This book hardly needs any introduction - if you have not heard of it you must have been cataloging the names of the minor characters in ¨War and Peace¨ over the last 10 months or so. Basically this book is written in Dawkins´ normal expansive and eloquent style which readers of his earlier books will have become accustomed to; even given the subject matter this book carries you along at a fair old pace - for a non-fiction book this is quite the page turner.

The subject matter is Dawkins´ pet subject, namely the irrationality of the belief in god or any other supreme, all knowing being. In this book he goes further arguing that this belief has, through the ages, significantly harmed the human race, society in general, science in particular and remains the primary cause of individual suffering today. The first half of the book is a devastating attack on the arguments offered by the proponents of religious thinking, Dawkins takes each argument for the existence of god in turn and leaves it battered and lifeless on the road to rational Nirvana (and he´d argue that this last phrase is a symptom of a language peppered with religious concepts - brainwashing us all!).

The second half of the book labors the point and you feel a certain sense of frustration with the arguments presented - ¨OK - I get it - enough already!!¨ - check out the chapter ¨Childhood, abuse and the escape from religion¨ one feels that Mr. Dawkins would rather not have included the punctuation - nevertheless it is still well written and the intelligence of the man shines through every paragraph.

Time to come clean - I am an atheist (have been since I was 18) who was brought up in a ´traditional´ Roman Catholic household and I enjoyed this book - I will almost certainly re-read it. This however is the problem with ¨The God Delusion¨ - I doubt that a devote Hindu would read this book and think ¨Wow - I´ve been duped all my life and now Dawkins has opened my mind to the futility of religion, give me a bacon sandwich¨, the thrust of the book is powerfully but I believe it will mostly preach to the converted if I can be forgiven for using another religiously bias phrase.

I believe I read somewhere that Dawkins hopes that the book will lead to a reduction in the influence religion has on the governance of our societies - particularly in the United States and that this will be achieved through the increased use of rational thought unencumbered by religious bias - I think this is a tall order for this book, good as it is, and possibly the world post ¨The God Delusion" is more polarised on this subject than it was before.

Although a short novel at 396 pages, Anti-Christ: A Satirical End of Days manages to pack in religious, secular and celestial corruption, the story of a downtrodden everyman who somehow becomes entangled in it all, and an amusing look into the secret life of angels, binding it all together with keen intelligence and gritty prose.

The novel starts with the painful portrait of a loser.

And Matthew Ford, the protagonist, is not even a likeable loser.

He is the kind of person you immediately become frustrated with, and I found myself muttering remonstrances like: "Three hours of being stood up! That's two and a half hours too long! Don't be a victim!", "The dog peed on your leg and you haven't got time to use the bathroom? Don't you have a hose?", and "Matthew, why is your mother doing your laundry? Empower yourself, man, for goodness' sake!"

(Note that becoming cross with a character is not necessarily a bad thing. It shows you are accepting his reality, and even empathising with him, to an extent. And it is definitely an improvement on being bored and indifferent because you can't relate to a character at all *cough*Cecilia Dart-Thornton*cough*.)

As the story progresses, Ford starts to show promise. The former loser displays a gutsiness and integrity that becomes more and more impressive as he defies the corrupt Messiah, is tempted by Satan, and, finally, guided by Buddha, takes on Armageddon with an army of zombies. By the end of the book I almost liked the guy.

I admit that I found Anti-Christ: A Satirical End of Days easy going. I like Moses's writing style.

Nevertheless, weighty narrative aside, the novel is founded on an unusual and clever premise that will hook you in and keep you wondering where and how the madness will end.

Anti-Christ: A Satirical End of Days is not so much anti-Christian as it is anti-establishment. It seems to say, Please, have a closer look. Don't just accept what you're told. If the government is really doing God's work on Earth, then God help us all.

The recent decoding of the human genome surprised many in the scientific community that something so huge and so complex has finally been unraveled. The human genome, the DNA coding for every hereditary trait that influences the development of any individual, is carried in every living cell of the human body. If it were printed in English, it would consist of three billion characters. A printed English version would make a book as thick as the Washington monument is tall. Cracking the human genome paves the way for scientists to identify genes that cause hereditary defects and makes possible a cure for these defects.

Francis S. Collins started his education as an agnostic. During graduate study, when he was twenty-one, he became an atheist. When he was twenty-six, someone caused him to reexamine his beliefs. His was a challenging journey, being a well-informed scientist considering the presence of God when many scientists are convinced that there is no God. Collins gradually became convinced that God does exist. The complexity of the human genome helped him realize that something so complex and so effective in determining the human bodily and physical abilities as well as the bodies and instincts of every living creature simply cannot be the product of pure chance. It’s a glimpse of the God that cannot be seen creating the physical universe that can be seen. We see the physical result only after God has created it.

Collins described his journey to faith by explaining the human genome. Then he reviews current scientific theories explaining the origin of the universe and the solar system. He shows that these theories are not inconsistent with what is revealed in Scripture. He cites polarization of both religious apologists and scientists and argues that the conflict between religion and science stems more from misstatements from both sides than it does from any true conflict between the two fields of study. He quotes St. Augustine’s warning: “In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it.”

Collins finishes his book with a cogent discussion of bioethics that will give the reader much food for thought. “The Language of God” is a well-written, very informative book that shows that there is no real contradiction between the discoveries of science and the existence of God.

Maurice A. Williams

The Man Who Was Thursday is one of those books, like The Borribles or The Name of the Rose, that you're vaguely aware of, you think might be cool, but you end up never getting around to reading because there just doesn't seem to be A Way In. It's not like you'll have your feet up in front of Emmerdale and something makes you go 'Ah, that reminds me - I've always wanted to read The Man Who Was Thursday. I'll order it off Amazon now.'

Which is a shame, because it's a very special book.Like PG Wodehouse or Elmore Leonard, GK Chesterton just has a wonderful, fun way with a sentence. He's the kind of guy who could write six paragraphs about European farm subsidies and make you come away wanting to dance the tango in your living room. But the action here is far from dull. TMWWT* is about a clever young man who infiltrates a secret society of deadly anarchists - each named after a day of the week. Can our hero keep his head, his identity and his life in the face of Europe's most grotesque and sinister murderers?

All of which is amazing. But it's not really what TMWWT is about. The ruse leads the hero through a maze-like plot which is pretty much entirely composed of twists. You'll be on the edge of your seat as he tracks down each member of the gang and tackles their unique brand of evil head-on. But somewhere around the middle of this short novel, you spot a pattern. A very large pattern that makes the plot as stylised as the dialogue. A plot which is insane, infuriating and brilliant, and which will have you smiling like a Cheshire Cat as you turn each page. If I gave it away here I'd be the world's biggest bastard, but it's fair to say that it's unique in the world of literature. To put it bluntly, Chesterton has written a book about the pursuit of God.

There's something enticingly movie-like about the novel, what with all the chases around London, special effects (including a memorable elephant), sword fights, dreamscape countryside and constant mortal peril. But like all that's good about Chesterton, it also has a devil-may-care, winsome, romantic streak a mile wide. If it was going to be a film, it should have been directed by Hitchcock, starring a Princess Bride-era Cary Elwes, and Orson Welles. And it would be a classic.

So go on - order The Man Who Was Thursday off Amazon right now!

*It's somehow very appropriate that this looks like TMNT. Go figure...