The God Delusion

Written by:
Richard Dawkins
Narrated by:
Lalla Ward , Richard Dawkins

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
120
Narrator
27
Release Date
January 2007
Duration
13 hours 53 minutes
Summary
Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins 'Darwin's Rottweiler' for his fierce and effective defense of evolution.

Prospect magazine voted him among the top three public intellectuals in the world (along with Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky). Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.

He critiques God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. In so doing, he makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just irrational, but potentially deadly.

Dawkins has fashioned an impassioned, rigorous rebuttal to religion, to be embraced by anyone who sputters at the inconsistencies and cruelties that riddle the Bible, bristles at the inanity of 'intelligent design,' or agonizes over fundamentalism in the Middle East-or Middle America.
Reviews
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Bob Stewart

I don't understand the review that claimed that Dawkins isn't "anti-religious." I'm an atheist and found this to be a screed. It had some interesting points, but was largely a diatribe against organized religion. At times I found it difficult to remember that Dawkins is a well regarded scientist...he went out of his way, not to defend atheism, but to trash religion. And I'm already on his side!

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Derek D.

Some of these reviews are hilarious. This book was well written by an evolutionary biologist, ethologist, Oxford professor and someone who opened my eyes years ago watching him debate multiple evangelicals such as William Lane Craig, Wendy Wright (which was hilarious) and Cardinal George Pell. I grew up indoctrinated in private catholic school. My grandfather used to make us say the rosary every night so my first brush with atheism was purely out of the feeling like I was being sold something. Every time I asked a question I was basically punished, how dare I question the word of god? Well, I kept my mouth shut for years but still skeptical of this god that I was being taught about 6 days a week. I couldn’t help but notice that we would go over the same verses constantly. I took it on myself to read the bible cover to cover and couldn’t believe some of the things I read. Jealousy from god? Taking slaves, both for work and pleasure? Genocide? I knew something wasn’t right. As the years went on I found people like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennet and of course Christopher Hitchens. I will admit that it’s hard to tell who actually removed the religious veil over my eyes but it was definitely either Christopher or Richard. The more I read about the gods of the Mediterranean prior to “jesus christ” the more and more I shed the religion that was forced on me as a child. Now as a father of two I will let them grow up questioning everything they hear. I’m just glad that Richard Dawkins and his colleagues mentioned above are leaving works like this book that I can refer my children to when they grow up. I thank the author again 10 times over. I now see the light and the wonder of the earth and I will not take this short time of life that I have for granted. Thank you Richard. 5 star book 5 star man.

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Tyler Scott

I liked it. I didn't love it. I agree with almost all of his points and he definitely covers all of his bases. I expected no less. However, it wasn't the most interesting book on the subject. The meme and evolutionary points may be difficult to understand for people who don't follow science or his other works. A bit long and redundant, but otherwise worth the read. If you only feel like reading one book on atheism, I'd recommend hitchens book, god is not great instead.

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Anonymous

I was highly anticipating this title, but found it very boring and did not get past disk 2. The arguments were vague and hard to understand.

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Anonymous

Loved it. Well presented as well as eloquently written.

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Anonymous

l absolutely love this book it hit on so many great points I couldn't stop listing to it.

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James Rothrock

Very well written. You'd have to be a bit of a science buff to fully appreciate it because Dawkins dives DEEP into his explication several times. The end lost me a little. My favorite thing about the book is it isn't just more "preaching to the choir".

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Anonymous

Poor book. Terrible subject matter.

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Taurias S.

I feel that this book feels overly condescending and even antagonistic towards people of faith. Though well presented and beautifully narrated, I'm a staunch believer that gentle and compassionate reason is how you reach people not slamming them in the face with facts and telling them they're wrong. Teach people how to to think, and do so with compassion.

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Tres R.

Highly intelligent, informative discussion. Mind opening to say the least. Made me rethink my opinion on several issues related to religion. Definitely highly recommend. I liked the way the narration was split as well. Made me feel like I was listening to two people having a conversation podcast-like.

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S S.

I would give this a “0” if it was an option. This book is a rant against organized religion obviously because the author was hurt at some point. That is unfortunate. It doesn’t make his points truth just because he is a good “ranter”. It just makes him sound like a bitter man.

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Tareq K

This was an excellent book. Very logical and convincing arguments against God, albeit mostly from a philosophical rather than a scientific view. I would recommend it to all especially the skeptics. The tenth and last chapter was quite odd, off topic and just weird, as if it was from a completely different and unrelated book. Yet it is still a well written and interesting book overall.

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Keller G

Good, but not extraordinary. I particularly prefer Dawkins as a biologist rather than an atheist militant.

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Marian Davalos

Fantastic book. Very interesting and great arguments :)

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Gilbert Sanchez

Great book. Love Richard Dawkins. As a atheist, since as long as I've ever known, this book felt to be pandering to those religious individuals that are on the fence with their beliefs. He went really far into proving his philosophy on Darwin's evolution compared to creationism. (He had me at Hello!) The first few chapters were especially difficult to get into because Richard Dawkins is proving himself. So I understand when other reviews struggled with these chapters. But if you can get towards to end. It is awesome! Knowledge is power and Richard Dawkins gives you plenty of ammunition. Highly recommended!!!

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Mathias Paumgarten

I was already on the side of Richard Dawkins to begin with. I've seen other pieces from him, such as the unbelievers and several hours of his debates. I find the book astonishing and rather good in it's arguments, but one has to be aware that he takes a very very strong position opposing religion. Maybe a good bit harsher than the average atheist or naturalist would. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and already suggested it to several people.

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John Cartee

One of my all time favorite books. Thank you Mr. Dawkins.

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Harrison L Holmes

"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins is an excellent account of why there is no god. Dawkins leaves no stone unturned. There is not a lot of information that you don't already know, but Dawkins states the facts in a concise eloquent way and provides you with what you need to defend the concept of a godless universe. I have the hard copy. Without the hard copy you will find it a little difficult to follow Dawkins' well documented facts. Believers of any god based religion will be changed by "The God Delusion."

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Joseph Noonan

A diatribe with meager defense of h is positions. Almost as if he needed a quick buck so he threw some arguments together without really working out his arguments to their fullest potential. To those who are ignorant of decent Christian theology this book will seem to have strong or forceful argument. However, if you have studied to any degree the on a college or post college level Christian faith, then many of his pints are down right laughable, albeit wrapped and presented as scientific and logical. He fights a "straw man" in several arguments, attacking weakly stated and presented theological teachings while beating up organized religion instead of adding much to the body of argument by atheist thought. Can't recommend it to either the atheist or believer. This book is simply not a well written or logical presentation of thought.

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Anonymous

This was a well written book, but the transition to audio was done poorly. The transition between Richard and Lalla was not a good idea. Also, the volume of the two voices is noticeably different. If the volume is set for Richard's voice, when Lalla begins to speak, the volume goes up several decibels, forcing you to turn down the volume, ... so that the volume for Richard's voice is too low. And on, and on.

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Great eye opening book, recommend it to anyone with has questions about religion and the creator.

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Anonymous

The best take away from this book, is that when one person believes in the unreal they are deemed crazy. When several people believe it is called religion.

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nittany1979

I am already an Atheist, although Dawkins makes me much more confident in my stance. There is not one EUREKA moment that makes you more aware of your beliefs, but there is a good collection of common sense argument.

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lizzie haff

Dawkin's arguments are logical and irrefutable in most cases. The God of the OT is cruel and sociopathic. For one who was a brainwashed "catholic child," it is embarrassing to remember that I once was in thrall to its mythology. But the worst part is the intellectual and psychological damage inflicted by its proponents. My one objection is the frequent intrusion of certitude and absolutism to otherwise objective arguments.

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Anonymous

This is a terrific book, but not for the beach. Some of the more technical philosophical and scientific arguments required a couple listens to follow. Personally, I found the most enjoyable parts of the book to be the chapters on the impossibility of using the Bible as a guide for modern ethics. Those chapters alone are worth a listen. Dawkins is not "anti-religious," he's pro-reason. Probably easier to read in book form, but recommended nonetheless.

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Michael G. Scott

Dawkins book does a fantastic job describing the battle between Evolutionists vs. Creationists. He describes example after example of the arguments for Creationism, then logically walks through why each argument fails. I found that part of this book both highly amusing, as well as enlightening. The book itself was thought provoking, and I did agree with much of it. However, in general, I found him to be as militant and intolerant in his belief in Atheism as well as the obsolescence of Religion in general, as those he is writing about in the Religious world. Overall, it was a good read. It has some good points to make, but hasn't changed my personal beliefs all that much.

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Anonymous

This book is a bit slow and tedious. It seems difficult to prove or disprove that God exists, and the arguments in the book are not persuasive beyond doubt. That said, there is some interesting material here particularly for someone who has a specific interest in religion.

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