[Hac-announce] Book Group Announcements

Dan Blinn danblinn at gmail.com
Sat Jun 15 13:00:53 EDT 2013


Our next meeting will be on Saturday, June 29, at 3:00 pm at USNH.  We will
be reading "The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and
Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
<http://www.amazon.com/The-Believing-Brain-Conspiracies-How-Construct/dp/1250008808>"
 by
Michael Shermer.  Synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist and
science historian Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how
humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and
explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief
engine. Using sensory data that flow in through the senses, the brain
naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those
patterns with meaning, forming beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain
begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those
beliefs, accelerating the process of reinforcing them, and round and round
the process goes in a positive-feedback loop.

In *The Believing Brain, *Shermer provides countless real-world examples of
how this process operates, from politics, economics, and religion to
conspiracy theories, the supernatural, and the paranormal. And ultimately,
he demonstrates why science is the best tool ever devised to determine
whether or not our beliefs match reality.


Our July book will be The Golden Compass: His Dark
Materials<http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Compass-Dark-Materials/dp/0440238137/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371314699&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=the+golden+cmopass+papwerback>by
Philip Pullman.  Pullman is a British writer who is active in humanist
and secular causes.  He wrote his Dark Materials trilogy as a humanist
response to the heavily Christian-themed "Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S.
Lewis.  Although his publishers have targeted the series to young adults,
Pullman intended the work for adults as well.  While I don't usually
recommend audio versions of books, some of us might enjoy the recorded
version, which utilizes actors' voices for the dialogue.

At the July discussion, we'll decide whether we want to read the remaining
two volumes of Pullman's epic or whether we should move on to something
else.

Happy Reading!

Dan
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