Reddit Reddit reviews Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

We found 15 Reddit comments about Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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15 Reddit comments about Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder:

u/[deleted] · 85 pointsr/science

That can be argued as base motivation for most social behavior. Even in humans. Isn't that why children yearn for their parents? Isn't that why a spouse misses their spouse? It may be true that survival needs drive social behavior on some level, but it does not mean it is not social behavior. One can still desire affection for affection's sake, even if the "desire" for affection (and the behaviors to obtain it) originated as a survival technique.

An example of this that comes to mind is a baby's reflex smile. It elicits affection from parents towards that newborn. The parents then, presumably, are more likely to feed, take care of, and value that child. The baby cannot tell you are smiling at them back, nor does it care. It wants to be taken care of. It wants to be fed. It is like the dog wanting a treat. At some level, a lot of social behaviors have this kind of element to them. But they become more... not in an esoteric sense, but that receiving affection is, in and of itself, a reward and of value.

That social behavior may have a biological basis may make some cynical, but I do not think it should. But if it does, I suggest Unweaving the Rainbow to regain some of the magic that may be lost for you from the universe.

EDIT: Here is Dawkins reading the opening lines.

u/AdamAtlas · 7 pointsr/atheism

> It never occurs to skeptics that a sense of wonder is paramount, even for scientists. Especially for scientists. Einstein insisted, in fact, that no great discovery can be made without a sense of awe before the mysteries of the universe.

Others have pointed out that Einstein was himself a skeptic by any measure, so I'd also just point out that Richard Dawkins, whom Chopra cites several times as an example of everything evil about skepticism, has written a whole book about that attitude of wonder at the universe -- in fact, I doubt Dawkins would even disagree with anything in the paragraph I quoted, other than that "[i]t never occurs to skeptics".

But it never occurs to Chopra that the right way to create or feed that sense of awe isn't to just make shit up.

u/uniquelikeyou · 3 pointsr/tabc

I've heard Dawkin's book [Unweaving the Rainbow] (http://www.amazon.com/Unweaving-Rainbow-Science-Delusion-Appetite/dp/0618056734/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335024410&sr=1-1) is also a must read. I haven't gotten around to it myself yet

And I think C.S. Lewis has a lot of books that influence modern christian thinking.

Also a The Man who was Thursday is a novel by G.K. Chesterton that also comes from the other side of the debate i.e. it's a christian book.

u/Dem0s · 3 pointsr/atheism

I would suggest Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder as a good starting point and maybe move on to The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, but that is just one author. He can be a little condescending to the faithful at times and call them "history deniers" but the second one is pure science and only just touches on religion.

u/in_time_for_supper_x · 2 pointsr/DebateReligion

> We have eye witness testimonies.

We supposedly have eye witness testimonies, because almost none of the witnesses (besides the apostles) are named, nor are they alive, and their "testimonies" were recorded many decades after Christ's supposed ascension. Besides that, witness testimonies are not enough to prove that supernatural events are even possible.

> There was a detective who works cold cases, and would convict people of crimes based on people's testimonies. He was an Atheist investigating the case for Christ. He found that the people's testimonies lined up, and he would consider them as viable evidence in court, and he came to the conclusion that it was all real.

There are many authors like this one, who think they have the silver bullet that will prove their religion, be it Christianity or Islam, who eventually engage in all sorts of fallacies and provide nothing of substance. I haven't read this guy's book to be honest (Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels), but I have read other books by Christians who claim that they can prove the "truth" of Christianity. Short summary: they haven't.

The fact of the matter is that these books do not stand to scrutiny. Have you ever read anything written by Bart Ehrman, or other real scholars? They would vehemently disagree with that guy's conclusions.

Bart Denton Ehrman is an American professor and scholar, currently the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is one of North America's leading scholars in his field, having written and edited 30 books, including three college textbooks. He has also achieved acclaim at the popular level, authoring five New York Times bestsellers. Ehrman's work focuses on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the development of early Christianity.

-- from WikiPedia

You should also read stuff by:

  • Richard Dawkins (i.e. The God Delusion, The Greatest Show On Earth, Unweaving the rainbow, etc.),

  • Lawrence Krauss (i.e. A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing),

  • Sean Caroll

    and other scientists if you want to see what science actually has to say about reality and about how grossly wrong the Bible is when it tries to make pronouncements on our physical reality.

    > Why do you not believe in the gospel accounts? They were hand written accounts by people who witnessed an event, or people who spoke to those people.

    That's the claim, not the evidence. It's people claiming to have witnessed supernatural events for which they have no evidence, and even more than that, all these witnesses are long dead. We have nothing but third hand accounts of people from 2000 years ago claiming to have seen or heard wildly fantastical things for which we don't have any evidence that they are even possible.

    Heck, we literally have millions of people still alive who swear that they have encountered aliens or have been abducted by aliens - this is a much better evidence than your supposed witnesses who are long dead by now - and it's still not nearly enough to prove that these aliens actually exist and that they have indeed been abducting people.

    > Some of the things Jesus spoke about is verifiable today. As I have pointed out about the Holy Spirit guiding people, and people being able to heal and cast out demons in Jesus' name.

    Many of Buddha's teachings are verifiable and valid today, yet that does nothing to prove Buddha's claims of the supernatural. Besides, you first have to demonstrate that there are such things as demons before even making a claim of being able to cast them out. Bring one of these "demons" into a research facility and then we'll talk. Otherwise, you're no different than the alien abduction people or the Bigfoot hunters.
u/privacy_philo · 2 pointsr/exmuslim

Do yourself a favour and read a book which gives a good overview of what we know from science, before you do more harm to yourself. "Unweaving the Rainbow" would probably be a good choice.

Then come back and see if you could tell people with a straight face that your religion -- or any religion -- contains much which is actually useful (and true) in comparison.

u/Athegnostistian · 2 pointsr/atheism

I think I know how you feel. It took a much longer time until my ex-girlfriend was deconverted or even seriously started to question the very foundations of her faith. But she ended up an atheist, and of course there were tears involved in the process.

If you want to give him something uplifting, show him The most astounding fact or get him The Magic of Reality or Unweaving the Rainbow for Christmas (or winter solstice). It's money well spent.

Consider getting it at your local bookstore instead of Amazon. Amazon is evil. ;)

u/AlSweigart · 2 pointsr/atheism

"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Dawkins doesn't really go into anything new or original, but the strength of the book is that is a great, concise summary of all the beginning arguments for atheism.

http://www.amazon.com/God-Delusion-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0618680004

I'd follow it with Daniel Dennett's "Breaking the Spell", also a good recommendation. Same goes for Carl Sagan's "A Demon Haunted World"

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Spell-Religion-Natural-Phenomenon/dp/0143038338

http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469/

Christopher Hitchens is a bit vitriolic for some, but "God is not Great" has some nuggets in it.

http://www.amazon.com/God-Not-Great-Religion-Everything/dp/0446579807/

I personally didn't like Sam Harris' "End of Faith" but I did like his "Letter to a Christian Nation".

http://www.amazon.com/Letter-Christian-Nation-Vintage-Harris/dp/0307278778/

For the topic of evolution, Talk Origins is great (and free) http://toarchive.org/
Dawkin's "The Selfish Gene" is also a good read (and short). Not so short but also good are Dawkins' "Blind Watchmaker", "Climbing Mount Improbable" and "Unweaving the Rainbow"

http://www.amazon.com/Selfish-Gene-Anniversary-Introduction/dp/0199291152/

http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Watchmaker-Evidence-Evolution-Universe/dp/0393315703/

http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Mount-Improbable-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0393316823/

http://www.amazon.com/Unweaving-Rainbow-Science-Delusion-Appetite/dp/0618056734/

u/DMitri221 · 2 pointsr/atheism

I suggest reading the source this came from, Unweaving the Rainbow. Great book.

Here's another, which I love, from the same book:

>Fling your arms wide in an expansive gesture to span all of evolution from its origin at your left fingertip to today at your right fingertip. All the way across your midline to well past your right shoulder, life consists of nothing but bacteria. Many-celled, invertebrate life flowers somewhere around your right elbow. The dinosaurs originate in the middle of your right palm, and go extinct around your last finger joint. The whole story of Homo sapiens and our predecessor Homo erectus is contained in the thickness of one nail-clipping. As for recorded history; as for the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Jewish patriarchs, the dynasties of Pharaohs, the legions of Rome, the Christian Fathers, the Laws of the Medes and Persians which never change; as for Troy and the Greeks, Helen and Achilles and Agamemnon dead; as for Napoleon and Hitler, the Beatles and Bill Clinton, they and everyone that knew them are blown away in the dust from one light stroke of a nail-file.

u/booberkitty · 2 pointsr/atheism

I had similar feelings after I realized that I was an atheist. For me, it seemed that without some kind of mystery, the world seemed somewhat sterile.

One book that helped me regain my sense of wonder about the universe was Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins. Though, if she finds Dawkins off-putting, she may not want to read that.

u/blodulv · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I read Better Never to Have Been (which is not pro-suicide but rather anti-natal, but comes across as bleak if you haven't encountered the argument before) and immediately afterward picked up Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow. It was the perfect emotional counterpoint, if not a perfect logical one (to Benatar's argument at least).

u/arrangementscanbemad · 1 pointr/westworld

I sincerely recommend the book Unweaving The Rainbow that delves into the subject. Here's a quote from it:
>
> “There is an anaesthetic of familiarity, a sedative of ordinariness which dulls the senses and hides the wonder of existence. For those of us not gifted in poetry, it is at least worth while from time to time making an effort to shake off the anaesthetic. What is the best way of countering the sluggish habitutation brought about by our gradual crawl from babyhood? We can't actually fly to another planet. But we can recapture that sense of having just tumbled out to life on a new world by looking at our own world in unfamiliar ways.”

u/markjaquith · 1 pointr/atheism

That's a good bunch of books! I'd additionally recommend the following two:

u/zendak · 1 pointr/AskReddit

The Magic of Reality: How we know what's really true. Explains some key scientific concepts in a way that leaves no room for pseudo-scientific or mystical crap, suitable for lay people and even kids.

Edit:

> Also I think one book was called rainbow something something...

Might be Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

u/kipkoan · 0 pointsr/askphilosophy

> I love life, love love, love relationships, love the good things.

I love chocolate. I love a good book or movie. I love playing with my puppy.

Those things matter to me. And life, love, relationships, and good things matter to you (and me too).

I recommend the book "Unweaving The Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins.

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
— Douglas Adams