I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about religions in general. Great perspective. Powerful Bolelli.

Bolelli is the man! I always love when he is on Rogan so I bought his book and it definitely doesn't disappoint. I feel exactly the same about religion as he does. It's a good guideline for those who are turned off by the aggressive religious thinkers of the world.

This is one of my absolutely favorite books! I am a raving agnostic, while I still like to think of myself as being so in a humble way. Bolelli understands this paradox while he tells you one thing and appears to turn completely around and contradict himself. That's not what he did: he merely demonstrated the all-important reality of paradox, conveying the importance of understanding that we humans aren't only contending with a great deal of mystery out there, but we are quite mysterious ourselves.

I bought it from Amazon, am glad that I did, but I can't rave about it. Although the title warns you that it's a book without instructions, the last 3 chapters of this 15-chapter book were the ones I liked most, and I wish there had been more like that. The author does have a good sense of humor, but sometimes he seems to overplay it. I didn't really learn much I didn't know before, but it was an easy read, and I think it's worth reading by anyone, but especially those who are ignorant about the religious scene.

So, why didn't I give it 5 stars? It may just be my opinion, and I'm keenly aware of that, but sometimes I felt he went a little too far in trying to be "accessible" to a wider audience. For example, in the introduction to the chapter on "Sex, sex and more Sex," the first 3 paragraphs seemed to be addressing the readers as if they were pimple-faced adolescents with raging hormones. Well, haha, no big deal, but it's not the only place where he seems, IMO, to be missing his target. I don't think any drooling dummies would buy a book with this title. In another place he seemed to feel the need to explain to the reader what "irks me" means. Well, maybe he was just trying to be funny again, but that sort of thing gets old after awhile.

The first 13 chapters consisted largely of summary critiques of the major religions of the world. That was OK, too, but that's not why I bought the book in the first place. Since most of the book was involved in descriptions of various religious practices and beliefs, with only the last 3 really approaching the subject of creating your own religion, I feel the title may have been a bit misleading.

But maybe it's just me. Perhaps I knew too much about the other religions before I read those chapters. I would probably be among those who "love" the book if all 15 chapters had been like the last 3. Or, if I was really enlightened by those earlier chapters. Obviously, looking at the other reviews here, the book is filling a need. Studies have shown that even American Christians know little about the Bible or their own church, so I can imagine that few of them have any idea of what a Zen Buddhist believes or practices. I did, by the way, feel an affinity with the author in his liking of Nietzsche and Taoist philosophy and the Buddhist monk Ikkyu. We were on the same page about them.

Bottom line: I did like it, and would recommend it to others, and this is what a 4-star review means.

This book is a collage of Daniele Bolelli's opinions and views on what's dastardly wrong with the message of organized religions. While not a complete head bashing; he does more to enlighten the reader on certain hypocritical highlights. These are but a part of the subjects: as science, atheism, fascism, communism, capitalism are not safe from his wrath. While feeling heavily personal; Daniele provides no shortage of quotes from some of the greatest independent thinkers from human history to emphasize his points.
Create my own religion is a great place for those to start or continue to draw inspiration from other than the main lines.