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Title: Debates on the Meaning of Life, Evolution, and Spiritualism (The Freethought Library) by Frank Harris, Percy Price, George McCready Price, Arthur Conan Doyle, Percy Ward ISBN: 0-87975-828-7 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: August, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Intriguing debates from the early 20th century
Comment: When I first bought this book, I wasn't sure if it was a collection of articles that simply addressed contradictory point of views on the subjects listed on the cover, or actual transcriptions of debates that occured in the past. I was very pleased to learn that it was indeed transcriptions of live debates that occured in the early part of the 20th century. There are three debates in all:

Has Life Any Meaning? - Between Frank Harris and Percy Ward, Sunday, April 11, 1920, Kimball Hall, Chicago

Debate on Spiritualism - Between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph McCabe, November, 1919, London, England

Is Evolution True? - Between George McCready Price and Joseph McCabe, Queen's Hall, Langham Place, London, September

Though the publishers at a casual glance (of their published books) seem biased towards a particular atheistic/materialistic point of view, they none the less reproduced a fair example of high class debates between learned men of both pro and anti-views on these subjects.

One particularly interesting aspect of this book was exactly what was used as evidence for both anti and pro views at that time. As an example, pro-evolutionist Joseph McCabe said the following:

"Now I come to man. There is a general opinion that a vast gulf separates man from the ape. It did one hundred yeas ago. It certainly does not today... Now we have men of the Stone Age carrying us nearer to the ape; the Piltdown man, and one or two others, going as far again in the direction of the ape"

Of course, as most people are aware, and as the publishers themselves noted, Piltdown man was a fraud and was uncovered as such in 1953. But being "undeniable" at the time, it was still a piece of evidence for Evolution.

Being a collector of books on the subjects of the origin and divisification of life and the existence of the supernatural, I was very pleased with this book and the disputants themselves. While the evidences used are outdated, it has quite a bit of historical value, whether one is interested in the discussions or the men debating. I personally highly recommend it, and believe it would make a good addition to any personal book collection.