Rating: 
Summary: Not a good ending...
Review: I enjoyed much of the book. It was a great experience to read how people experience religion, ritual. Creation of miths and mysticism's neurological definitions were great. Relations of brain higher, sophisticated regions within themselves and to lower, primitive regions were defined clearly. But the last 2 chapters assumed the existence of God and that's a big shadow on the book. Science does not deal with God. So writers clearly put their personal, subjective experiences in life to a "scientific" book. Great beginning, poor ending.
Rating: 
Summary: So Is It a Brain Thing or a Real Thing?
Review: I must admit that I'm very torn as to how to review this book. On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the first 80% of it. It was new information for me, it was insightful, it was affirming, and I was devouring it. Then I came to this transition point, where the authors make the leap from neuroscience to philosophy, and suddenly my notes in the margins kept getting more and more critical. So here's what I think I'll say about it...First, I enjoyed enormously the discussion on the biological brain functioning, and the conclusions that they derive in the first few chapters. The best way to summarize that particular discussion is as follows. Your brain is designed to keep you alive. As it developed particularly unique and complex abilities, most notably the ability for causal analysis, it discovered that there is one thing that the brain cannot do with regard to our surival...it cannot ultimately prevent our death. Since the limbic system creates an "anxiety response" to physical threats, the brain must create a response to quiet the anxiety produced by this existential discovery. If it is a normal stimulus, the brain knows how to tell the self to flee or fight. But with the ultimate death, there is no such possible response. So the brain invents answers, including God, life after death, etc. to quell the anxiety, and the neurology of the brain creates such powerful physiological response that we "feel" we have come to "true" conclusions. I liked that part. But then they make some major leaps and begin to describe a concept that they call "Absolute Unitary Being," about which I never did get a clear idea of what they mean. On the one hand, it sounds like they are simply describing a "ground-state" of reality, from which all our neurological perceptions arise. I'm okay with that. But then they go further and posit the notion that this Absolute Unitary Being is a higher plane of reality, more real than ordinary reality, and may be identified as "God." For me, things just ground to a halt, both because I philosophically disagree (which is okay), and because I felt like they never did establish a firm linkage between the science and the philosophy. Maybe I'm too dense to get it, but it just seemed to fall apart at that point. That said, I still think this is a book well worth reading. It's short, so it won't take you long to get some good stuff out of it. And maybe you'll get more out of their leaps into philosophy than I did.
Rating:
Summary: Why wont scientists who are actually theologists go away?
Review: This has to be one of the most two-faced books I've ever read.
I picked it up after a recommendation from a friend albeit in a half-hearted spirit. I was then surprised to find that its first chapters were intriguing and had an interesting theory/proposition to make.
In summary, the neurologists who wrote the book propose that our brain is biologically inclined to "discover" god. This they conclude after conducting brainscanning experiments with meditating Buddhist monks and others (under meditation). The book, in its initial chapters, does a very good job introducing brain function to novices, and more importantly, introduces also the notion that since our brain needs to interpret everything it experiences (conciouncly or subconciounsly) it uses the creation of myth to explain what it otherwise couldn't interpret through reason and logic.
At that point you'd think "hey, this is moving along better than i expected actually". Nah. That was just the bait. Because, while this theory is actually not an unreasonable premise the wild and inane conclusions "drawn" from it ultimately turn the book into a joke.
You see, the fact that people use myth to explain what is otherwise inconceivable to them may account for a lot. Religion included. Voices in head included. Santa Claus incuded. After all, we live in societies where people are not exactly brought up on logic and reasoning but rather on dogma. Dogma, by definition, leaves a lot to be explained. People who think dogmatically will resort to myth when their brain finds no other way to explain things. Subsequently they might "discover" god.
Yes, but hold on tell us the authors here. Because, they say, we noticed in our experiments that what mystics experience in their deepest transcedences is real since it can actually be scientifically observed, inotherwords, we confirmed that yes, they do "experience" something "special" and miraculously they universally agree (in one form or another) that this "special" experience is god. Hmmm. But how about the millions of atheists who also medidate and who have no reports of god to offer? This is a "little" fact that is very loudly omitted in the book.
Or, for the same matter, and using the very discoveries of these "scientists", why is it that what the mystics experience is not mere myth creation since they themselves- more often than not- say that they cant actually put in words what they experience?
This type of "reasoning" (I'm abusing the word on purpose) creates more questions than it could possibly ever answer.
It follows the line of theist apologists who try to incorporate pseudoscience to justify their beliefs (myths) and hope noone will notice. Well, nice try, you gotta give them that much..
The concluding 3-4 chapters of the book are a spectacular display of braindead tripe. That's fascinating for a book that actually concerns itself with a functioning brain. Riddled with countless "maybe"s and endless "we-are-not-sure-but-it-could-be" type of "scientific" arguments the last chapters are a lesson in alienating the reasoning reader. But that's actually unfair to say. The reasoning reader isnt within the targets of such books.
While finishing this totally sorry excuse of a book for science i was thinking how that felt. It felt like going to a party , having initially a good time, but ending up hugging the toilet bowl the rest of the night.
Look for serious information on the subject elsewhere folks.
In fact, you really want to discover why god wont go away? Start by looking around and noticing where we are brought up. In a society with a very strong , and indeed very old, element of religion, it's only natural that "mystics" as well as anyone might fall for explaining things through "god" if all else fails him/her.. The problem is that "all else" isnt usually offered, because, duh, the dominant religious element wouldnt (obviously) want it that way.
For those seriously interested in serious and above all solid logic on the issue of god existing or not i recommend the superb "Atheism: the case against god".
Rating: 
Summary: An important book for anyone with a brain or mind
Review: William Blake returned from hell with an admonition recorded in the Marriage of Heaven and Hell. "Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast." The authors of this book report on a series of steps they and others have taken in their own adventures and explorations to help us remember what Blake was urging us to bear in mind. They present in clear and compelling prose a description of a map that identifies the location of God among the entanglements of the neural architecture that supports that most curious activity of the natural world: human consciousness.
One of the very great achievements of Why God Won't Go Away is that it raises more questions than it answers. I am grateful to the authors for doing so and for providing a good deal of material with which to begin exploring further, both for answers and more questions. One that has been intriguing me since I finished reading the book recently is, Can we overcome the influence of the binary operator?
I suspect that this book will be the cause of many conversations, which is something that as an author myself I always envy.
Rating:
Summary: Being Adaequatio
Review: Before reading this book, I would kindly suggest to any new reader first to read the book by E.F.Schumacher ; "A Guide for the Perplexed". I believe for all of us, as explained by Schumacher,in order to understand higher realities as a human being, we have to be "adaequatio" or in the same frequency (or tuned to)these higher realities. I think that the "real than real" experiences and related concepts mentioned in the Newberg's book can be better understood and have meaning if experienced, or have any meaning to you. Otherwise we have to "imagine" about the "real than real". In order to understand the value of Newberg's book, "What is Enlightenment" edited by John White is a good starting book also.
Why God Won't Go Away is one of the best books to read if you are a person asking yourself "why am I living on the earth ?" and trying to find an answer.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and Interesting
Review: People have died for them, lived for them, and fought for them. What is the ambiguous them that I am speaking of? Beliefs in God/gods. In this book Newberg, D'Aquili, and Rause argue that God won't go away, because we have a pre-disposition to believe in Him, therefore, God exists. However, skeptics will also always exist. Why God Won't Go Away offers a fairly easy to understand theory, and has been tested thoroughly. These tests have been conducted on people of strong faith, such as Buddist monks and Catholic nuns. It could be rationalized, although, that they may want to research those who say they are agnostic or athiest. Or atleast people who are not as deep-seated in religion, just for comparison. This book offers a thought-provoking argument with viable evidence which you don't have to have a PhD. in psychology to comprehend what the authors are trying to suggest scientifically. If a hard-core skeptic were to pick up this book they may not believe a word. To prove that point there are still people that believe that the Earth is flat. Why God Won't Go Away could answer the questions of those whom believe, and possibly strenghthen faith just by offering the scientific evidence of this theory. But one book can never answer all of your questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Less than I expected
Review: The existence of God has plagued the minds of scholars for hundreds of years. Many have researched and written on the proof of God's existence. Most of the books written have offered interesting claims and some evidence to back them. Despite having an interesting theory, this book offers little evidence that could be considered valid or unbiased. In the few pages of this book that actually explain his theory, the author reports his evidence as coming from people that are deep-seated religious individuals, such as nuns and monks. Considering that a whole section of our brain is devoted to our religious experience, one might then assume that anyone from an atheist to the Pope might be able to produce the same results when deeply concentrated on their beliefs. However, you will find no such suggestions in these pages. Another thing that you won't find in this book is the consideration of the chance that these effects could be produced by means other than meditation or prayer. What of those people that dream of God? Do their brains not produce the same effects as those in deep meditation. Why God Won't Go Away offers an intriguing argument, but leaves many unanswered questions. With only about 170 pages, it is obvious that there isn't too much said about this theory, but what is leaves much to be desired. If you are looking for a deep philosophical read, I would suggest looking elsewhere. Others before have echoed these ideas, but said them much better.
Rating:
Summary: Asking the Most Important Question
Review: Am glad that I read all forty-one of the previous customer reviews before I decided to write this one. Any time the word God appears in the title of a new book the reviews demonstrate a very wide range of opinions. I am sure that was anticipated by the authors. Let's first take a look at the book itself. This 226-page book contains 172 pages of text about why God won't go away. That is followed by 26 pages of chapter notes, 15 pages of references and 25 pages of index. These statistics are a heck of lot better than most nonfiction books available today on popular subjects. So why did the book generate so many less than five stars reviews? My guess is that readers familiar with writings on mythology and the major eastern religions were more comfortable with the authors than those that came from the traditional dogma oriented and formalized religions. The latter group was also probably very uncomfortable with the author's comment that all religions are mythological. Read "true". Mythology does not mean a fiction or a fairytale. Archetypes and icons are very powerful stuff. Any student of philosophy will tell you that it is the nature of the question that takes us to new answers. Scientific facts are very important, however, they don't take us anywhere, but a well-structured hypothesis that attempts to give the facts meaning certainly does. Why won't God go away is a very good question. Why did just about every culture throughout history create a religion of some type? Those reviewers that claimed this book contained "pseudo-science" are probably not familiar with how science actually works. As noted above, this book is very well documented. Of course the book is not the final answer to why religions and spirituality are so important to mankind. Asking the question whether God exist or not is a guaranteed polarizing argument. Asking why God won't go away is the beginning of a dialogue. This book is a significant part of that very important dialogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Blatant Commercial for Meditation
Review: A blatant commercial for transcendental meditation. Pseudo-science wrapped in quotes from Einstein. Just when these authors have done a reasonably good job of convincing the reader that mystical experiences are biologically observable, and hence entitled to the status of science, they fall off of the steep cliff of deism. In their disappointing final chapters they claim that God (given the imposing title of Absolute Unitary Being) can be glimpsed through mystical experiences that use the same neural pathways as sexual bliss. In the same breath they claim that science is just as mythological as religion, using the argument that they are both no better than the brain that invents them. In order to give substance to their claims of bridging science and religion, they make the time-honored mistake of misrepresenting Einstein's views on religion. Einstein was very explicit that he was not a mystic, as one can confirm in Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion. Quite the contrary, as a determinist he believed that a knowledge of God (not the personal Judeo-Christian God) could be obtained only by observing the visible processes of nature. Perhaps the most unscientific reasoning in this book is the leap they make from the brain-state of the meditating mystic to a higher level of reality. They would have been no less convincing if they had claimed it was a lower level of reality, since they compare it to the blank brain of a newborn baby--and presumably that of a salamander. Einstein thinks that discovery of the physical laws which govern the universe is exploring the mind of God, and these authors think God can be discovered in the brain that has been wiped as clean as a professors blackboard. They are entitled to this opinion, of course, but is it honest for them to cloak their beliefs in the garments of scientific reason? The book is not a complete loss, however, because they do point out that religions based on God's-of-Petition are not man's highest achievement. The argument that these religions, including the so-called monotheistic religions, are consolation prizes for inadequate meditation is a little weak, but they are not easily embarrassed when it comes to commercials for their favorite mystical experience. I think you would be a lot better off just buying a good book on meditation and enjoying the experience without all the pseudo-theology.
Rating:
Summary: murky writing, poor science
Review: This book is poorly written and poor science. Quote: "The neurobilogical roots of spritual transcendence show that Absolute Unitary Being is a plausable, even probable possibility". This writing would rate an "f" in any 7th grade science class. The writers further demonstrate their ignorance and perhaps even contempt for science with this statement: "Science therefore is mythological, and like all mythological systems of belief, it is based on a fundamental assumption: All that is real can be verified by scientific measurement, therefore, what can't be verified by science isn't really real". This book really is worthless, useless. The first person to send me a self addressed envelope can have my copy for free.
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