The Humanist Book Club meets on the fourth Saturday of each month at 10:30 a.m. at the Mesa Main Library, 64 East 1st Street (East of Country Club Way at the intersection of N. Centennial Way -- N.W. corner)

From Amazon.com:

When Lorenzo de' Medici seized control of the Florentine Republic in 1512, he summarily fired the Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Signoria and set in motion a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. The person who held the aforementioned office with the tongue-twisting title was none other than Niccolò Machiavelli, who, suddenly finding himself out of a job after 14 years of patriotic service, followed the career trajectory of many modern politicians into punditry. Unable to become an on-air political analyst for a television network, he only wrote a book. But what a book The Prince is. Its essential contribution to modern political thought lies in Machiavelli's assertion of the then revolutionary idea that theological and moral imperatives have no place in the political arena. "It must be understood," Machiavelli avers, "that a prince ... cannot observe all of those virtues for which men are reputed good, because it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, in order to preserve the state." With just a little imagination, readers can discern parallels between a 16th-century principality and a 20th-century presidency. --Tim Hogan

Our HSGP member Marc J. Victor is an attorney in private practice in Chandler. He last spoke to us two years ago, and we are delighted to welcome him back as a guest speaker.

Marc graduated Summa Cum Laude from ASU in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Justice Studies, and received his law degree in 1994 from Southwestern University of Law in Los Angeles.

Marc has represented clients in more than a thousand major felony cases including first and second degree murder, sex cases, gun cases, major drug cases, complex white collar cases, federal appeals, and other complex state and federal matters. Jury trial experience includes several murder trials including death eligible matters as well as complex sex cases. Marc has represented clients in many high profile and media attention cases.

In addition, Marc Victor is a member of, and advisor to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, especially on matters of church/state separation here in Phoenix area. Visit his website at: http://www.attorneyforfreedom.com

For the month of March only: The book club will meet at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library, Gold Room, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

From Wikipedia:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to "Alice in Wonderland") is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale is filled with allusions to Dodgson's friends. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the most characteristic examples of the "literary nonsense" genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre.

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872) is a work of children's literature by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), generally categorized as fairy tale.[citation needed] It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Although it makes no reference to the events in the earlier book, the themes and settings of Through the Looking-Glass make it a kind of mirror image of Wonderland.

Lisa Bauer has described her experience with Islam and religion in the October/November 2009 and December/January 2010 issues of Free Inquiry magazine, with an introduction by Richard Dawkins, whom she assisted with research duties for his latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth. The final installment describing her saga is in the February/March 2010 issue.

Lisa is currently a graduate student in Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In the past two years, she has made great strides towards overcoming both religion and her own social phobia, and has become involved in various atheist and humanist groups.

In the articles, Lisa describes her lifelong journey from atheism to her family's Roman Catholicism to Islam, and finally back to atheism. It was a long and often treacherous journey, emotionally painful and often self-destructive, extending to sexual as well as emotional submission to a trusted authority figure. In the end, though, and with the help of some trusted friends, she managed to break free of her former religions.

An expert in the psychology of illusion, HSGP member Anthony "Magic Tony" Barnhart has lectured on the topic at magic conventions and to students of psychology at colleges and universities. As a graduate student in cognitive psychology, himself, he has employed psychological principles to elevate his magic’s impact and increase the audience’s sense of wonder. Nowhere is this influence more evident than in his strolling magic where, in a one-on-one environment, he is able to strongly influence the behavior of audience members.

Click here to watch a segment KTVK Phoenix Channel 3 aired about psychology and magic, featuring Magic Tony. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLMyZ0PL5G4. For more information on psychology and magic, visit Magic Tony's website at http://www.magic-tony.com/

The Humanist Book Club meets on the fourth Saturday of each month at 10:30 a.m., Mesa Main Library, Main Branch, 64 East 1st Street (East of Country Club Way at the intersection of N. Centennial Way -- N.W. corner)

From Publishers Weekly:

Harvard government professor Sandel (Public Philosophy) dazzles in this sweeping survey of hot topics—the recent government bailouts, the draft, surrogate pregnancies, same-sex marriage, immigration reform and reparations for slavery—that situates various sides in the debates in the context of timeless philosophical questions and movements. Sandel takes utilitarianism, Kant's categorical imperative and Rawls's theory of justice out of the classroom, dusts them off and reveals how crucial these theories have been in the construction of Western societies—and how they inform almost every issue at the center of our modern-day polis. The content is dense but elegantly presented, and Sandel has a rare gift for making complex issues comprehensible, even entertaining (see his sections entitled Shakespeare versus the Simpsons and What Ethics Can Learn from Jack Benny and Miss Manners), without compromising their gravity. With exegeses of Winnie the Pooh, transcripts of Bill Clinton's impeachment hearing and the works of almost every major political philosopher, Sandel reveals how even our most knee-jerk responses bespeak our personal conceptions of the rights and obligations of the individual and society at large. Erudite, conversational and deeply humane, this is truly transformative reading.

Prof. Lawrence M. Krauss is an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology, where his studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He received undergraduate degrees in both Mathematics and Physics at Carleton University. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1982), then joined the Harvard Society of Fellows (1982-85). He joined the faculty of the departments of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University as assistant professor in 1985, and associate professor in 1988. In 1993 he was named the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Chairman of the department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University. He served in the latter position for 12 years, until 2005.

In August, 2008, Dr. Krauss took up his new post as Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department, and Inaugural Director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University.

Prof. Krauss is the author of several acclaimed popular books, including The Physics of Star Trek and Beyond Star Trek. Naturally, our HSGP president, Susan Sackett, is particularly thrilled to welcome Dr. Krauss to be our guest speaker!

Linell Cady is Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and the Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. She is professor of modern western religious thought, and her work has primarily focused on the relationship of religion and the public/private boundary, with primary attention to the American context. Topics of particular interest include the construction of the modern category of religion and its interface with understandings of the secular and the public; the contested role of religion in public life; and method and theory in the study of religion and theology. She is currently directing two projects funded by the Ford Foundation. The first “Religion, Secularism, and Democracy: A Crossdisciplinary, International project” is a comparative study of secularisms and the public role of religion in four democracies: France, India, Turkey, and the United States. The second “Teaching and Talking About Religion in Public” is part of Ford’s “Difficult Dialogues” initiative, and will lead to the development of an undergraduate certificate program in religion and conflict at ASU.