Breaking the Spell: Religion As A Natural Phenomenon.

DENNETT, Daniel C.

$600.00

Item Number: 145504

New York: Viking, 2006.

First edition of this “crystal-clear, constantly engaging work” (Jared Diamond). Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on title page, “For Annie Daniel C. Dennett 3/6/23.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

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.