'from eden to exile' and 'predictably irrational'

been doing some reading lately, and want to share 2 books which i particularly enjoyed.

the first title is 'from eden to exile' by eric. h. cline. the book approaches biblical stories from an archaeological perspective. through the various chapters in the book, in order of the garden of eden, noah's ark, sodom and gomorrah, moses and the exodus, joshua and the battle of jericho, the ark of the covenant, the ten lost tribes of israel, the author examines the evidence unearthed in close to two centuries of archaeological work. he presents the evidence from various parties in an even-handed manner, and encourages the reader to draw his own conclusions. i find this approach very amenable and feel this is the approach every intellectually honest person should adopt.

the author points out how some researchers start off with a priori assumptions (e.g. the holy book as literal truth), and as a result commit the fallacy of confirmatory bias. also, throughout the history of many archaeological expeditions, there have been numerous under-qualified and over-zealous charlatans ready to sell the impressionable public their unjustified or exaggerated claims. overall, i find it peculiar how the religious thoughts of top biblical scholars remain detached from those of their 'flocks'. for example, some biblical scholars have long renounced the existence of a personal god and acknowledge the sullying of the bible by human hands. funny then, how the common church-goer still believes in a personal god and trumpet the bible as divine inspiration .

of course, the book acknowledges that the absence of evidence does not mean the evidence of absence. that is to say, the fact that we do not have any evidence yet does not mean that we can never find that evidence in the future, and we shouldn't draw any premature conclusions. however, the book also points out countless instances, whereby based on current evidence, biblical stories do not corroborate with other historical records (Egyptians or Babylonians). a fact that left an impression on me was that if sodom and gomorrah really did suffer the destruction on the scale described in the bible; or if the walls of jericho really did come crashing down, then these ought to leave behind traces of evidence. and yes as you pretty much could have guessed by now, there is zero supporting evidence.

another book which i really liked was 'predictably irrational' by dan. ariely. he asserts how human beings are not only irrational, but predictably so. highly interesting read, illuminating how the human mind works in peculiar ways. have become more conscious of my every action as a result. the gosling imprinting effect, the expectations effect, the FREE! effect and the placebo effect, among others, cast illusions on the mind, which affects the rationality of our actions. i want to master my mind.

will end off with a video which i think is a brilliant response to people of faith who use emotional blackmail in their attempts to convert non-believers.