Bookpedia : GQ Book Library : Genre : S

ISBN: 0141026162

ListPrice: £8.99

Summary: I started reading "The Selfish Gene", "The God Delusion" and then this book. I have not been able to put it down since I have started the 1st page.
This is a fantastic read. Not as complex as some parts of the Selfish Gene, this book reads far easier, it is just as interesting and well articulated.
This is Dawkins at his best.I highly recommend this book as yet another engaging wake up call to those who have been brainwashed into believing that humanity's greatest aspect, our ability to reason, is "sinful". Read and be enlightened.

ISBN: 0593055489

ListPrice: £20.00

Summary: The difficult thing about this book is that it does what it says on the tin; it exposes God as a delusion, with lots of logic, reason and evidence to back up the argument. Therefore, people who consider themselves athiests' will be attracted to it and enjoy very much. However, I don't expect that very many religious people will get past the cover. If you are a (currently) religious person who is brave enough to challenge your beliefs then this book is an excellent way for you to unearth your basic reasons for belief in the Almighty, and if you can read it with an open mind and still hold religious beliefs then your God must truly be almighty!

ISBN: 9781416594789

ListPrice: $30.00

Edition: First Edition

Dimensions: 1.80 x 9.70 x 6.70 in

Summary: In 2008, a Gallup poll showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a Pew Forum poll in the same year, 42 percent believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time.
In 1859 Charles Darwin's masterpiece, "On the Origin of Species", shook society to its core. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke. But he surely would have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century and a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists and indeed theologians, yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. Now the author of the iconic work "The God Delusion" takes them to task.
"The Greatest Show on Earth" is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design," explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument." Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence: from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics. Combining these elements and many more, he makes the airtight case that "we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection."
"The Greatest Show on Earth" comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is menacing as never before. In American schools, and in schools around the world, insidious attempts are made to undermine the status of science in the classroom. Dawkins wields a devastating argument against this ignorance, but his unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master's vision of life, in all its splendor.

ISBN: 1857994051

ListPrice: £7.99

Edition: Reissued 2001

Summary: Nearly a century and a half after Charles Darwin formulated it, the theory of evolution is still the subject of considerable debate. Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins is among Darwin's chief defenders, and an able one indeed--witty, literate, capable of turning a beautiful phrase. In "River Out of Eden " he introduces general readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology, gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. (Superheroes need not apply: Dawkins writes, "The genes that survive . . . will be the ones that are good at surviving in the average environment of the species.") Dawkins argues for the essential unity of humanity, noting that "we are much closer cousins of one another than we normally realise, and we have many fewer ancestors than simple calculations suggest." --"Christine Buttery"

ISBN: 9781904034469

ListPrice: £6.99

Summary: I have not read this book, although I have read Wensley Clarkson's last one called 'The Good Doctor' (see my review) but I thought I had better point out the misleading inaccuracy which is stated on the front cover which claims that Dr Shipman killed 357 patients. Where has the author got this figure from? Maybe he would care to e-mail me and let me know his sources!)
The official inquiry into Dr Shipman came up with 215, and even if there is suspicion in another 45 cases, it still does not bring the total anywhere near 357....
You dear reader may say, what does it matter? I think it does because it is wrong for a writer of fact to exaggerate for the sake of sensationalism of which I think the author is guilty.
If the rest of the contents of this book is as 'false' as the cover of it, then I certainly would not advise anyone seeking an understanding of the 'Shipman' case to read it.
Both the title and the claim on the cover has put me off seeking it out.
Shame.......

ISBN: 0747217602

ListPrice: £17.99

Summary: In my opinion, this is the best account of the life and crimes of Fredrick West and the cruelty that went on in 25 Cromwell Street. Geoffrey Wansell paints a detailed and vivid picture of the life of Fred West, from his family and upbringing to the rape, torture and murder he devoted his life to. The book offers psychological analysis throughout the book, with constant reference and quotations from the various members of the West family.
I have read many books on the crimes of the West's and I personally feel that this is the best account. The content of the book is the most disturbing and graphic I have encountered, so therefore I would not recommend this book to the fainthearted amongst us. This book will shock, sicken, disturb and even anger you, but it is an important book, allowing the reader to try and understand the cruelty man is capable of.

ISBN: 0749323949

ListPrice: £6.99

Edition: New Ed

Summary: This is one of the most interesting and absorbing insights into the mind of killers and serial killers. Whilst it is at times graphic it is not voyeristic and succeeds in not slipping into overly dramatic descritions. John Douglas is the primary exponent of criminal profiling and his knowledge and expertise shines through.

ISBN: 0006530400

ListPrice: £8.99

Edition: New Ed

Summary: We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's "No Logo", "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds". Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations".
In "No Logo", Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. The global companies claim to support diversity but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they are both divisions of Viacom?
Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage" wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment". Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation" observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organise workers and advocate for change.
But resistance is growing and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programmes have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labour practices but about the astronomical mark-up in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you". But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organisers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centred alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of co-ordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert". "No Logo" is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --"Ron Hogan"

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ListPrice: US$ 6.17

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ISBN: 0143035533

ListPrice: £9.17

Edition: Reprint

Summary:

ISBN: 1932857281

ListPrice: £9.99

Summary: