Review: The God Delusion

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although I would consider myself an atheist, I did not actually agree with everything in The God Delusion. In this book, Richard Dawkins sets out to demonstrate that it is both irrational and dangerous to believe in a supernatural god. For the irrationality part, he bases his arguments in science, primarily evolution, offering scientifically founded arguments for why a god is highly unlikely and where human morality comes from. I certainly found it refreshing to read his rational, scientific arguments and there was nothing in this part of the book’s content with which I disagree. I was raised with a scientific mindset and I greatly appreciate such logical, analytical thinking.

In the later part of the book, Dawkins turns to the task of demonstrating that religion is both dangerous and harmful to children. Here is where I found myself less convinced and actually disagreeing with some of what he says. On the subject of children, he claims that indoctrinating children with irrational religious beliefs is a form of abuse on par with (or even worse than) physical or sexual abuse. He offers little evidence for this, however, citing only one woman who claimed she was more traumatized by her religious upbringing than by the sexual fondling of a priest, and several individuals who seek forms of psychotherapy to recover from religious indoctrination. While I certainly agree that it is doing children a disservice to brainwash them into believing irrational things, and I don’t doubt that there are some individuals who later feel traumatized by the experience, I think it is extremely insenstive to survivors of sexual abuse to claim that religious indoctrination is a form of abuse equivalent to physical and sexual abuse. In this section, Dawkins shows only that he lacks a knowledge of the long-term psychological impact of sexual abuse, which can oftentimes be subconscious (for example, does the woman who claims she was more traumatized by religion than by being fondled have completely healthy sexual relationships?). Dawkins is a fantastic biologist, but he is not a psychologist or expert on child development.

In an effort to demonstrate that religion is actually dangerous, Dawkins points to all the wars and other violence (such as murders of abortion providers and suicide bombers) that have been based on religious beliefs. He basically seems to be making the claim that if we didn’t have religion, there would be no basis for all this violence and so it simply wouldn’t happen. I do not think it is that simple. I think there is far more going on psychologically in the minds of fanatic anti-abortionists and suicide bombers than a simple “I believe 100% that I am doing the morally right thing.” I do not think all these people would just magically be completely non-violent if they did not have religious beliefs to justify their acts. That is, I am not convinced that religious beliefs are the root cause of all this violence, rather than simply a convenient justification. Dawkins says himself that humans have inherent tendencies to in-group/out-group behavior – so wouldn’t that be true even without religion? Additionally, I am sure there have been plenty of very positive, life-affirming actions committed in the name of religious as well. Does Dawkins believe that all those behaviors would end without religion too? It seems biased to make an argument based only on the negative impacts of religion.

Related to this last point, part of Dawkins’ argument is that it is not possible to draw a line between non-harmful religious beliefs and extremism, because it is a slippery slope: that “even mild and moderate religion helps to provide the climate of faith in which extremism naturally flourishes.” In his view, it is the “blind faith” aspect of any religion that is the real problem. However, I think it is possible that most individuals are able to compartmentalize, and thus hold an irrational belief in one compartment while at them same time being a very rational and non-violent individual. Extremism comes when the irrational compartment takes over the entire individual. I am not convinced that this is in fact a slippery slope, or whether there are other psychological factors that influence whether someone becomes an extremist or not.

My final issue with The God Delusion is Dawkins’ tone through-out the book. He has a very argumentative, even combative, attitude, and I think that ultimately it is not a helpful tone and could even damage the possibilities for dialogue between religious and non-religious people. Sure, I found much of his book convincing, but I was already convinced about evolution and related science. I do not think religious people will be convinced by this book, and instead will most likely be completely turned off. Calling someone irrational and arguing with them about their beliefs is more likely to cause the person to cling even more firmly to those beliefs than to convince him or her otherwise. To truly engage with religious people I think it is necessary to show them respect and to listen to where they are coming from.

The God Delusion left me desiring another perspective on the subject of religion. I recently checked out Speaking of Faith, by Krista Tippett, from the library, and I hope that this will provide the perspective I am looking for.

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Review: Anil’s Ghost

Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had a really hard time getting in to Anil’s Ghost. In fact, I really didn’t ever get into it – I finished it in a marathon of reading more just to get through it than because I really cared about the characters or story.

I think it was the style that made it difficult for me. The chapters jumped around from character to character as well as in time. I found it disorienting and fragmented. There was a dreamy, detached sense to the narrative that didn’t work for me – I imagine that it was certainly intentional, to convey particular emotions, but for me it just had the effect of keeping me from getting truly engaged.

The storyline of Anil’s Ghost is pretty depressing. I don’t mind reading books about heavy topics if they engage me and I feel that they carry some truth I can relate to. Since I could not connect to this book, it seemed even more heavy than I expected.

After two not-so-great books in a row, I need to do some careful searching at the library this weekend!

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Review: Medea and Her Children

Medea and Her Children by Lyudmila Ulitskaya
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Most of the way through this book I mildly enjoyed it, although I was not strongly drawn in. The stories of various family members of the sprawling Sinolpy family are told in separate chapters, almost like separate vignettes or short stories. There is good detail and I felt that I could picture the lives of these people in Russia, so different from my own. However, I really did not like the ending of the book. As the book progressed, it became more and more focused on one character and her involvement in a love triangle. The book seemed to switch from a general depiction of these people’s lives to an exclusive focus on one woman’s love madness. I did not like the way the characters in the love triangle behaved, as it seemed quite thoughtless and even irrational. Perhaps this was the intent of the author – to convey the sense of these people completely swept up in their passions and emotions, but to me it felt overdone and so completely different from my own experience of life that I could not relate to it at all. It was not the direction I expected the book to go and overall I can’t say that I really liked the book.

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Review: The Curse of Chalion

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this fantasy/adventure novel. The characters were interesting and unique, the plot was captivating, and the world was creative and compelling. I feel that it is a “mature” fantasy in that it does not rely on stock patterns or characters; there is a complexity and uniqueness to it that distinguishes it from your run-of-the-mill fantasy. The main character is not at all your typical handsome, perfect hero, and there are very strong female characters. There is romance, but it is subtle, lovely, and believable.

I was so drawn in to the story and the world that when I finished the book I felt as if I was still partly living in the world – I wasn’t ready to leave it and I certainly wasn’t ready to start a new book. Books that do this for me are my favorite ones, and that is really the highest recommendation I can give a book. Needless to say, I am looking forward to reading the two subsequent novels set in the same world!

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Review: Corrag

Corrag by Susan Fletcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Corrag, by Susan Fletcher, is the story of a young woman in Scotland in 1692 who is accused of witchcraft for her supposed involvement in a massacre. It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

The style and plot are different from your typical historical fiction novel. Corrag, the main character, is imprisoned and telling her story to an Irish Reverend who wants to learn more about the massacre for political reasons. Corrag’s first-person narrative is interwoven with letters from the Reverend, Charles, to his wife in Ireland. During Corrag’s narrative she sometimes talks directly to Charles, saying “you”, but we never read an actual dialogue between the two of them. It was an unusual and effective narrative style, combining with Fletcher’s beautiful, lyrical writing to convey a sense of dreaminess and timelessness.

The story did not have a grand, sweeping scale, but instead was almost like a snapshot into two people’s lives. Both characters grow during the novel and through their stories Fletcher addresses themes of love (of places and people), loneliness, friendship, and kindness. The sense of place is also strong during Corrag’s narrative in particular.

Overall, I thought Corrag was a beautiful book and I highly recommend it.

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Review: In the Bleak Midwinter

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fantastic mystery! The characters were interesting and realistic, and the mystery itself was complex and well-done. It was fast-paced, I didn’t want to put it down, and I was disappointed when it ended. But luckily there are six more books by the author featuring the same characters!

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Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy (thoughts)

I was fascinated by Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imaginations, by Robert Jourdain. Writing for the layperson, Jourdain presents a broad overview of how our brains and bodies process music, both in listening to and performing it. In the first half of the book he builds up from the basic processes chapter by chapter, starting with simple sound, then moving on to tones, melody, harmony, and rhythm. The later chapters discuss performing, composing, listening, understanding, and finally ecstasy. He presents the physics and neurology involved in music processing (as well as the evolution behind some of it) in easily understood terms. Much of the brain is not well understood, and he made sure to make that clear as well, often presenting multiple theories and the arguments for and against each one. Along the way he provides an overview of the history of (mostly Western) music, highlighting various famous and less well-known music personalities. His analysis of the way in which we process music is quite thorough and includes discussions on the relationships to math, language, and physical movement.

This book was perfect for me because it combined two things that particularly interest me: music and the brain. Music has been a part of my life as long as I can remember; I currently sing in a choir, take voice lessons, and dabble in piano and composition.  In college I enjoyed my cognitive psychology class, but I never took neurobiology. However, every time I read a book about the brain I am reminded of how interesting I find it. The complexities and the things that it can do are mind-boggling. I also find that I can be deeply moved by both listening to and performing music, and thus I was extra-intrigued by the inclusion of “ecstasy” in the title of the book. Jourdain did not disappoint me. His musings on why music can be an experience of ecstasy made a lot of sense to me and I appreciated that they were based in science.

I do have a few criticisms of Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy. The first is his bias towards Western, classical music. He actually does mention non-Western music quite a bit, and I thought he made it quite clear that the Western scales are just one possible way of organizing tones. However, he definitely had an overall bias towards Western music (partly understandable, since that’s obviously what he knows). Additionally, there is a strong bias towards classical music. I do agree that contemporary popular music is not as complex as classical music, so this bias again makes sense in certain ways. However, I could see how it could bother some readers. My second criticism is that he focused too much on the virtuoso musicians and unusual cases such as idiot savants rather than on the everyday individual. This particularly bothered me in the section on composition, since I would like to understand what is going on in my brain when I write music – and I am certainly no Mozart.

Overall, I really enjoyed Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy, and I highly recommend it if you are interested in the topics. I take away from it a sense of awe at the complexities of our brain, a renewed understanding of the way in which our “mind” is a part of our physical body, and a deep appreciation for my own ability to experience music.