Hey guess what? Exclusive Books in Centurion Mall have 5 copies of my book ON THE SHELF.
This is a big step for me because I’ve been asking EB Head Office to fix their web-site (which they STILL haven’t done). EB is supposed to have my book available to order but their friggen in-house search feature doesn’t work properly. As a result I have lost many sales. Good news is that I’ve formed a relationship with the manager at Centurion Mall EB and she ordered 5 of my books. They have arrived and are sitting pretty on the SHELF.
Sooo … if any of you were looking to buy a copy “off the shelf” - now would be a good time. My book is called Courage To Doubt and it’s by Stephen J Hurlin with a Foreword by Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (USA).
Thanks, I hope so too. More good news: Jenny Crwys-Williams of Radio 702 asked for a copy and I received her confirmation email that it arrived at Primedia safely. Let’s hope I can get onto her show. It will be a HUGE step in promoting critical thinking and the religion-free life in South Africa.
And thanks to all the members here on Skeptic.ZA and SITP for their support. People are talking … support is growing (Religion-Free Africa is up to 39 members) … truth will prevail.
Hey Owen, thanks. You have to go to the counter and order it - it will arrive in about a month. But to order it you have to give them the EAN number: 9781616670023 otherwise they can’t find it coz their search engine is STILL glitched (even though my book has been available at EB since November 2009). The ONLY BRANCH of EB that has stock to buy off the shelf is EB Centurion Mall.
Hey - another idea. Ask the guy at the counter to order it from Centurion - then you will have it in a day or two ;D
hell guy. well done. its not easy to get published. gives us aspiring authors some hope.
cant wait to get it. maybe consider selling the ebook version as well.
Looks interesting. I wonder if the author has the courage to doubt (of course understand as well) his current atheistic metaphysical assumptions and beliefs whatever they are. In the spirit of healthy skepticism of course.
Well done, Steve. Ignore TellyMecchie. He’s got an ax to grind with anyone who’s seen through mystical BS. He can’t handle that Occam’s Razor slices through his crap.
Thanks everyone for all the good wishes. I usually don’t know what TellyM is talking about so it’s okay. I like to keep things simple and uncluttered - same as my book. It’s not for intellectuals at all - but rather for Christians who have started doubting their faith and would honestly like some help de-converting due to some genuine questions. It’s also for skeptics who would like a resource book - it’s got all the Bible verses, arguments, history etc. we often need when entering debate with the credulous.
Actually no. Atheism is the absence of belief in God, hence atheism and not theism. You still have many other beliefs that you can have the courage to doubt. For example, you believe you have a mind and that you believe you are the author of your own book. Ever had the courage to doubt that? And why should you quite frankly. Then again, why should those who believe that their reality exists because of reason have the courage to doubt that belief.
You can run from your metaphysical assumptions but you can’t hide, don’t worry, they will become evident sooner than later, just have the courage to doubt them…
Well that is not gonna help for the Christian intellectuals… Oh well, targeting non-intellectuals seems like a good idea to get sales going, I mean Verimark and Rhema does great. Good luck with the sales ;).
Sounds a bit like quote mining there, or do you have the necessary training to put verses into context so that the readers can better understand the history and proper academic/intellectual interpretat… oh wait, the book is not for intellectuals, my bad. Oh well, I think it has all the potential to sell as well as any of Dawkins’ books, let’s hope for your part you have a good publicist.
uhm. wow. ok.
this is now getting a bit too local-office-conspiracy-theorist for me.
as much as i have had these moments of contemplation, and thought, that i might just be the figment of someone else’s imagination… or part of a dream… or part of the matrix for that matter…
what point is pondering that in any case. there is diddly one can do about it. you cant exactly pinch some oke, and say, hey wake up dickhead, and end your own existance.
even if one’s life is an illusion, what exactly do you plan to do about it?
if you wake up one day, and scheme, ok, im not real. then what? you off yourself cause you dont want to be unreal.
er, way too gangsta for me thanx.
im no intellectual with big words and hectic explanations not nobody else understands shit about.
but if i am not real. then fukkit, i want to reload, coz this life sucks.
i am me, how i came about, is a mystery, no point in contemplating it till infinity.
if i turn out not to be real… then shit, so be it.
its a bit nutty and not a little freak-showish to ask something like are you the author of your own book? :
eh, wtf? ???
like, who else wrote it, bob the builder?
god, maybe?
no guy, seriously, that is just a silly argument, and i think, latching unto contemplative shit like meditation and enlightenment and one’s own reality, which i think, is personal matter, and not really discuss-worthy on a forum like this.
if you doubt your own reality, then that’s super and shit. but dont come and hack steve cause he’s got the titanium bollocks to actually put himself out there and publish a book. i take my hat off to him any day.
Lol, don’t get all emo please :P. Mind you, I might just be inclined to feel and react in the same the same way about my belief that our reality exists because of reason.
But hey, some people say they don’t have beliefs, I say good luck believing themselves ;D.
Sorry if I’m splitting hairs but shouldn’t that be “current naturalistic metaphysical assumptions”, since atheism isn’t a worldview but non-acceptance of a particular proposition.
Either way, I think us skeptics should be willing to acknowledge/explore the assumptions underlying our worldview. Going as far as doubting them - that may make it impossible to function.
The author said he is an atheist. He did not say he was a naturalist, materialist, dualist, panpsychist or any else in particular. Just an atheist.
I think that is exactly the point the author is trying to make. He had the courage to doubt his beliefs that in a way made it possible for him to function, yet he still doubted them. And in his view, his courage to doubt these beliefs lead him to right a book that he feels should help others who are in a similar situation. Maybe you will also have the courage to doubt your beliefs one day? Get the book man, learn what courage is ;D.
True, but my point was more about whether the assumptions underly the lack of belief itself (atheism), or whether the assumptions underly the worldview (naturalism, materialism etc.) that leads to that lack of belief. Again if that is too much hairsplitting for a thread about a book being on a shelf - apologies
[quote="Julian post:17, topic:2880"]
Either way, I think us skeptics should be willing to acknowledge/explore the assumptions underlying our worldview. Going as far as doubting them - that may make it impossible to function.
[/quote]
I think that is exactly the point the author is trying to make. He had the courage to doubt his beliefs that in a way made it possible for him to function, yet he still doubted them. And in his view, his courage to doubt these beliefs lead him to right a book that he feels should help others who are in a similar situation. Maybe you will also have the courage to doubt your beliefs one day? Get the book man, learn what courage is ;D.
Theistic beliefs may help you to function in some or other way, but I think that's very different from naturalistic assumptions that we all share and that allow us to function at the most basic level. ie. If you were to abandon the assumption that there is an actual reality out there and adopt the belief that all your sensory experiences were hallucinations planted in your head by aliens, it might make it difficult for you to eat, drink, find shelter etc.
