Philosophy Books - Page 9

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Sam Harris

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton Amazon Marketplace: 165 new & used starting at $3.05

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Current Events -> Terrorism
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Current Events -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Current Events -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 836 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

An impassioned plea for reason in a world divided by faith.

This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes-heinous crimes. He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one true god against another. Most controversially, he argues that we cannot afford moderate lip service to religion—an accommodation that only blinds us to the real perils of fundamentalism. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to invoke that need in taking a secular humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world.

Natalie Angier wrote in the New York Times: "The End of Faith articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated….Harris writes what a sizable number of us think, but few are willing to say."

Changes That Heal

Dr. Henry Cloud

List Price: $29.99 By: Zondervan Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $95.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Truly A Life Changer! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Changes That Heal is an incredible book. It explains human behavior but provides biblical principle to help in understanding. The book provides hope in that it explains all of the areas in which God wants us to learn to live and to be more like Him. It tackles the topics of boundaries, bonding, truth and grace, and many others. It allows the reader to take a look inside that is safe and not punishing. After reading Changes That Heal you will be able to prosper in all relationships through better understanding. I highly recommend this book!

Changed that heal book. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I have read this book, so I know what it's about. However, I purchased the book to be sent to someone else, and though the delivery confirmation indicated it was delivered, the book actually wasn't delivered. So the person I sent the book to, never received it. Amazon isjust now sendilng out a new book. I'm waiting to see if it arrives.

Editorial Review:

The author focuses on four developmental tasks--bonding to others, separating from others, integrating good and bad in our lives, and taking charge of our lives--that all of us must accomplish to heal our inner pain and to enable us to function and grow emotionally. Read by Dick Fredricks.

The New Strong-Willed Child

James C. Dobson

Amazon Price: $26.99 List Price: $26.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tyndale Audio Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $5.14

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Relationships -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

3 year old with a strong will 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I have a 3 year old that I have had trouble dealing with from the time she was born. She held her breath out of anger when the nurse gave her a bath and put that tiny shirt on her just one hour after birth. She cried for the first 4 months from a combination of colic and wanting to be able to do whatever she wanted to do, like walk. I thought after she learned to roll, then, sit, then crawl, then walk, etc that she would be less cranky; well that didn't happen. She continues to be fussy, demanding, and insists on getting her own way. She wants to control the people in her world. Discipline and punishment have been difficult and have yielded little results; at home and at preschool. I have suspected for some time that she is strong willed and her teacher this week, after a full week of time outs from not listening, stated she did not know what to do with my daughter. I have read Dr. Dobson's book. It has great insight into how these children think. I don't fully understand how they think because I do not think that way. Dr Dobson opened my eyes on some issues and brought to my attention the fact that my daughter seriously needs direction, before her teen years. I liked the book, but wish he had been more specific and listed more detailed ideas/tools to use when punishing/disciplining besides spanking. I am not opposed to spanking but I find most discipline, including spanking, timeouts, taking privileges away, and offering rewards, do not work for my daughter. My daughter wants to do what she wants to do and that is the bottom line for her. This book has opened the door for me into her world and I have since been researching the subject online and have ordered 2 more books to help teach me how to deal with her. All the opponents to spanking, that I have read, use inflammatory words to get their point across. I was spanked as a child. I very vaguely remember maybe one of them. What I found harmful and hurtful to me was the yelling, screaming, being put down, controlled, belittled, and being worried when I would have to endure any of those things again; not being spanked. I can understand their passion, but controlled spanking needs to be put into perspective. All children need to be punished differently according to their temperament.

Editorial Review:

2005 Gold Medallion Award finalist!
Dr. James Dobson has completely rewritten, updated, and expanded his classic best seller The Strong-Willed Child for a new generation of parents and teachers. The New Strong-Willed Child follows on the heels of Dr. Dobson's phenomenal best seller Bringing Up Boys. It offers practical how-to advice on raising difficult-to-handle children and incorporates the latest research with Dr. Dobson's legendary wit and wisdom. The New Strong-Willed Child is being rushed to press for parents needing help dealing with sibling rivalry, adhd, low self-esteem, and other important issues. This book is a must-read for parents and teachers struggling to raise and teach children who are convinced they should be able to live by their own rules!

The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule

Thomas Frank

Amazon Price: $23.97 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Macmillan Audio Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $18.59

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Political
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Politics -> Political Parties
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Politics -> U.S.

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his previous book, Thomas Frank explained why working America votes for politicians who reserve their favors for the rich. Now, in Wrecking Crew, Frank examines the Washington those politicians have given us, showing why, no matter what happens in November 2008, we’re stuck with it for the foreseeable future.   

    Casting back to the early days of the conservative revolution, Frank describes the rise of a ruling coalition dedicated to dismantling government. But rather than cutting down the big government they claim to hate, conservatives have simply sold it off, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war. Washington itself has been remade into a golden landscape of super-wealthy suburbs and gleaming lobbyist headquarters. And though arch-lobbyist Jack Abramoff has crashed and burned, the government-by-entrepreneurship he pioneered so outrageously has become the law of the land.

    It is no coincidence, Frank argues, that the same politicians who guffaw at the idea of effective government have installed a regime in which incompetence is the rule. Nor will the country easily shake off the consequences of deliberate misgovernment through the usual election remedies. Obsessed with achieving a lasting victory, conservatives have taken pains to enshrine the free market as the permanent creed of state.

    Stamped with Frank’s audacity, analytic brilliance, and wit, Wrecking Crewis his most revelatory work yet—and his most important.

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality (Penguin Press Science)

Brian Greene

List Price: $16.50 By: Penguin Books Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $6.83

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science -> Astronomy -> Astronomy
Subjects -> Science -> History & Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Science -> History & Philosophy -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 210 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"The Entropic Arrow Of Time Is Double-Headed." 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My educational background is largely in biology and chemistry, but I have always found physics the most intriguing of the sciences. I have studied and read a lot of physics books over the years, and having seen Brian Greene discuss some of the more confusing of the subjects in this book on television, was immediately convinced that I must read "The Fabric of the Cosmos". I truly applaud Greene's effort to produce such a comprehensive, up to date, and comprehensible book with no mathematics to speak of.

The book is largely a success, and covers the history of physics and physical thought, and brings the reader all the way through a groundbreaking explanation of string theory and M-theory. The book is quite well written and is generally easy to follow. I appreciated especially his explanations of the conflicts between general relativity and quantum mechanics, and the potential that string theory has in regards to a unified theory. I was somewhat unconvinced by his arguments about the symmetry of entropy in spacetime, though to be fair, I am unconvinced by some of Boltzmann's thinking on the issue, which is the ultimate origin of the philosophical predicament. Regardless of this and similar minor issues, I think most discussions are quite lucid and relatively logical and easy to follow.

The book falls down in a couple of ways: though relatively easy to read, it is extremely long. I have no problems with a lengthy tome, but this book sometimes labors under myriad examples and analogies which become redundant and very monotonous to read. Perhaps, for instance, the seemingly endless discussion of Newton's spinning bucket of water warranted a couple of pages, but here it just went on and on. The book could have been equally lucid and grasped just as well with many fewer extended analogies. It's obvious that Mr. Greene loves certain shows on television, as seemingly endless references to "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files" are common throughout the book. I hated this cutesy touch.

I happen to like math, but its absence here is wise as the book would obviously reach far fewer people if mathematical reasoning was added to the already cumbersomely long text. I did very much appreciate the notes in the back of the book which were very useful and delved somewhat deeper into subjects discussed in the text. On balance I recommend the book to people who want a basic introduction to historical and current physical thought, and who don't mind a degree of redundancy in the text.

Editorial Review:

'A magnificent challenge to conventional ideas' Financial Times 'I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It manages to be both challenging and entertaining: it is highly recommended' the Independent '(Greene) send(s) the reader's imagination hurtling through the universe on an astonishing ride. As a popularizer of exquisitely abstract science, he is both a skilled and kindly explicator' the New York Times 'Greene is as elegant as ever, cutting through the fog of complexity with insight and clarity; space and time become putty in his hands' Los Angeles Times Book Review

Bringing Up Boys

James C. Dobson, Wayne Shepherd

Amazon Price: $22.99 List Price: $22.99 Usually ships in 3 to 5 weeks By: Tyndale Audio Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $2.24

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Relationships -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 248 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A must read for conservative parents 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book offers great practical and biblical advices on how to raise a boy. If you are liberal parents, you are not going to like what he says. We are conservative Christian who are determined to raise our children with the right /godly values and appropriate discipline with unconditional love. This book is what I need.

Editorial Review:

2002 Gold Medallion Award winner!

With so much confusion about the role of men in our society, it's no wonder so many parents and teachers are at a loss about how to bring up boys. Our culture has vilified masculinity and, as a result, boys are suffering. Parents, teachers, and others involved in shaping the character of boys have many questions. In Bringing Up Boys, Dr. James Dobson, America's most trusted authority on family issues, tackles these questions and offers advice and encouragement based on a firm foundation of biblical principles. Bringing Up Boys--a must-read book for parents, teachers, social workers, youth leaders, counselors--anyone involved in the challenge of turning boys into good men.

The audio book is read by Wayne Shepard and punctuated by original music.

How to Read a Book (A Touchstone book)

Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Touchstone Amazon Marketplace: 128 new & used starting at $2.61

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Books & Reading -> Literacy
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Books & Reading -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Books & Reading -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 103 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

rip-off 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 58 people found this review helpful.

i bought this book to learn how to read, but then i found out i couldn't read it. :(

Useful, but much longer than necessary 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is a review of "How to read a book" by Adler (May 2008).

This book was recommended to me by several authors I liked so aftr reading the positive reviews I decided to buy it. I can see that some see this book as 'timeless' and I think that is true, but I have also some criticism.

Pros:
- I see the main value of the book in teaching you the ability to structure your reading process/effort so that you get maximum value out of reading any book. For experienced readers (age 35+) this may be already a kind of automatism, but for less experienced (either in terms of #years or in terms of type of topic) this is probably not the case.
- I liked in particular the fact that the author not only discusses how to read book with emphasis on analytic content (rational / scientific / factual type of books), but also other kinds of literature.

Cons:
- The book is way too long. The author takes many pages to make a point that can also be done in 30% of the space. Fortunately, the author provides summaries of his 'rules' and tips. Nevertheless, an author who writes about how to efficiently read a book, should be brief himself! Just as you may expect from a dedicated reader that he reads efficiently, you may expect from a good writer he thinks through how to make a point, and be brief in the end, not forcing a reader to read many superfluous pages. Adler failed here. This makes me downgrade my rating.

Bottom line: If possible get it from a library; I would not recommend buying this book if you are in the second half of your 'reading life'.

Editorial Review:

How to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic. It is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader. And now it has been completely rewritten and updated.

You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them -- from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author's message, criticize. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science.

Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests whereby you can measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension and speed.

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

Amazon Price: $23.96 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $5.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Leadership
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Strategy
Subjects -> History -> Military -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 280 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Written in China more than 2,000 years ago, Sun Tzu's classic The Art of War is the first known study of the planning and conduct of military operations. These terse, aphoristic essays are unsurpassed in comprehensiveness and depth of understanding, examining not only battlefield maneuvers, but also relevant economic, political, and psychological factors. Indeed, the precepts outlined by Sun Tzu can be applied outside the realm of military theory. It is read avidly by Japanese businessmen and in fact was touted in the movie Wall Street as the corporate raider's bible.
In addition to an excellent translation of Sun Tzu's text, Samuel Griffith also provides commentaries written by Chinese strategists, plus several thought-provoking essays on topics such as the influence of Sun Tzu on Mao Tse-tung and on Japanese military thought, the nature of warfare in Sun Tzu's time, and the life of Sun Tzu and other important commentators. Remarkable for its clear organization, lucid prose, and the acuity of its intellectual and moral insights, The Art of War is the definitive study of combat.

What's So Amazing About Grace?

Philip Yancey

List Price: $29.99 By: Zondervan Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $4.80

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( Y ) -> Yancey, Philip -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 188 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Christian Manifesto 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

God if we could just live the grace filled lives of this book. This is without a doubt one of the all time greats

What's So Amazing About Grace? 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Aside from the Bible, this is the best book I have ever read. This is a life-changing book about a life-changing subject. I find Philip Yancey to be a tremendous communicator. Since reading this book, I have bought and given away as gifts at least 7 copies of this book.

secret to happyness 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I just read the first chapters but this book has really touched me inside. The gospel is not a story about how to go to heaven or how to avoid hell. The gospel is the most beautiful love story ever told, about how God, being God, denied himself everything for our sake. And now, being totally acepted in Him, we are not left with the rest of our time on Earth to only daydream about heaven, but to enjoy the privilege and happyness of sharing God's love and grace with one another in this world. God does not want us to pay Him something back, He has everything He needs, He want us living close to Him, enjoying His company, His love, His grace, happy to be with Him and being a channel of His love and grace to the people around us.

Editorial Review:

This is the unabridged audio cassette edition of Philip Yancey’s Gold Medallion Award-winning book that insightfully explores grace, the most powerful force in the universe and our only hope for love and forgiveness. Read by Bill Richards. Eight unabridged audio cassettes.

The Message: The New Testament

Eugene H Petersen

Amazon Price: $31.59 List Price: $39.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oasis Audio Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $10.47

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Bible & Other Sacred Texts -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 238 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Very awesome commentary 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I got this Bible because I really needed to get jazzed up about reading the Word again. This is exactly what I needed at the time.

This is NOT the Bible, but a paraphrase - understand that. It is not meant to be used as the Bible, but a tool for inspiration and study, kind of like a commentary.

I find it very helpful and useful as such.

Sometimes the language is hit or miss. When it is good it is good, and I can really savor God's love even more in those verses.

At worst, it takes scripture out of context or misinterprets it, and while that is bad, again, understand this is NOT the Bible. It doesnt claim to be.

All the bad reviews of this book are pretty irrelevant, because if this is used properly, then it is a great tool for study and fresh interpretation.

The way I use it is I read primarily from an NIV translation, then if I didnt understand something I will see how the Message interprets it. I also use NASB, Amplified, and KJV if necassary.

Also, like I said, when the paraphrased verses are good, they are good! Beautiful and inspiring, and sometimes even hilarious - when slang is mixed in there.

If you are looking for another tool to help you understand God's Word or even to spice up your time with God, this isn't bad at all. It helped me. Just make sure you use as directed.

Editorial Review:

THE MESSAGE is a presentation of the Word of God crafted for a modern age. Eugene Peterson, translator and editor, set out to give us that word in language we use every day - a reading Bible that would enable the Word to penetrate our hearts and minds, transforming us day by day into the person God desires us to become. REMIX is produced by Charlie Peacock, and includes an original song by him called 'The Message'. Read by today's leading CCM artists, including Rebecca St. James, Steven Curtis Chapman, tobyMac, Mac Powell (of Third Day), Mark Stuart (of Audio Adrenaline), Bart Millard (of MercyMe), Janna Long of Avalon, Dan Haseltine (of Jars of Clay), Melissa Brock (of Superchick), and Danielle Young (of Caedmon's Call).