If your TBM significant other said they would read one book and one book only that is critical of the church, which one would you pick?

I was leaning towards No Man Knows My History, but am open to other suggestions.

An Insider's View of Mormon Origins. It's not even a so-called "anti mormon" book.

I have about 30 books that I would consider to be "critical" of the LDS Church, and Palmer's book is the one I would recommend. It's simply the best. It's short, concisely written, has many pictures, covers all the issues including some I had not heard of before, and it's easy reading. Also, it doesn't have a hostile or satirical tone like many books do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2013 07:34PM by Makurosu.

Can you trade the offer to read one book for an offer to read (completely) one website?

www.mormonthink.com

This is also my choice for websites, though I'd be afraid they might not read all the pages and reading on the internet is not as easy as reading a book.

I would vote for a recent book, "Brigham Young, Pioneer Prophet" by John G. Turner. It's accepted by Mormons generally and gives a very different picture of Brigham and his polygamous wives.

One book to rule them all, One book to find them,
One book to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason" by Sam Harris

This may not work for everyone and only you know your TBM significant other but I say stop attacking the symptoms and start attacking the illness. I was totally conflicted after learning some of the more nasty historical and doctrinal problems with LDS inc. The feeling I had when I learned that god was a figment of my imagination was sublime. I tossed Mormonism in the garbage not because it was garbage but because its god was garbage.

Exactly. It wasn't until after realizing that Mormon God didn't answer my prayers that I would finally accept the church history for what it was (not that I knew too much of it previously).

If this person was really willing to read ANY book critical of Mormonism and NOT throw it down after reading a few pages, then it HAS to be Mormonism-Shadow or Reality by Jerald & Sandra Tanner.

It is the most damning book on Mormonism out there. It explains nearly EVERY PROBLEM in Mormonism (First Vision, Book of Mormon, Temple Changes, Book of Abraham, Failed Prophecies, Blood Atonement etc) but is also THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE book out there.

It does a good job of being straight forward and not being sensationalist by simply quoting the sources which allows the reader to decide for themselves based on the evidence itself.

There's a lot of good, scholarly books out there on Mormonism, but many of them only focus on one or a few of the issues and often tip toe around them for fear of sounding too "anti." Brodie's book is a top choice of mine, but the only issue I have with it is that it is an outdated book and is not as comprehensive of an expose on Mormonism as Shadow or Reality is.

The only problem I see with Shadow or Reality is that its not the easiest read since it is SO comprehensive as well as the fact that the font and print job of the book is difficult to read. If he/she is NOT a reader, then I would suggest their other book The Changing World of Mormonism which is a basically a more condensed version of Shadow and also has a more readable format.

I also highly recommend http://www.mormonthink.com/personalstories/A_Letter_to_a_CES_Director.pdf which is easy to read and an excellent summary of all the problems. Maybe have them read this first as a synopsis of what they will read in these other two books.

Some will suggest other books that are less "anti" for fear that they will not read the book, but if he/she is willing to read ANY book then you might as well suggest the magnus opus of books debunking Mormonism which is Mormonism-Shadow or Reality.

The keystone of Mormonism by Azra Evans.