Book Club

A sacred cow is someone or something that is supposedly immune to or considered inappropriate for criticism. The Memphis Freethought Alliance Book Club meets to discuss freethought books. Freethought books explore sacred cows in an open and critical manner. Many (not all) of the books focus on religion, which is the primary sacred cow for many people. However, we are also open to critically discussing other touchy topics.

Thinking, Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Saturday, 01/21/12 at 4:30 pm: Introduction and chapter 1 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 01/28/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 2, 3 & 4 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 02/04/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 5, 6 & 7 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 02/11/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 8, 9 & 10 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 02/18/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 11, 12 & 13 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 02/25/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 14, 15 & 16 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 03/03/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 17, 18 & 19 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 03/10/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 20, 21 & 22 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 03/17/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 23, 24 & 25 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 03/24/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 26, 27 & 28 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Saturday, 03/31/12 at 4:30 pm: Chapters 29, 30 & 31 of Thinking, Fast & Slow at Newk's Express Cafe at 2200 Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN

Books & articles reviewed (in chronological order from earliest to latest):

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
American Fascists by Christopher Hedges
The Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson
Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman
God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor J. Stenger
Fears for Democracy in India (Hindu Fundamentalism) by Martha C. Nussbaum
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=t15b1l92nf46jb6sq8b82dpsct9f9003
http://stopfundinghate.org/sacw/index.html
http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/Amicus%20Brief%20by%20South%20Asian%20Groups%20Apr%2017.PDF
Why Darwin Matters by Michael Shermer
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (2006) by Daniel C. Dennett
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Death by Black Hole by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
http://www.online-literature.com/twain/3263/
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/
http://www.ditext.com/russell/russell.html
http://www.vonnegutweb.com/archives/arc_nice.html God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to
Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer by Bart Ehrman
Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement by Barbara Forrest
Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete? by Templeton Foundation
Power: A New Social Analysis by Bertrand Russell
Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today's Pop Mysticisms by Robert M. Price
Constitution for the United States of America
Federalist Farmer Letter: http://www.constitution.org/afp/fedfar05.htm
James Madison's Introduction to the Bill of Rights:http://www.usconstitution.net/madisonbor.html
House of Cards by Robyn Dawes
www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/daed.2006.135.3.86
www.infidels.org/library/modern/debates/great-debate.html
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists by Dan Barker
"What Have the Infidels Done" and "What Would You Substitute for the Bible as a Moral Guide" by Robert Ingersoll http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/inginfid.htm#WTHD
"The Limitations of Toleration" by Robert Ingersoll: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/inglimtol.htm
god.com: a deity for the new millennium by John A. Henderson
"Ghosts (Lecture)" by Robert Ingersoll
"What Shall We Do To Be Saved?" by Robert Ingersoll
"Individuality" by Robert Ingersoll
Religion Explained by Pascal Boyer
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
The God Virus by Darrel Ray
How We Decide (2010) by Johan Lehrer
Nomad (2010) by Aayan Hirsi Ali
Secular City Limits by Matthew Barron
The Grand Design (2010)by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails (2010) by John W. Loftus
Worked Over: Corporate Sabotage of an American Community (2003) by Dimitra Doukas
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010) by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies--How We Construct
Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths by Michael Shermer
A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment by Philipp Blom
The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R. Monk
Robert Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872): http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/gods.html
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman