Written in a conversational, "non-preachy" style, this book explores the question of what it means to have faith (or to look for a reason to believe) in the modern world. The author limits himself to the Judeo-Christian tradition, exploring obstacles to belief that may arise from the more problematic parts of the Bible -- particularly God's wrathful "smiting" of his enemies (and even, sometimes, his friends). The heart of the book is an extended discussion of the possibility of an evolving God who is neither all-knowing nor all-powerful. Much of this material parallels Jack Miles's GOD: A BIOGRAPHY (written, apparently, at around the same time), though Easterbook's treatment is more concise and focused, and covers the New Testament along with the Old. The development of God from vengeful warrior-king to peaceful redeemer is certainly a story of great interest, although one could (perhaps more plausibly) see it as a record of the moral improvement of human beings whose writings reflect God in their own image. (Edith Hamilton's excellent SPOKESMEN FOR GOD, out of print but worth finding, presents the issue from this perspective.) Easterbrook's thesis is provocative, and he states it in a clear, readable style, with wit and subtlety. A worthwhile book that leaves you feeling that you've just had an extended philosophical conversation with an intelligent and sympathetic friend.

This book is a spiritual journey. It begins with some of the many valid reasons for questioning Faith, including the history of thoughts and concepts, the current state of scientific knowledge about how the Universe was created. It continues on into what the Bible says and what it does NOT say about some important Faith concepts which we generally assume are supported in the Bible because they are repeated so often today, but were actually created by people for the convenience and sanctioning of church and state leaders politics and power.

It continues on to show how God evolved in relating to humans from the Genesis through the early and middle Old Testament where God was very jealous of other gods, greatly interested in religious rituals, and regularly used miracles to accomplish God's work, much of which was savage in killing of thousands of people, including even appearing in and leading battles for the Nation of Israel. (This is NOT a pretty story, but it is the HIStory of the same God we worship and adore today for unbounded love for each of us.) In the late Old Testament, culminating in the New Testament, God, and Jesus, as God's voice on Earth, evolved to using only healing miracles and messages of God's love and Need for love from all people.

A somewhat selective reading of the Bible that perhaps doesn't properly explain the import of some of the passages cited, this book is nevertheless fascinating and well written. Most important for me as a reader was Easterbrook's enthusiasm for his subject and his intelligent and moving description of what is so compelling about Jesus. So, although I can't agree that it makes sense to say that "God is slooowww ...." I read the book in only a few nights, learnt a lot and came away with plenty of questions about a lot of received wisdom. For all of which I am thankful...

I am a pretty avid fan of Gregg Easterbrook's writing for Slate and now ESPN. I bought this book expecting it to be of the same quality as the columns. Quite honestly, I would have settled for simply the material given in the columns with no improvement. Instead this book takes same material that is so interesting in the columns (the importance of fake kicks, proper sideline attire for cold weather, unusual college mascots) and presents them so quickly that they lose both their humor and informativeness. Part of the problem is that Easterbrook's observations seem much keener in the column, applied to last weekend's games, but I think Easterbrook still could have written a much better book, and I hope he does.

This is a great little book if you've never read a greg easterbrook column. It's a good book if you've read one column and enjoyed it. It's pretty dull if you are a loyal reader of his columns. Easterbrook has a few key ideas. (Stop me before I blitz again; no, that's not a *double* reverse; coach + parka = loss; cheerleaders are hot, etc.) Each tuesday it's fun to see how they are apply to the previous weekend's games, but here, the book seems like just a poor rehash of his columns. Even some of the Haiku has been in his columns already.

If you've never read Easterbrook, buy the book, then read his columns (now on ESPN Page 2). If you are an Easterbrook loyalist, don't buy the book for yourself, but maybe give it someone else (after flipping through to read the Haiku).

Gregg Easterbrook (aka Tuesday Morning Quarterback) has been my favorite columnist since I first found him on Slate a while back. When the football season concluded this year, I knew I had to get this book to fight withdrawal over the season.

However, I soon found one major flaw--the only one I ever found: It's far too short. I read it in one sitting. While I truly enjoyed it, it seemed that, if the pictures and such were removed, the remaining text would be no longer than one of his columns.

The insights are still great, and the concept of football haiku--not to mention its excellent execution--is something that I still love the idea of.

I was looking forward to reading this book and I am so profoundly dissappointed. If it hadn't been for my conviction to read books all the way through once I start them I would have tossed this book aside before page 100. While the books is well researched, the conclusions it draws from that research are far from solid and often seem ignorant of obvious counterarguments. Furthermore categorizing the vast majority of environmentalists as "instant doomsayers" is unfair and utterly erroneous. I for one felt that Al Gore's book Earth in the Balance had a positive outlook, despite the environmental problems it focused upon. Easterbrook, on the otherhand called it "instant doomsday".

Even if the conclusions were sound the writing style is even worse. Stupid phrases like "instant doomsday" and "doomsayers" are entirely overused, so much so that after about a 100 pages you want to vomit everytime they appear. The writing style is fairly dry, repetive, and makes too many failed attempts at humor. There are some useful insights that one might gain from this book but its hardly worth the hours of reading that a book this long takes.

Easterbrook may make a few errors and his writing style may not suit all, but I found this book to be enlightening and an excellent essay on the big picture in environmentalism today. While any single author is likely to stumble through a few issues when writing a book of this magnitude, I found the basis for his arguements in general to be sound, timely, and interesting.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in environmental issues.

I saw an earlier review that quoted Paul Ehrlich as saying that this book is filled with bad science and shoddy writing. Not that Ehrlich is in any position to talk. He predicted that widespread famine due to overpopulation would occur in 1975. Did it? No. In fact, Ehrlich made a bet with Julian Simon about 10 years ago that the price of every raw material would skyrocket within ten years. Paul Ehrlich lost the bet, as prices in almost every area went down. Folks, don't listen to Ehrlich. Get this. This is a good read.