if you are going to read Twain's "Christian Science", I would recommend reading only the first part, where Twain tells the fictional (I hope!) tale of an interaction with a Christian Scientist while on a holiday in a foreign land. It had me rolling! I found the rest of the book to be not w...

the succession issues should not be a surprise to anyone. An organization with a charismatic leader who dies young and without a formal succession plan will have that happen. What is interesting is the many types of leaders who tried to emerge from the power vacuum. One thing that didn't seem to be ...

The "God's secret army" sub chapter is pretty freaking scary. It makes me think of Jim Jones telling everyone to drink the Kook-Aid.

Very, very impressed with the band of early followers getting new converts. The numbers are impressive for a time without mass media.

the idea that professor Anton would have said this is the best translation of Ancient Egyptian, when there was NO way to translate ancient Egyptian is pretty funny!

i'm really confounded by martin harris. If it was all a hoax, and he was in on it, why would he take the document to professor Anton? He would have known that the professor would not have vouched for his document. But if he was not in on it, why would he have said that professor Anton said such grea...

what I find particularly damning is the multiple first accounts and the idea that Smith was preparing himself to receive the tablets while being convicted of fraud. I would like the author to spend a little more time talking about how believers explain that away.

I'm having a tough time with the writing style. If you are going to take something like a religion apart, you should be rigorous about it. If you are not, you should have a great writing style. Sort of like Mark Twain's "Christian Science". The first part really cracked me up, and the seco...

I had a classmate in business school who is Mormon. A great guy. We were room mates for our summer job. He's done very well for himself. I also went to Temple Square when on a consulting assignment. I took the tour, which quickly moved onto my personal relationship with god. I ended it shortly after...

Adams was apparently a big Mac fan. I'm sure he'd be all over Siri and phones/computers with personality.