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HAD ENOUGH OF GOD YET?

Name: HAD ENOUGH OF GOD YET?
Author: Richard C. Johnson
ISBN: 978-1-5455-3143-3

A SCIENTIST'S ESSAYS ON RATIONAL THOUGHT

by Richard C. Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017

A wide-ranging study that too often relies on sweeping, partisan declarations.

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Johnson (Intuitive/Counter Intuitive, 2014, etc.) makes a confident prediction that religious belief will soon vanish from the earth, supplanted by scientific reason.

Bombastic prognostications of the triumph of reason over superstition have a long historical pedigree. Research chemist Johnson offers his own version, couched within a history of the progressive march of empirical science. According to the author, the history of human thought generally bifurcates into two periods—one dominated by the “intuitive mind-set,” followed by the emergence, during the Enlightenment in the 17th century, by the “mind-set of reason.” In the former, he says, the attempt to understand human identity and the world at large was mainly an exercise in imaginative storytelling, completely detached from evidentiary substantiation. It was out of this age of poetical contrivance that religion was born, he says, but the advent of science subjected human belief to rational questioning. Since then, Johnson says, religion has been repeatedly exposed as indefensible. He sees numerous signs that religious belief is withering under the attack of reason, and he asserts that faith is on the wane and its institutions are losing their political clout. The author foresees a future in which religion essentially disappears and becomes a historical curiosity, like other roundly defeated schools of thought, such as alchemy. This study is basically two books bound into one: the first book describes the nature of the transition from irrationality to scientific rectitude, and the second is an assemblage of essays about the irrationality of religious faith. Throughout both, Johnson’s prose is transparent and self-assured, and the historical breadth of his argument is impressive. Along the way, he astutely raises serious questions about the epistemological reliability of intuition. However, his entire argument rests upon a sweeping caricature of all religion as benighted folklore, ignoring a rich history of theologically minded philosophy, as well as the many famous advocates of science who believed in God.

A wide-ranging study that too often relies on sweeping, partisan declarations.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5455-3143-3

Page Count: 274

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
PARADIGM
by Richard C. Johnson

- BOOK REVIEW
RELIGION
by Richard C. Johnson

- BOOK REVIEW
INTUITIVE/COUNTER INTUITIVE
by Richard C. Johnson

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.