End of Faith by Sam Harris
this is one of the most thought-provoking books i have read in a long time. i highly recommend this book. highly. you likely will not agree with all of it ... but it will make you think. it is very controversial.
essentially it is an atheistic manifesto. like i said ... very controversial. very. but this is not some poorly written diatribe ... this book has sold 200,000 copies.
Sam Harris, the author, believes religion is the greatest threat to humanity. i'm not convinced of his argument. but he makes some good cases that out biggest threat is religious extremism -- especially Islamic fanatics.
I had dinner with Sam Harris and his wife and five other people on Tuesday. He's incredibly impressive in person -- even in the face of some very difficult questions. one of the dinner attendees is a pastor at one of the biggest churches in San Francisco (he had read the book) -- he, of course, was not convinced with Sam's arguments but their spirited dialog and discussion was fascinating.
overall, no matter what your stance on religion, i highly suggest reading this book.