Reddit mentions of Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea

Evolution, Triumph of an Idea

Here's an angle. He's not just fighting all of Biology, but all of Geology, Astronomy, Cosmology, Paleontology, Archeology, Anthropology, Linguistics and most of Physics. But he just loves science.

its called the grandmother hypothesis. I see a lot of disappointing shooting from the hip on /atheism. Evolution is not logical and discernible from a few basic tenants, if it was biologists would have retired. Get people to read about evolution more, instead of parroting pseudo intellectual tripe.

One day I decided I wanted to examine all the evidence for evolution myself. This book disarmed all my anti-evolution arguments and led to me going from believing mormon to atheist in about a six-month time frame (The actual reading only took me about a week)

The book even bends over backwards for Christian apologetics at the end, and it was enough to make me not hate the book for the mindfuck it started... though I'm sure if I re-read it now, I'd probably be laughing at the christianity part of it.

I've found that I've really enjoyed some books that address topics that are interesting to Mormonism without being related to it at all.

Karen Armstrong (comparative religion/religious history), Bart Ehrman (biblical textual criticism), Timothy Keller (I really loved "The Reason for God"), Joseph Campbell (mythology), have all helped me gain a greater understanding of religion in general.

Other books that cover science and history have been excellent as well. I had what could be called a spiritual experience learning about the magnitude of life and how it exists when I read Carl Zimmer's "Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea". I would also suggest learning a bit about the origins of modern civilization by studying about Mesopotamia. I found a bit of interesting American history (that also briefly mentions the 19th century "burned over district" and Joseph Smith) in "Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation."

My current read is "This is my Doctrine: The Development of Mormon Theology" by Charles R. Harrell, a BYU professor. It seems like the type of book that many Mormons would find offensive, while many Mormons would find it inspired.

I also enjoy reading scripture and seeing what it says without trying to make it fit what I think it should say, especially the New Testament. Honestly, I think that the New Testament inspires fewer wtf moments than any of the other books of scripture :)