How We Beleive by Michael Shermer

Merits: Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, the director of the Skeptics Society, and the host of the Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology. He’s a bestselling author and teaches the history of science, technology, and evolutionary thought in the Cultural Studies Program at Occidental College in L.A. The list goes on, but basically, man’s smart and he’s made a career out of critical thinking.

Material: This book is all about why. Why, despite cultural changes and the rises in scientific and secular education are people still turning to religion in significant numbers? Why do people even believe in God? Why did religion evolve as a powerful human institution? The book is basically the Riddler’s Revenge side quest, just collecting question marks. Are any of the questions answered? That’s up for you to decide. Regardless, this book is a great place to start asking questions, since Shermer asks for you.

Grade: Doubting Thomas. This book just begs the question…that’s it. It simply elicits questions. It’ll make you think, and it has plenty of Biblical references and shoutouts. It’s accessible and gentle, setting the tone at the intro to Stephen Jay Gould with the line, “For examining God, religion, and myth as Spinoza would have it: not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn, but to understand.”