Suggested Reading - Further Information

If you have not read any of these books I would read them for the following reasons:

Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond): This book gives a very thorough and very readable account of how human societies came to exist in their present form, and explains the root causes of inequalities, governments and religion. I have never been a big fan of history, but this book is a must for everyone in my view.

The Art of Happiness (The Dalai Lama): I recommend reading this book as it takes a look at the spiritual side of humans in a non-religious way. This too was a big eye opener for me and has changed the way I see morals and my interactions with others.

The End of Faith (Sam Harris) and The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins): Whilst they are effectively about the same subject they both have their contribution to make to your understanding of religion in society.

The Ultimate Truth (A D DeBruhl): This book is what I read that lead me to Guns, Germs and Steel. This is a very good book, and the only reason I do not put this on the top of my list, is I believe that the previous books provide the history, spiritual framework and reasons for a non-religious society that will provide a springboard to this book which is much broader.

The books I am about to read, which I do not recommend yet, are as follows:

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer: The purchase of this book was inspired by an Iranian contributor on the Richard Dawkin's forum who explained the situation in Iran from an everyday person's perspetive. Based on the details he provided I did a search to find out more about the US and UK involvement in the current situation we have today and found this book. I will add it to the list of suggested reading it if warrants it.

The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America by Kenneth M Pollack: This book was a second choice from All The Shah's men above, which looks at the last couple of decades and the options for the current situation.