I finished the book The God Virus and, really, it was at its best during my last post about it. I mean, overall, the book was okay, but I think it just wasn't for me. The second half of the book was all about how to deal with religious people, as if they were some dangerous foreign race. I imagine that most people out there have had exposure to religion and religious people their whole lives, even if they are an atheist now. I don't need some self-help guide explaining how to conduct myself in a religion-permeated world; I already deal with many of the issues brought up in the second half of the book on a regular basis. After the great section explaining how religious systems interrelate when sharing the same physical environment, the rest of the information was already familiar to me from reading other publications. I might recommend this to someone new to atheism or new to questioning religion even, but it seemed to be strictly written for atheists and would be most interesting to someone who is not yet well-read on the topic.
The highlight of the second half, for me, was a brief mention on the Cargo Cults of the South Pacific. They are a favorite topic of mine - just such a fascinating and telling illustration of the development of religion. Don't get too excited, though, if you also love the story of the followers of John Frum - it was only discussed for about one paragraph.
I also enjoyed the many quotes throughout the book. They make up a majority of my bookmarks.
My overall opinion: This may have been a good book, but it just wasn't right for me.
S.A.M.
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