How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science / By: Michael Shermer / W H Freeman & Co, 2000 / Hardcover 

ISBN-13: 9780716735618 / 978-0716735618 

ISBN-10: ‎ 071673561X

Printed in the USA

Pages 302

"Well-researched, comprehensive, and persuasive. How We Believe is especially notable in stressing the great power of narration as the vehicle of complex thought.... The humanistic, evolutionary explanation may in fact be ready to break out of the intellectually remote domain in which it has been developed and too long hemmed in."

-Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Consilience, Research Professor and Honorary Curator in Entomology, Harvard University

"This is an important book which is at the same time a great read. Michael Shermer digs into the American religious psyche with devastating logic and intensity.... Too often politeness (or cowardice) prevents people from asking questions or from expressing dissent. No such barriers stand in the way of Shermer's acute intellect, the more powerful since he so obviously cares about the issues on which he writes. I love his discussions of God and of morality, and when I disagree I simply want to argue the more."

-Michael Ruse, author of Taking Darwin Seriously, Professor of Philosophy and Zoology, University of Guelph

"One can be a nonbeliever without being against belief. One can study what religion is and what it means to the human condition without ridiculing or mocking the believer. One can be a scholar about a subject of which many people discourage a critical examination. Shermer is all this and more in this thoughtful and reflective book. Recommended for both believer and nonbeliever."

-Dr. Eugenie Scott, anthropologist and Executive Director, The National Center for Science Education

Inside the Flap:

HOW WE BELIEVE
The Search for God in an Age of Science
MICHAEL SHERMER

Recent polls report that 96% of Americans believe in God. Why is this? Why, despite the rise of science, technology, and secular education, are people turning to religion in greater numbers than ever before? Why do people believe in God at all?

These provocative questions lie at the heart of How We Believe, an illuminating new study of God, faith, and religion by best-selling author Michael Shermer. Offering fresh and often startling insights into age-old questions, Shermer's new book explores how and why humans put their faith in a higher power, even in the face of scientific skepticism. With characteristic logic and intellectual intensity, Shermer investigates such compelling topics as

• What it means to believe or not believe in God today
• The evolution of religion as a powerful human institution
• "Is God Dead?" Why Nietzsche and Time magazine were wrong
• What 10,000 Americans said in reply to the questions, "Why do you believe in God?" and "Why do you think other people believe in God?"
• "Proofs" of God's existence and what they tell us about faith
• How we can find meaning in an apparently meaningless universe

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ W H Freeman & Co (January 1, 2000)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 302 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 071673561X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0716735618
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.33 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1 x 10 inches