God Explained in a Taxi Ride
by Paul Arden
Penguin, HK$132
You have to wonder whom this book is aimed at. Pricey but pint-sized, God Explained in a Taxi Ride is Paul Arden's attempt to convince us why it's important not to accept, as Darwinians do, that 'there is only science and evolution'.
For Arden, a former creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, 'that is too stark ... Most of us need something spiritual to believe in'. Translation: belief in a higher being will give you comfort, so forget about truth and empirical evidence. Comprising sound bites and cartoons, the book contains thoughts such as this one borrowed from his daughter: 'A young child asked his father if he could prove there is a God. 'I can't prove it,' he said. 'It's like the wind. You can feel it but you can't see it.''
That takes up an entire page. Then again the book is meant to be consumed on the run or during a taxi ride, as the title indicates, although one has to ask from where to where? Accompanying glib explanations of cults and the difference between being religious and spiritual, among other things, is the sole provocative idea. If the US were to build a mosque on Ground Zero, Arden says, 'it would be a major step towards world peace'.