As featured in
Evergreen

"This is an excellent work which will remind older readers of their youth, and offer younger ones a glimpse into our countries’ past."
West Somerset Railway Association

[b]Rating[/b]: 5 out of 5 stars The Origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by John Pickard is an excellent materialist history of the beginnings of these three major religions. I don't know whether this is an update and/or reprint of his Behind the Myths, I have not read that book, but this volume certainly draws much clearer lines around myth, fact, logical deduction from fact, and just plain religion-as-rationalization-for-bias. Pickard states rather plainly that those who are devout followers of these religions and not open to considering other viewpoints may as well not read this. And he is correct, though if you fall into that ever growing group who say they believe but also wonder how much of what they believe is based on fact or "truth" I would suggest reading this anyway, you may change your viewpoint or you may find ways that no one has yet found to actually refute the arguments included. I am specifically talking about the arguments, not nit-picking minor word choices or.. Read more
NetGalley, Jack Messer

As featured in
The Bookseller

This fascinating, and often disturbing, book illustrated how easy it was to be committed to an asylum. The treatments that patients were subjected to so early on in our understanding of mental health care with nothing short of barbaric. This didn't feel to me to be a book you would read in one sitting, but more of something you would dip in and out of as you go.
NetGalley, John Dixon