Customer Reviews

The Ipod Tutor: The Argument Against Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion

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I am in complete agreement with the other reviewers that Richard Dawkins' book, "The God Delusion" lacks substantiative logic and, in many cases, evidence to his assertions. Perhaps this is because his field of expertise is biology and not philosophy. In any case, being able to have an immediate refutation in this form is very helpful. Many times books such as professor Dawkins' are accepted at face value simply because the reader does not have a background in logical fallacies. Using the Ipod tutor each error is dealt with as you read through the book at time time you read it. This allows the reader to improve their skill at recognizing such forms of incoherent thought as they go along. In today's "wired ears" society, most people are familiar with the MP3 technology and will have no problem downloading and retrieving the audio files to listen to. As the book was not designed to be read like a novel, it makes sense to stop, listen to the audio track and then go back and either re-read the passage or continue on from where they left off. The Intelligent Community has taken steps to create a constructive critique and assessment of the book without the arrogance which pervades the book itself. I would like to see the Ipod tutor extended to more books and I look forward to seeing more Ipod tutors in the future.

I gave Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion" a one star review because I think it is empty rhetoric -- see my review -- but I have a lot of critics that think I was mean to Richard and that's pretty amusing considering the way he treats his critics -- talk about ridicule.

Anyway I think this iPod tutor kind of thing is a neat idea. I don't have an iPod but I downloaded the audios and listened to them in the context of Dawkins' book -- what they do is divide Dawkins' book into what are called Flag Points and then comment on each Flag Point in the book with a commentary critiquing Dawkins' arguments -- commending him when he is sound and taking him to task when he is not. So for those who think I'm blowing smoke -- get this book and the associated mp3s which are downloadable and see just how little substance there is in Dawkins' book.

I'm inclined to think that the credibility that Dawkins' book is getting is evidence for the serious decline in critical thinking in the United States. Apparently if it sounds good it must be true. Dawkins is a compelling writer, but truth deserves more than clever turns of phrase and cute snide remarks.

This book/mp3s combo is more than worth the price. You'll come away with a short course in critical thinking and a powerful understanding of why Richard Dawkins is logic challenged. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. It's definitely cool. I'm a research scientist by training and job history and know a thing or two about critical thinking -- I think this Intelligent Community Initiative is a very worthwhile endeavor.

O God, this iPod tutor is just another load of counterfeit information posing as "intelligent" and calling fundamentalist christians as "intelligent community". I have never read so much crap in the introduction. I know for a fact that our Chinese God, Tua Pek Kong, creates the world, not some hippie-looking Middle Eastern chap called Jesus. It's an insult to mix intelligent, scientific thinking with fundamentalist morons.