Books to Read

One of my favorite atheist writers is Massimo Pigliucci, his blog is Rationally Speaking. He doesn't write often but when he does it's always worth a read. What he has on today's blog is a list of must read books.

This is his list of Top Ten books on Evolution.

And this is his Top Ten for Philosophy.

This is on Amazon with a note from Massimo on each book. I have to admit I haven't read even one of these, but I've heard about most of them, read parts of them and read people talking about them. It seems odd that a defender of evolution such as myself, with a better than average knowledge of the subject has never read Origin of Species by Darwin. When it comes to scientific stuff I prefer magazine articles, entire books can be very daunting, plus I know that many things have changed in evolutionary science since Darwin's day so I tend to think it's better to read more modern things.

Baby Boomers

I wrote this a while back but thought it was too good for just a single posting. It was one of those moments where I just got angry and started typing and captured some raw emotion. So I'm presenting it again:

How Did This Happen?

I'm sitting here listening to Cat Stevens songs and thinking about my youth, we had such ideals back then, we wanted so much and dreamed so far. World peace, love, brothers and sisters to all. It's with tears in my eyes that I look at what we've become as America totters on the brink of fascism and we are responsible for the death of close to 1,000,000 people in Iraq. We railed and protested against our parents and their generation for being hypocrites, but looking back now they were practically saints compared to what this generation has become. The worst our parents did was fail to live up to the ideals of what America should be, what the boomer generation has done is throw those ideals to the ground and stomp on them as if they were evil.

I'm now old and tired, as old as my mom was when Cat recorded these songs, 3 years older than my dad ever made it to. Oddly enough there is still fire in my belly, rage against the machine. Too bad it's accompanied by nausea. My whole body hurts and I'm tired down to my bones and my beloved Darcy is about to die soon. And Cat Stevens is now a devote Muslim who did not condemn the Ayatolah's death sentence of Salman Rushdie, so much for peace and love.

And on top of that we stand at the brink of world disaster with global warming. It won't lead to the end of mankind but it will lead to world-wide problems like nothing we've ever seen, millions of refugees across the globe, hunger, misery and death for multiple millions of humanity. I fear the future will look at the baby boomer generation and see us as either monsters or insane, maybe both. We all claim Hitler and the Nazis as the worst evil that men can sink to but future generations will put that label on us.

How did this happen? Christians and rich people, the fundamentalists who have tried to ram theocracy down our throats and the neocons who have gladly used them as the means to power. If any good can come from all this it will be if both such groups are reviled and hated for as long as humanity lasts.

One Great Blog

The name probably looks intimidating but don't let it bother you. This is what it means: "Ballard (1981) coined the term "pharyngula" to refer to the embryo that has developed to the phyolotypic stage, when it posesses the classic vertebrate bauplan." The tag line under the log, in case it's too small to see is: "Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal."

See? Very simple. This is a science blog run by a biology professor but is really much more of a social commentary about the state of America today.

Take this interesting article which is about why you have to register with the government to buy a chemistry beaker in some states but any idiot can buy a gun without registering it at all.

Or this one: An almost biblical curse about a very tragic case of inbreeding in a small Mormon community that believes in polygamy.

This one is about Paul Hill, who murdered an abortion doctor outside his clinic:

" Behold, Paul Hill Days.

A couple of deranged Christian organizations are planning to send their members to Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the end of July to thump about like a gang of gumbies, bellowing about what a good man Paul Hill was. God's man. A hero. A martyr.

And to crown this exercise in lunacy and poor taste, they're planning a reenactment of the murders."

It's truly amazing that there are people who think it's a good idea to celebrate a murderer, and that reenacting the murders is a fun day.

The whole blog is filled with these gems and is really worth a look. Back in the day the hippies used to say that our society was sick, they were right but we were downright sane back then compared to America in the 21st century.

I'm sure glad the iPhone will be out soon to cheer me up, though I probably won't be getting one for a couple of years, since I just signed up for 2 more years at Verizon with 2 new free phones. Hopefully in 2 years the iPhone will be even better, more affordable, and - wishful thinking - Cingular will have become a provider worth having. Or maybe a competitor will come up with a phone almost as good that sells only for Verizon. Sounds like a great idea for Palm or LG, because right now Cingular would have to pay me to use their service, and if it wasn't a whole lot of money I'd still turn them down. Which means I can be bought but I'm not cheap.

How Did This Happen?

I'm sitting here listening to Cat Stevens songs and thinking about my youth, we had such ideals back then, we wanted so much and dreamed so far. World peace, love, brothers and sisters to all. It's with tears in my eyes that I look at what we've become as America totters on the brink of fascism and we are responsible for the death of close to 1,000,000 people in Iraq. We railed and protested against our parents and their generation for being hypocrites, but looking back now they were practically saints compared to what this generation has become. The worst our parents did was fail to live up to the ideals of what America should be, what the boomer generation has done is throw those ideals to the ground and stomp on them as if they were evil.

I'm now old and tired, as old as my mom was when Cat recorded these songs, 3 years older than my dad ever made it to. Oddly enough there is still fire in my belly, rage against the machine. Too bad it's accompanied by nausea. My whole body hurts and I'm tired down to my bones and my beloved Darcy is about to die soon. And Cat Stevens is now a devote Muslim who did not condemn the Ayatolah's death sentence of Salman Rushdie, so much for peace and love.

And on top of that we stand at the brink of world disaster with global warming. It won't lead to the end of mankind but it will lead to world-wide problems like nothing we've ever seen, millions of refugees across the globe, hunger, misery and death for multiple millions of humanity. I fear the future will look at the baby boomer generation and see us as either monsters or insane, maybe both. We all claim Hitler and the Nazis as the worst evil that men can sink to but future generations will put that label on us.

How did this happen? Christians and rich people, the fundamentalists who have tried to ram theocracy down our throats and the neocons who have gladly used them as the means to power. If any good can come from all this it will be if both such groups are reviled and hated for as long as humanity lasts.

Bertrand Russell quotes

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.