Books with category Thought Provoking Reads
Displaying 6 books

The Genius Mind of an Anti-Vaxxer: Truth Unleashed

2019

by Sharon Storm

You are invited into this true and compelling story of an American Anti-Vaxxer. She lets you into her extraordinary world of thoughts, lifestyle, daily life, social trends, hope, and vaccine research.

This is the first book of its kind. You will get to the last page wanting more, and feeling inspired. An encouraging journey that you don't want to miss out on.

Existentialism is a Humanism

Existentialism Is a Humanism was written to correct common misconceptions about Jean-Paul Sartre's thought. Sartre, the most dominant European intellectual of the post-World War II decades, accepted an invitation to speak on October 29, 1945, at the Club Maintenant in Paris. The unstated objective of his lecture was to expound his philosophy as a form of existentialism, a term much bandied about at the time. Sartre asserted that existentialism was essentially a doctrine for philosophers, though, ironically, he was about to make it accessible to a general audience.

The published text of his lecture quickly became one of the bibles of existentialism and made Sartre an international celebrity. The idea of freedom occupies the center of Sartre’s doctrine. Man, born into an empty, godless universe, is nothing to begin with. He creates his essence—his self, his being—through the choices he freely makes (“existence precedes essence”). Were it not for the contingency of his death, he would never end. Choosing to be this or that is to affirm the value of what we choose. In choosing, therefore, we commit not only ourselves but all of mankind.

This book presents a new English translation of Sartre’s 1945 lecture and his analysis of Camus’s The Stranger, along with a discussion of these works by acclaimed Sartre biographer Annie Cohen-Solal. This edition is a translation of the 1996 French edition, which includes Arlette Elkaïm-Sartre’s introduction and a Q&A with Sartre about his lecture.

Beatrice and Virgil

2010

by Yann Martel

Beatrice and Virgil is a captivating tale that intertwines the lives of a donkey named Beatrice and a monkey named Virgil. It also follows the extraordinary journey of a man named Henry.

The story begins with a mysterious parcel and ends in a place that will make you rethink one of the most significant events of the twentieth century. Once you finish reading, it is impossible to forget.

Fate takes many forms, and for Henry, it arrives in the shape of a letter from an elderly taxidermist. This letter poses a puzzle he cannot resist. As Henry delves deeper into the world of this strange and calculating man, he becomes increasingly involved with the lives of Beatrice and Virgil, embarking on an epic journey with them.

With the spirit and originality that made Life of Pi so beloved, this brilliant novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey. Along the way, Martel poses profound questions about life, art, truth, and deception.

Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings

2009

by Mark Twain

Letters from the Earth is one of Mark Twain's posthumously published works, written during a difficult time in his life. Twain was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters. The book consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. Twain penned a series of letters from the point-of-view of a dejected angel on Earth.


This title story consists of letters written by the archangel Satan to archangels, Gabriel and Michael, about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of man's religions. By analyzing the idea of heaven and God that is widely accepted by believers, Twain is able to take the silliness that is present and study it with the common sense that is absent. It's not so much an attack as a cold dissection.


Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man. Twain's writings in Letters From the Earth find him at perhaps his most quizzical and questioning state ever.

The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity

2000

by Lee Strobel

Was God telling the truth when he said, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart"? In his #1 bestseller The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel examined the claims of Christ, reaching the hard-won verdict that Jesus is God's unique son. In The Case for Faith, Strobel turns his skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief—the eight "heart barriers" to faith.

This compelling and thought-provoking book on the Christian faith includes two all-new chapters, a current list of recommended resources for further study, and a new discussion guide. It's for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with difficult questions standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in defending their faith to skeptical friends, or during the hardest of times, when they have to defend their faith to themselves in moments of doubt.

Explore the tough questions:

  • "Since evil and suffering exist, a loving God cannot"
  • "Since miracles contradict science, they cannot be true"
  • "Evolution explains life, so God isn't needed"
  • "God isn't worthy of worship if he kills innocent children"
  • "It's offensive to claim Jesus is the only way to God"
  • "A loving God would never torture people in hell"
  • "Church history is littered with oppression and violence"
  • "I still have doubts, so I can't be a Christian"

Also available: The Case for Faith Spanish edition, kids' edition, and student edition. Plus, be sure to check out Lee Strobel's entire collection of Case for... books: The Case for Christ, The Case for a Creator, The Case for Grace, and more!

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Simon Wiesenthal was taken one day from his work detail to the bedside of a dying member of the SS. Haunted by the crimes in which he had participated, the soldier wanted to confess to—and obtain absolution from—a Jew. Faced with the choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal said nothing.

But even years after the war had ended, he wondered: Had he done the right thing? What would you have done in his place?

In this important book, fifty-three distinguished men and women respond to Wiesenthal's questions. They are theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China, and Tibet. Their responses, as varied as their experiences of the world, remind us that Wiesenthal's questions are not limited to events of the past.

Often surprising, always thought-provoking, The Sunflower will challenge you to define your beliefs about justice, compassion, and responsibility.

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