God Explained in a Taxi Ride (Paperback)

~ (Author) "There aren't many people who go through life without wondering what it is all about..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Brilliant, bad, charming, irascible and totally off the wall, Paul Arden is an original with extraordinary drive and energy, blessed with a creative genius allied to a kind of common sense that just isn't, well, common' Roger Kennedy, Saatchi and Saatchi

Product Description

This is a punchy, humorous, and probing look at the nature of religious belief, by the author of the massively successful "Whatever You Think Think the Opposite". In a series of brilliant visual episodes, Paul Arden investigates the questions that have persisted since our earliest days. As ever, he is a master of compression, getting us to scratch our heads as he examines our relationship to the divine.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Global (October 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141032227
• ISBN-13: 978-0141032221
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,399,183 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Candy Floss, December 24, 2007

By	Sanjay Agarwal (India) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a cute little book, and certainly can be read in about 20 minutes. The printing is excellent, and the large type face is very easy on the eyes. The book tries to target the harried, rushed executive, which Arden himself was once upon a time.

The book is not a denial of God - it is a relaxed confirmation. It is slightly irreverent about Christian sects, and more positive towards Islam, which is in keeping with the current fashion [Mr. Arden even suggests building a mosque at Ground Zero!]. It tries to present the concept and relevance of divinity in a very small bite, and thus loses out on content.

There are also some errors of information, particularly about other religions. For example, 'heathens' are referred in the past tense (p.52). Actually that is not correct. By Christian standards, heathens still exist - all Hindus and Buddhists would easily fall in this category. Similarly, the Islamic practice of five daily prayers is explained as having been designed to get people out of the Sun and into the cool mosque (p.80). Mr. Arden is perhaps not aware that Muslims are expected to pray wherever they are, except on Friday afternoons, when a kind of Mass is celebrated by getting all the Muslims together in the mosque.

All in all, a nice book, with some good ideas. It may help you look at religion in a new light, or it may not. However, don't expect it to give you any deep insights.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money..., January 26, 2009

By	Zino Davidoff "zino" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This glib little brochure is cute but not worth the taxi ride's length of time it takes to read. Not only does it not have a single insight to add to the understanding of "God," it seems to have been written by a commercial copy writer with the intention of making bucks off people who need things explained to them in Hallmark-card cadences of cutesy shrugs. Even the illustration style smacks of the greeting card mentality.

It's embarrassing.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Grasping at straws., December 25, 2007

By	Swift (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

The concept of "God" can be basically explained in a few seconds: basically, it's a big coping mechanism for those who are uncomfortable with the uncertainties of life and death, and an enabling mechanism for those who would pretend to have answers to same uncertainties to grab power and "legitimacy."

There. I've explained God. No need to buy this book then.

Oh, but wait. Arden (the author) doesn't want to "explain" God to you, despite the title. He actually wants to "justify" god to you.

But who are "you?" Again, we look to the title. Apparently you are an intelligent, urbane sort of person that takes a taxi and shops for books online. No fire and brimstone, young-earth-creationism for you, then - you bloody rationalists with your "facts", "science" and "critical thinking abilities" won't go for that. Rather, you need the soft-sell.

For a 20-minute book, Arden lays it on thick. God is an Important Concept (tm) that we should treat as basically true because it's a good thing. Bad things have been done in the name of God, but we should not lose sight of the "divine."

Or, summarized another way, Arden thinks that you'll be better off living your life if you had a pair of reality-distorting glasses on called "god."

I'm sure the book will provide nice confirmation for the moderates theists who so desperately grasp at such straws. Color me unimpressed, however.