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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
The New York Times bestseller - a "crystal-clear, constantly engaging" (Jared Diamond) exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives and our interactions For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why--and how--it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion's evolution from "wild" folk belief to "domesticated" dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.
Book Details
- Publisher: Penguin Books
- Publish Date: Feb 1st, 2007
- Pages: 464
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.30in - 5.40in - 0.90in - 0.80lb
- EAN: 9780143038337
- Recommended age: 18-UP
- Categories: • Philosophy• Religion & Science• Philosophy & Social Aspects
About the Author
Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor, professor of philosophy, and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. His books include From Bacteria to Bach and Back, Freedom Evolves, Consciousness Explained and Darwin's Dangerous Idea, a finalist for the National Book Award.
Praise for this book
"Ambitious . . . an accessible account of what might be called the natural history of religion."
--The New Yorker "How would a visitor from Mars dispassionately explain human religion? . . . My guess is that the result would be something like this crystal-clear, constantly engaging, and enjoyable new book."
--Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse "Rich and rewarding . . . the main business of the book is to give a scientific account of how religion may have developed among creatures such as us. . . . The product of an extremely bright mind."
--San Francisco Chronicle "An elegant, sharp-minded essay on the need to study religion in a dispassionate way."
--The Economist "Penetrating . . . a sharp synthesis of a library of evolutionary, anthropological and psychological research on the origin and spread of religion."
--Scientific American
--The New Yorker "How would a visitor from Mars dispassionately explain human religion? . . . My guess is that the result would be something like this crystal-clear, constantly engaging, and enjoyable new book."
--Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse "Rich and rewarding . . . the main business of the book is to give a scientific account of how religion may have developed among creatures such as us. . . . The product of an extremely bright mind."
--San Francisco Chronicle "An elegant, sharp-minded essay on the need to study religion in a dispassionate way."
--The Economist "Penetrating . . . a sharp synthesis of a library of evolutionary, anthropological and psychological research on the origin and spread of religion."
--Scientific American