The Age of Reason: A Reccomendation and Warning

Hello everyone.

I recently finished "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine, and, frankly, it was the single best book I've ever read. His ideas and clear cut logic have no parallel, and his wit makes the point crisp and clear. I highly reccomend it to everyone who may read this post, BUT:

This book is NOT for the faint of heart. If you believe in the Bible, and you have all your life, this book will upset you. Don't say you haven't been warned.

So, has anyone who read this book like to discuss their opinion of it?

I'll look into it. I haven't had much reading time with college taking up my time, but I'll throw that on my book list and I'll read it after I read "Food of the Gods"... heard that book's really interesting and up my alley.

What's "The Age of Reason" about, exactly? Is it fiction?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806505494/qid=1077514689//ref=pd_ka_1/103-2967952-1794220?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I kinda like Snow Crash, mself.

Or anything by Elizabeth Moon.

Or Anne McCaffrey.

But then again I'm not big on non-fiction.

Although I fail to see what snowcrash has to do with religous commentary, it's indeed a very good book

<<What's "The Age of Reason" about, exactly? Is it fiction?>>

If that was meant as a joke, it's a very good one.

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall."...
Incredible book Darwin, for once im in total agreement with you <grin>

Read it online at http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/age_of_reason/index.shtml

Enjoy It's well worth the read.

This is a book I have been wanting to read. I'll try to pick it up this weekend and after I have read it, would love to discuss it with you Darwin.

Have you -read- Snow Crash? It's got religious commentary out the wazoo!

One of the best books I have read (and reread a number of times) was written in 1954 by US Andersen and it is called "Three Magic Words".

I think you would like it Darwin.

My recommendation to any one who reads it would be to not read the last chapter until you reach it, as you may not get it until you are prepared to understand what it means.

This is such an inspiring and revealing book that I often pick it up and open it to any random page and find completely relevant information.

I'll add this to my list. I too don't have much reading time, I'm on here too much.

Currently though I'm working Snow Crash again and Hagakure: The Way of The Samurai

Snow Crash has alot of religion baked in there, it also has Reason. "They'll listen to Reason." love that line.

Everytime I see "The Age of Reason" I think of The Age Of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurtzweiler(sp) which is a great book too.

Damn simular titled books.

The Age of Reason sounds like a interisting book.

Am I the only one who read _The Age of Reason_ in Western Civ in college? . I just had a flashback to my mean ole Western Civ teacher and his sweaty armpits I could smell in the back of the room . . .oh nevermind.

Zana

Thanks for the reading suggestion! I adore his style of writting and the thought provoking nature of the content. And a huge thanks to Chip for the link...Maybe we could have a book club discussion if enough people read it.

Please keep in mind we create our own fates, nothing here is set in stone.

Ill take you up on that warning darwin. I once questioned my religion for 3 months because of something someone told me, but theres a difference between most men. Those who follow their logic, and those who follow their faith. Im the later.

Yeah, I think I've hurt myself.

And Diamond Age even more so. Stephenson does good research, which is why his books have been so long in coming out, and also why he is relatively incommunicado.

Comical earlier posts aside though, fiction can never be a substitute for pure commentary. One of the reasons Stephenson is so good (compared to much fiction) is that he will suddenly take a time-out from the story and just insert 5 pages of commentary, pretty much saving you the need to ponder "what's he really mean here? Is their a hidden message?"

To summarize one of his summaries: "Those who throw out religion to avoid the possibility of committing hypocrisy still end up committing hypocrisy and have lost the benefits of religion. i.e., Nihilism is a poor substitute for an imperfect belief system." Diamond Age is a good parable of the interplay between the religious world, the secular world, and "true believers" of all kinds.

My experience has been that you have to read works such as Paine's in the context of the world THEY lived in to understand them. Placing them in the context of todays world you can probably draw conclusions that were not intended. I'm sure I've read bits of this work years ago (though never in its entirety) I'll break out my Cliff's Notes^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Copy and have a look.

Heh, hi again all. Thanks for the link, Chip!

Anyway, I w ould love this to be a book club thing. Unfortunetly, we can't exactly get Thomas Paine here. Perhaps Neal Stephenson, though?

The Age of Reason has, unfortunetly, been much surpressed by the radical catholics and jews, and I don't believe it's taught in public school at all. Really a beautiful work of reason, and at points I had to slap myself for ever even considering certain things in the bible. I, for one, lost all faith in the bible I had after reading The Age of Reason. That's why I reccomend anyone who really, really believes the bible doesn't read it.

What shocks me is that, at the time it was written (1755 or so) evolution wasn't even thought of. There was no alternative to the idea of creation. But even without knowing aobut evolution, Paine was able to find, through pure reason and logic, that the biblical creatioin was wrong. How cool!

Funny how the 1700s thought seeps in here and there, such as his belief that there were only 6 planets orbiting the sun. But even so, he knew that other stars would have planets orbiting them, too.

My pleasure, Darwin. Be sure to explore that site. There's tons of great reading there.

I reread a bit of it when I went to fetch the link and found the parts on Jesus particularly satisfying amidst all the hype around Mel Gibson's movie. And you're right, despite the obvious difference in scientific understanding between then and now it's every bit as relevant today as it was when it was written... and getting moreso by the day!

Are his other books related to Snow Crash, or no?

Someone compare and contrast Age of Reason with Common Sense...thx.

He should have written a book named "You IDIOT! It's so obvious!"

No. As far as I know Snowcrash is the only one centered around VR. Diamond age has more to do with nano-technology and his later works (a three-parter still in progress) are tied together by cryptography. But it starts in the 1600's or something and so I've put off getting started with them. He's a great writer though, if anyone can make a 15th century science fiction trillogy interesting he probably can.

I haven't read Diamond Age. Is the premise really that simple minded? No atheist I've ever met became one from a desire to avoid hypocrisy. The above statement could be translated to "religion is okay because we're all just hypocrites anyway." I have to take issue with that ;P And to suggest that the absence of religious belief automatically leaves you with nihilsm is not only ignorant, it shows an immense bias. It's the same kind of reasoning that makes people say things like "Well if you strike down sodomy laws then what's next, condoning sex with animals?!" It's simple minded. Nihilists believe that nothing can be proven and therefore nothing can be believed in (including science). They also believe that morality is completely subjective and therefore is meaningless. To suggest that all atheists are nihilists makes about as much sense as saying all basketballs are planets... because they're both round. If Diamond Age rests on such unsound and biased reasoning it doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and buy it.

This document makes it easier to understand what's going on....