God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hitchens' case against organized religion and the God hypothesis. It's his version of Dawkins' "The God Delusion", with more disdain and contempt for religion; all but no one here was spared the jarred blade of criticism, even the likes of Gandhi. Like the case with Dawkins' book, even though my viewpoint towards religion didn't change much, I nonetheless felt much more informed by the time I had finished the book, with its countless historic and philosophic references and citations that need pursuing. Staying with the inevitable comparison between the two books, they almost followed the same line that some chapters even had similar titles, which of course can be expected since both are dealing with the same matter and disparaging the same arguments, though for me "The God Delusion" was more distinct with its scientific eye-openers, while "God is not Great" focused more on history and politics.
On a personal note, I found the use of language here quite interesting. At some point I could confidently say that no adjective was used twice anywhere in the book. The richness of vocabulary used, despite being frustrating for me at times, was fascinating and entertaining in itself. I'd be glad if I referred to the dictionary only once per chapter on a second reading. I also found myself lost sometimes amidst references from all over the history timeline and from all over the world to prove or disprove a point, I felt in few chapters that the point could have been made clearer towards the end. Most of the chapters though had perfect punchlines and the book generally is full of splendid quotes.
A more detailed review and a number of quotes and excerpts should follow soon, hopefully, after a quick skim through the pages once again.
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