Customer Reviews

The Path of Reason - A Philosophy of Nonbelief

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Courageous! Bruce A. Smith applies critical thought to man's oldest questions. He doesn't pussy-foot around. Rather, he dives right in, immersing the reader, forcing the reader to follow his personal journey from the Bible belt to atheism.

Shuck the idea that philosophy has to be packaged in gigantic tomes crafted centuries ago by writers long since converted to dust. Smith is a modern day wit and thinker who presents his arguments in an easy, down to earth style.

"The Path of Reason" may not be for everyone. For some, it may frighten, possibly offend. Others will find comfort. I guarantee you "The Path..." will, absolutely, challenge you to think. For anyone who has ever pondered thoughts about why are we here and where are we going, this one is must reading. I rated this work a solid A plus!
William DeNisi - author of Trinity, and Choking Sam.

Bruce A. Smith's slim but vital volume belongs in the library of every thinking person. Smith raises the magnifying glass of reason to fallacies most of us have believed at one point in our lives, including:
Office clichés ("Change is good" - but is it always?),
Astrology (in which the twelve signs are so generalized we can see pieces of ourselves in every one, no matter what month we were born in),
The nature of truth (which remains truth no matter who says it or whether or not we like it),
And that tangled mass of doublespeak, hypocrisy, and bloodletting known as the Holy Bible (after you read this chapter, you will never again see it as a moral guide).
He also shows us what's left when we learn to see the world clearly - a peaceful acceptance of life as it is that, believe it or not, can bring us greater joy than any superstitious fantasy we can come up with. Reason, it turns out, is not a cold, heartless tool -- it's our friend, and it can steer us away from beliefs and actions that are just bad for us.

What's nice about this book is it's different from other books on atheism and skepticism I have read. As reflected in the "path" being in the title, it focuses more not only how the author ended up being an unbeliever, but how anyone could arrive at the same conclusions. In other words there's a lot here about how a person moves from being a staunch believer to being the complete opposite.

Another nice feature is the inclusion of much more that criticism of religion. Also included are revealing discussions of things like Magic and the New Age.

As far as I can tell the author is really interested in showing the reader how to best use their minds in order to arrive at an accurate model of how reality works. In this I think the author is to be applauded and highly recommend this book to anyone.

Excellent discussion for those of us who have questions about religion. Mr Smith has the ability to ask and explain about ideas which have confused many of us but have never been truly answered. I highly recommend this for those who have wondered about the unquestioned philosophy of religion.

I enjoyed reading about Bruce A. Smith's journey from religious follower to agnostic and finally to atheism, through logic and reason. My journey, although along a different path, ended up at a similar destination. This book was easy to read, it was easy to follow his reasoning and logic, and although I may not agree with all of his conclusions, I enjoyed the journey. But then, we all must follow our own path and hope we find other travelers along the way. He makes his case through wit and logic, not through preaching nor insults. I recommend this book to anyone who is either curious as to how someone can be swayed from the path of belief, or to someone who is starting their own personal journey. Your destination may ultimately be a different one, but it's worth the trip.