Official Review: Crowdsourcing God by Christopher Burns

Insomniac07 · Post by **Insomniac07** » 18 Jul 2016, 03:18

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Crowdsourcing God" by Christopher Burns.]

3 out of 4 stars

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Just as we humans have changed over a course of centuries, so too has our perception of God. Published by Seashell Press, Crowdsourcing God by Christopher Burns is a non-fictional book about how the idea of God was born and how it has evolved over time.

The book has six segments exploring different notions like the 'God Above us', 'God within us' and 'God Amongst us'. The idea of God started with the early humans in the form of protector spirits such as the Spirit of Nature. This book also starts from this point; however, the focus is quickly shifted to medieval Europe and later to America. Unfortunately, it doesn’t delve much into Eastern cultures.

The author traces the lives and works of all those he believes are instrumental in striking at the heart of our image of God. He starts with Darwin; explaining how the theory of Evolution and Natural Selection destroyed the Creation Theory of Christian Church. Moving on, we find other equally famous personalities throughout history, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Marilyn Ferguson, Arthur Clarke, Grace Hopper, and much more.

I don’t normally like nonfictional books, yet I enjoyed this one. I was hooked on this concept. It has the qualities of a story with lots of characters and a central conflict. Sprinkled in between, are plenty of notes by the author on his views and opinions on the topic.

The writing is very simple and grammatically right. The author writes in a very relaxed tone that makes the book very informative but never overwhelming. It is also obviously well researched and has a lot of citations. I couldn't check every source material. However, that is easy enough to verify if one wants. Even if theology doesn’t hold a person's interest, the opinions expressed here makes for an interesting read. Also, I liked the small personal facts the author states on the different people in the book. For instance; Grace Hopper taught herself German by reading a bilingual mathematics book.

This book isn’t anti-religious. Though the author believes that God is an obsolete concept, he places great emphasis on the importance of religion in society. I’m confident that even the most orthodox person will enjoy it. I’d suggest it to anyone who enjoys non-fiction books and likes reading about different views on religion and God.

I just had one issue. It was hard to tell when the author was stating an opinion and when he was quoting someone. I had to go back a few lines every time this happened. Thankfully it didn’t happen too often to make the book difficult to read. I rate it 3 out of 4 stars for that reason, though I would change it to 3.5 if I could.

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Crowdsourcing God
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Kia · Post by **Kia** » 27 Aug 2016, 20:44

This sounds like a really interesting concept for a book, I'll have to check it out. Great job on the review!

Insomniac07 · Post by **Insomniac07** » 31 Aug 2016, 07:14

Kia wrote:This sounds like a really interesting concept for a book, I'll have to check it out. Great job on the review!

Thanks! If you do read it, let me know what you thought.

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 11 Sep 2016, 00:27

Sounds like an interesting book. I just finished a book, somehow, similar to this, 'Why You Won't Go To Hell' by Ben Andrews. I gather this book would be just as interesting and informative as that one. Great job on the review.

Insomniac07 · Post by **Insomniac07** » 11 Sep 2016, 09:35

kimmyschemy06 wrote:Sounds like an interesting book. I just finished a book, somehow, similar to this, 'Why You Won't Go To Hell' by Ben Andrews. I gather this book would be just as interesting and informative as that one. Great job on the review.

Thank you.