Ramblings of a Madman

For all the raving about this book, and for it's popularity, I expected this would be a four or five star review. But it's not. It's not that Dawkins doesn't make some excellent points, because he does. He knows his subject matter well, and he can talk about science with all the wonder and awe that a new convert can bring to a conversation about God.

What knocks it down a couple of stars is the way, in some parts of the book, I get the feeling that Dawkins is finishing arguments that he had in real life, but couldn't think of an answer quickly enough. We've all had those moments where a few minutes, or days or weeks, after a conversation we think, "Oh, I should have said..." Those are fine in life, but they don't come across so well in a book.

That said, I still found this an enjoyable and insightful read. I found his description of the Cargo Ship Cults particularly intriguing as a way to see a traceable way that a population can build a religion.

While I'm not sure whether or not this book would actually change someone's mind, it would certainly give that mind some food for thought. Overall, I'd recommend it to those who are would rather hear from the atheists themselves what they believe, instead of reading their beliefs second hand.