Outgrowing God, Richard Dawkins
Outgrowing God, Richard Dawkins
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Outgrowing God
A Beginner's Guide

Author: Richard Dawkins

Narrator: Richard Dawkins

Unabridged: 6 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/08/2019

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

Should we believe in God? In this brisk introduction to modern atheism, one of the world’s greatest science writers tells us why we shouldn’t.

Richard Dawkins was fifteen when he stopped believing in God. 

Deeply impressed by the beauty and complexity of living things, he’d felt certain they must have had a designer. Learning about evolution changed his mind. Now one of the world’s best and bestselling science communicators, Dawkins has given readers, young and old, the same opportunity to rethink the big questions.

In twelve fiercely funny, mind-expanding chapters, Dawkins explains how the natural world arose without a designer—the improbability and beauty of the “bottom-up programming” that engineers an embryo or a flock of starlings—and challenges head-on some of the most basic assumptions made by the world’s religions: Do you believe in God? Which one? Is the Bible a “Good Book”? Is adhering to a religion necessary, or even likely, to make people good to one another? Dissecting everything from Abraham’s abuse of Isaac to the construction of a snowflake, Outgrowing God is a concise, provocative guide to thinking for yourself.

Includes a bonus PDF of photographs and charts

Advance praise for Outgrowing God

“My son came home from his first day in the sixth grade with arms outstretched plaintively demanding to know: ‘Have you ever heard of Jesus?’  We burst out laughing. Maybe not our finest parenting moment, given that he was genuinely distraught. He felt that he had woken up one day to a world in which his peers were expressing beliefs he found frighteningly unreasonable. He began devouring books like The God Delusion, books that helped him formulate his own arguments and helped him stand his ground. Dawkins’s new book is special in the terrain of atheists’ pleas for humanism and rationalism precisely since it speaks to those most vulnerable to the coercive tactics of religion. As Dawkins himself says in the dedication, this book is for ‘all young people when they’re old enough to decide for themselves.’ It is also, I must add, for their parents.”—Janna Levin, author of Black Hole Blues
 
“When someone is considering atheism I tell them to read the Bible first and then Dawkins. Outgrowing God—second only to the Bible!”—Penn Jillette, author of God, No!

About Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is one of the most influential scientists of our time. The New York Times Book Review has hailed him as a writer who "understands the issues so clearly that he forces his reader to understand them too." Recently awarded the distinction of "public intellectual" in Britain, Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Luffy Sempai on December 31, 2019

This book was quite the ticket. Everything written here was crystal clear, graspable, progressive. I've never read Dawkins shifting from atheism to biology, to chemistry and physics before. I gave the book 5 stars, as you see. I think it's better than the God Delusion. It's less provocative (which I......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on October 11, 2019

Everyone wants to compare this book to The God Delusion, for obvious reasons. But I would rather review it on its own merits, for what it is, recognizing its purpose and intended audience. While the content is similar, there are differences; it covers more of the Bible, has expanded coverage of mora......more

Goodreads review by Peter on September 19, 2019

First half of book is basically the god delusion restated , more concise , framed better, Dawkins has either learned himself more about the religions or has had help writing on those bits ( maybe both ?). Second half is a gorgeous yet simple introduction and overview on evolution. The mix prompts que......more

Goodreads review by Ian on January 13, 2020

"I have a real passion for science, not just because it's useful but because it's beautiful". Οι ψυχολόγοι το αποκαλούν Halo Effect και σ'αυτά τα πλαίσια, δε θα υποκριθώ κανενός είδους αντικειμενικότητα όσον αφορά το Richard Dawkins. 5 αστέρια για όλο αυτό που κουβαλάει, δηλαδή όλη την αγάπη και το......more

Goodreads review by Tanja on February 07, 2022

This is a very clear guide out of religious misconceptions. Having been brought up thoroughly Christian and completely indoctrinated - well, almost, since nobody told me to not believe in evolution until it was too late - it took me nearly three full decades to leave religion behind. I was terrified......more


Quotes

“With wit, logic, and his characteristic flair for expressing complex ideas with uncanny clarity, Richard Dawkins separates myth from reality in Outgrowing God.  His book is more than a beginners’ guide to atheism: it is a primer that liberates us to see and explore the beauty of the Universe free of fables and fantasies.”—Neil Shubin, paleontologist and author of Your Inner Fish

“When people ask the question ‘If you could have dinner with any three people . . . ,’ Richard Dawkins often springs to mind. Reading Outgrowing God felt kind of like actually getting to have that dinner. Dawkins spent the first half of the dinner blowing my mind by explaining what we know about the origins of the Bible, before spending the second half changing the way I think about evolution. As is always the case when I spend time in Richard Dawkins’s mind, I came out feeling smarter.”—Tim Urban, author of Wait But Why 

“The book . . . vividly demonstrates the spirit of scientific discovery that has made life meaningful for Dawkins himself. His contagious enthusiasm renders the basics of natural selection newly astonishing.”The Guardian
 
“Richard Dawkins is one of the great scientists and science communicators of our time, and Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide shows that he does not mean to relinquish those titles any time soon. It is a paean to truth and reason, written in the hope that more people will rally to the defense of those values at a time when they are being hastily abandoned. . . . Dawkins writes so well that his hope of helping society grow up might just be fulfilled.”—Areo Magazine