there are people alive right now who had such incredible lives, so different from everything we know now. Grew up a an Indian Princess, got herself a divorce, married a very high ranking fellow in the Pakistani army, met a slew of important figures: Nehru, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Mao Tse Tung, King Hussein of Jordan, the Shah of Iran, and the list goes on. The woman is nutty and inspiring, and even when she's talking about eschewing the lifestyle of royalty, she still sounds like a princess...
Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest For the Origins of Behavior by Jonathan Weiner
5.0