Sherwin Wine's Staying Sane in a Crazy World may well be the best self-help and personal development book published in a generation. Reader-friendly and clear, it is a practical guide for living in our increasingly complex, confusing, dehumanizing times. Like Kahlil Gibran, Wine urges, "Let passion fill your sails but let reason be your rudder." Reason, Wine insists, is the best tool we have for successfully meeting life's challenges. He critically examines the shortcomings of traditional religions, such as the notion that the universe gives meaning to human existence; on the contrary, he writes, "it is human desire that gives meaning to the universe."

Wine counsels realism and the discarding of illusions as necessary for staying sane, dignity and courage as essential to human happiness, and the importance of ethics derived from human experience in a universe indifferent to human values and concerns.

Realistic living, Wine concludes, is the courage to acknowledge truth even when painful, the courage to strive for happiness even when it is unlikely, the courage to face uncertainty, the courage to improve the world even in the face of failure, the courage to stay sane in a crazy world.

Freethought literature too often has a "cranky" feel to it, and this book is no exception. So long as Cohen sticks to his field, psychology of the fundamentalist, he is brilliant. When he ventures into Biblical history and criticism, he becomes ridiculous. The idea that the Bible was assembled as a mind control device is preposterous, particularly given what we know about how the Bible really came into being. If you really want to read a good book about how the New Testament came to be, from a freethought perspective, read Howard Teeple's "How Christianity Really Began."

This book makes a very positive contribution to any dialogue about how the bible itself influences the human nature of dedicated biblicists. Cohen, who, in presenting a psychological thesis, of course, uses psychological terminology, states clearly what he finds useful in Freud and Jung's work and where he differs from them and other contemporary schools of psychological thought.

Whether the New Testament was "constructed" as a mind control device, or just turned out that way because of the vested interests and intent of the authors and assemblers, Cohen, in fact, leads one through its labyrinthine inconsistencies, without installing a nose ring to do it. I found his review of psychological theory robust, and one does not have to accept his particular model for operation of the subconscious mind in order to benefit from his analysis based on that model.

Cohen's inferences and conclusions, like those of any author, must be weighed in your own hopper. Don't be put off or on by mention of psychobabble. A useful term when it was coined, psychobabble becomes almost meaningless as a designation unless you really know what specifically is being referred to. Psychological terminology is not inherently psychobable; it becomes so in the hands of incautious users. Thus, the term psychobabble has become little more than an expletive.

Whatever you ultimately decide about Cohen's various answers to the questions he raises, you will benefit from having considered them and the evidence he presents. By all means be alert for holes in the arguments and variations of interpretation of some of the patterns, but the book serves its purpose: to have us think "out of the traditional rut" about how mindless fundamentalists get that way and are kept that way. And please note, I use the term mindless very deliberately, because that above all is the characteristic I have observed, an observation that matches much of what Cohen brings out. Being mindless or functioning in a limited, mind-controlled way thwarts the very thoughts we must pursue to mature in life. Cohen is right about that. No one's infantile ranting should dissuade any interested reader from examining and profiting from the book.

Excellent Reading for those ready to move forward from the mind control devices of Christianity. Don't believe the false reviews written by fundies in disguise, this book touches aspects which really get you thinking, and leave you with that "ah ha!" feeling.

Rabbi Wine's book, Judaism beyond God presents all Jews with a paradox. Yes, the Jewish way of life, the family warmth, the sense of belonging are all positive virtues, BUT, how can one dispose of the Godhead and still leave a residue to which one can ascribe? This is the key question, and Humanistic Judaism, (a contradiction in terms, surely) is not, in my opinion the way forward. If you find Humanism attractive, then Jewish culture per se is not required, it is not a 'given' to leading a good and meaningful life. So, may I respectfully suggest to all Humanistic Jews that you can't have it both ways, you either take the package of Judaism, yes, God and all, or you stop playing games and think you can have the culture without the Deity. Be honest with youselves, either you are Jewish or you are not, sitting on the Humanist fence will not help you.

This is a MUST READ for any jew who questions her/his role or identity as a jew in a world where creationism is indexed under 'mythology' (or should be). The old rabbinic explanations of "who is a jew" are replaced by simpler, believable secular-humanist definitions. For those jews who are confirmed atheists, you are not alone. Now there is a philosophy behind how one can be both an atheist and a jew, without a hint of hypocrisy. This book is not found in the catalogs of the my local Public Library (Vancouver), which in my opinion says much for the strength of the religious lobby in community education. If the philosophy of this book was made known to all jews then I believe jewish identity will be carried proudly by all jews, secular as well as religious, through the coming generations.