← Back to discovery

Breaking the spell

Daniel C. Dennett

2004448 pagesabout 7–10 hours
2004
first published
  • 2004Viking · 448 pages · ENGISBN 9780670034727
  • 2006Penguin Books, Limited · ENGISBN 9780713997897
  • 2007Penguin Books, Limited · ENGISBN 9780141903132
  • 2007Penguin Books, Limited · 464 pages · ENGISBN 9780141017778
  • 2008Penguin Group USA, Inc. · ENGISBN 9781429515238
  • 2007Penguin (Non-Classics) · 448 pages · ENGISBN 9780143038337

For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why—and how—it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion's evolution from "wild" folk belief to "domesticated" dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.

How do you feel?