The Evolution of God

Really? If I ever read the words ‘non-zero-sum game' or ‘zero-sum' or ‘carrot and stick (what does this even mean?),' I will hunt down every copy of this book and send it through a shredder. Vague, limp, no true explanation, even of the big three monotheisms (forget about other religions, except for brief, brief references, even though he being the book discussing various polytheistic belief systems). I found this difficult to read only because I was getting bored and entirely sick of reading about zero-sum games. Honestly, he spends most of the book lecturing about zero-sumness, more than any actual evolution of religious though. And, frankly, dude needs an editor like none other. Bleah.

A fascinating history of the evolution and developments of religion. Very well told.

Extremely readable explanation and discussion of how monotheism developed in response to human social evolution and the surrounding facts on the ground, i.e. political and cultural circumstances. I've already bought another book of his (The Moral Animal) so I can enjoy even more of his writing style. He writes with a pithy, down-to-earth attitude, and I find myself chuckling at the way he boils down difficult concepts into a one-sentence reality that I repeat to myself long after I've shut the book.

Robert Wright, in his latest book The Evolution of God, promises up front that he will make a plausible case for the existence of some force or intention behind the universe that could be called “divinity,” and does so in the midst of making a different case altogether: that our notions of the illusory “one true god” (and Wright does call the idea of God an “illusion”) adapt over time to the circumstances of the people believing in him.

On the second argument, he succeeds brilliantly. Not so much in that this is a revelation (is it a surprise to anyone that religious notions change to fit the times and situations of the humans inventing them?), but in the fluid, accessible, and vivid way in which he makes his case and educates the reader. 90 percent or so of The Evolution of God is utterly engrossing and fascinating in this way.

On the first argument, however, he fails, and it leaves one utterly puzzled.

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