Going to get acess to Ibooks tomorrow:any recommendations?

I got a Ipad recently, but tomorrow I will be getting my creditcard, so I will be able get my apple ID sorted at last. Already took a look into the Ibooks store on my aunt's Ipad, and it seems that most English books that are not extremely obscure are downloadable on demand.While I managed to get decent knowledge on the basics of the religion/atheism/science field on the internet, in terms of books, I have read very little, for various reasons(finding books, to lazy to take time to visit stores, privacy reasons, still young, etc).I already plan to buy The god delusion, not so much because I expect to learn that much from it, but I'm rather curious about it's reputation, and I wish to have a opinion on it. The faith healers is also on my list, as some already have pointed me to it.I'm looking for some good secular books to improve my knowledge, and eventually I may take a look at Apologetic books should I feel comfortable with them(The more liberal ones at least), for increased objectivity, although that will not be very soon,also because my family and upbringing already makes me familiar with them.I guess the title pretty explains it all: what are the must-reads?

I still have Christian family, and I sometimes feel like I have a hindering negative confirmation bias, being gullible for the thing I don't really want to believe. As a result, I'm a bit wary with jumping in the Christian side of things again, while I'm already have been brought up with it and know much of it, while on the skeptical and science side of things I have many gaps in my knowledge.Still, I'm wary of bias, but the question is:to what am I biased? Has my upbringing and my current environment also left me biased for Christian arguments,even if it's OCD/instrusive thought instead of conventional bias?So I decided to start with the secular side, and should I eventually have the need to be more objective with my reading, and I'm positive it will not stir my compulsive tendencies, I may pick up others things as well.

Ah, I have heard of that. I might pick it up, or at least a summary, but I already have my doubts about Dawkins approach to the matter. Reviews I have read seem to suggest it does present atheism reasonably, but to keep it for a large crowd, the book does not delve extremely deep into a few arguments, angering many Christians.I'm more reading it because it's quoted so often by Christians as bad theology, and by atheist as well-written. I want to read it myself because I have no clue how good/bad that book is. And his infamous ranting also got my attention, I'll admit that.

These books sound very interesting, I actually already saw breaking the spell mentioned on wikipedia when looking up Dawkins, and his opponents.I have a limited budget, since I also plan to buy a few works of fiction/ anything else non-fiction that seems interesting to download, so I might not buy much at once, but I will try to get them all eventually.

I should comment on what I'm reading now: I'm once again reading a book of famous Dutch neuroscientist Dick Swaab, ''we are our brain''. It mostly deals about the workings of the brain to the general public, but especially toward the end he focuses his view that there is only a brain, and no soul or religion. As a result, most of the topics I had something to say in what using information from that book. It should be translated into English in 2013, if my information is correct.I'm also working on ''Evolution and human behaviour'' by John Cartwright. It's a complex book mostly directed to students of this subject, but it's also intended for the general public who wish to read a scientific book on the subject. So far it's already improving my knowledge of evolution.Most people think they grasp evolution once their hear the basics, but..
It's like vaguely knowing the rules of chess and sometimes play a round with some aid, instead of actually mastering the game and all it's strategies in-depth. So, books like this one are invaluable.Edited by Kairyu, : fixed sentence.

Well, it took me longer to get the apple ID stuff done then expected, but I finally have access to books.I am in the preface of The god delusion, I have yet form a opinion, but he has a certain dry sense of humor. Can't help imagining him speaking him every sentence in that typical manner of speaking he has either.Trying breaking the spell later, I bought some apps as well, and overall my budget isn't high. I also spend most of my reading time with A game of thrones, so that's why I'm still stuck in the preface of TGDAnother factor is that my mother expressed concern about me spending to much time reading science books and generally fretting to much it, so buying a large haul of books in one go, even when reading them slowly, is not really a option, at least if I wish to keep a low profile for the moment. I'm aware I'm in a earlier phase in life then most of the members here, I barely turned 20. This touches on a much deeper subject then merely picking books to read. It's more about moving away in your way of thinking from the parents that raised you. I shall be honest and say it has been bugging me a lot lately, and although I'd like to speak about it, should some of the members be interested, I also need to take the privacy of those around me into account.

The God delusion exceeds my expections a bit. Maybe it's because atheists don't refer to it often, while theists are quick to bash it. He is writing rather brief on complex matters, but overall it isn't as overly agressive as is often suggested, although I've yet to read the parts that may be more offensive to Christians. Is there anybody here who did read it?

I suppose so. There's nothing that was totally new to me, but it stitches things together a bit. My E-book version has the paperback preface, in which Dawkins himself states it was written for a layman instead of it being scholary. Yet, some people, including mcgrath famously, and people generally interested in theism, like a Christian friend of mine, generally refer to it as it being poor theology.Although it seems safe to say it's indeed very poor Christian theology, in the sense Dawkins doesn't think much of theology and is quick to demolish it's logical framework.Prior to reading it, I already thought Chr. theology is structured to make a perfect God plausible, and much of the arguments were made in a time that there wasn't much evidence for of against at all. In this time of pressing evidence against in biology, physics, and secular biblical scholarship, holding the often very semantically based classic theological argument(backed by non-overlapping magistra), Mr. Dawkins wrecking ball-esque approach to it is somewhat refreshing to those who already have some doubts towards it, but to the staunch theist it will seem more like Dawkins is swinging a blunt axe around blindly raging at as many points as he can, without truly toppling any belief they may hold.For this reason, it's only the start of my intended reading. I'm interested in breaking the spell, which is, should Modulous be right, is more akin to strategically placed TNT packages. Once I've been through that, it's just a slow slog reading more specific good books and generally improving my science.I should note I'm already a bit versed into atheistic reasoning thanks to a high quality dutch that has a section briefly countering theistic arguments, explaining atheistic ones, and has a few more in depth essays, and also topical stuff from a skeptic view. Because the majority here is either from the US or the UK, I sadly cannot share it fully to you. Although I recently discovered he translated one of his essays into English(a critique of TE), so I'll link that for those interested in his style:
Bart Klink Evolution » Internet Infidels

I read through it slowly due to reading to many things at once,, I finally finished the god delusion.. only to conclude Dawkins isn't as offensive as he's always made out to be.When he's being what people call ''crude'' it's almost always concerning the old testament. Most of the time he settles for polite British sarcasm.But at other times, he just comes across very genuine and concerned.Especially in the last chapter he takes a reflective approach on things, which was very nice read.The book has some rough edges every now and then, but overall, Dawkins reputation seems majorly overblown. As he said himself, he's just being honest as people often are with other subjects, he just takes it to religion without softening his words up. He takes a very anti-theistic stance, yes, but he does explain why every time he makes such a statement.Feel kind of silly taking that to seriously, although my main reason to read it myself was to form my own opinion of him.The only gripe that remains, and which also is majorly picked apart by detractors is that he's a little overly brief and casual in attacking theology. He tried to keep it readable, but I would have wished a bit more. But then again, theology is internally set up to point to God existing, and it's often very difficult to entangle it playing by theology's rules, so that might be the reason why he rather informally dismissed most of them.

I'll check that out, thanks.On the subject of reading, I get distracted a lot by school which makes it harder to focus on my reading, but I still made some progress.I decided to check out Hitchens God is not great. I must say there a lot in that book about worldly mistakes of religious bodies. He also seemed far more aggressive then Dawkins. I have to reread a few parts of both to properly compare though.Also finished Randi's the faith healers, which is a subject that has been known to trouble me before. It did shock me a bit that he managed to cover most of my questions about a few specific types of claims, while it was written over 20 years ago. Fairly depressing they don't get busted, and the government usually does not bother to investigate them deeper, even so much time later in my own more secular country.Finally, I just started reading Dennet's ''Darwins dangerous idea''. Considered also buying unweaving the rainbow, but that would be my third global anti-religion book in 2 months, which seemed a bit to much. Although a bit older, this book looks promising to learn new information evolution's implications. I know enough to be a major skeptic about any attempts to make evolution seem like a creators tool, but I didn't read any literature about it up until now.