god is not Great: Review pt. 1
For my philosophy class this semester we had to do a critical book review. One of the options was Christopher Hitchen's god is not Great - you know I had to pick that one. I will be posting my review (plus some information that I had to cut out) here in eight or nine segments. Part one, which follows, is my introduction to the book.
Christopher Hitchens sought to establish his elevated place among the self-designated “Four Horsemen of Atheism” with his vitriolic blast against religion, which he dubbed, god is not Great. If the disjointed and poorly reasoned volume warrants his inclusion in the group, then the future of God and religion have very little to be concerned about from the current acolytes of secularism.
From the title to the last chapter, Hitchens placed his goals much too high. Although he is a gifted rhetorician, the contributing editor of Vanity Fair wastes much of his wordsmith talent in attempting to establish a verbal shell game where he makes a claim that is to be assumed as fact, while he obscures any evidence to the contrary.
Hitchens meanders in a seemingly aimless fashion from one point to another. There is no real flow to the book, which reads more like nineteen extended op-eds haphazardly slapped together as an anti-religious screed. That is not to say the book is a difficult read or a poorly written one. On the contrary, Hitchen's style is very readable and conducive to generating controversy and discussion - but mainly controversy. However, the work fails to build off of itself and instead relies too heavily on Hitchens' rhetorical skill instead of developing a well reasoned attack on "god."
When evaluating the effectiveness of the assault, seven seemingly assiduous problems plague the bestseller. Perhaps Hitchens was attempting one last religious pun by littering his work with the perfect number of miscues, biblically speaking.
- Selective examples
- Using the individual to blame the whole
- Over-selling the evidence
- Dishonest presentation
- Blatantly contradictory
- Questionable cause
- Unoriginal attacks
