Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

ISBN-13:	9780143038337
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/06/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	122,192
Product dimensions:	5.48(w) x 8.43(h) x 1.02(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

The New York Times bestseller – a “crystal-clear, constantly engaging” (Jared Diamond) exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives and our interactionsFor all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why—and how—it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.