Posts: 1137
Threads: 17
Joined: April 26, 2015
Reputation:
21
Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 1:31 pm
So I just got some books in the mail that I ordered last week. As most of you know (if you've read my posts) I am a recent deconvert. I decided that getting some reading material on the matter would be beneficial to me. So I would like suggestions on which one I should read first, or if I should follow a particular order. I bought the following:
"God is not Great", by Christopher Hitchens
"The God Delusion", by Richard Dawkins
"The Portable Atheist", by Christopher Hitchens
Thanks in advance for the feedback!
Posts: 13901
Threads: 263
Joined: January 11, 2009
Reputation:
82
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Hitchens is the more entertaining writer and I've only read the first two. I'd start with the Hitchens.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 2:16 pm
The God Delusion is probably more like light entertainment in comparison
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 15351
Threads: 118
Joined: January 13, 2014
Reputation:
117
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 2:24 pm
I'd start with god is not Great, then Dawkins, then Portable Atheist.
god is not Great is one of my favorites, and Hitchens is a damned genius.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
Posts: 1137
Threads: 17
Joined: April 26, 2015
Reputation:
21
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 3:18 pm
I love watching the debates with Hitchens on Youtube. He is definitely a genius.
Posts: 6120
Threads: 64
Joined: June 5, 2013
Reputation:
65
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 3:54 pm
I'm apparently the lone dissenter on these forums regarding Hitchens. I don't particularly care for his written work but really enjoy him as a speaker. But preference of authors is a very personal thing and not everyone will agree about who is better than whom.
As for book recs:
Victor Stenger for books about the intersection of science and God
Dawkins for books about evolution
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
Posts: 46140
Threads: 538
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Sagan's 'Broca's Brain'. While not explicitly an atheist treatise, this collection of essays methodically and systematically dismantles the need for God as an explanatory hypothesis.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
Posts: 29657
Threads: 116
Joined: February 22, 2011
Reputation:
159
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 4:26 pm
Daniel Dennett for Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Breaking The Spell
J. Anderson Thomson, Jr. for "why we believe in god(s)"
I was underwhelmed by 'The Portable Atheist'.
If you want to get angry, read "The Good News Club" by Katherine Stewart
Posts: 15351
Threads: 118
Joined: January 13, 2014
Reputation:
117
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 4:32 pm
My single favorite book regarding science and thought and gods is The Varieties of Scientific Experience by Carl Sagan. Simply epic, and captures the wonder of the cosmos as only Sagan can.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
Posts: 30129
Threads: 304
Joined: April 18, 2014
Reputation:
92
RE: Atheist Reading Suggestions
May 10, 2015 at 5:57 pm
The Changing World of Mormonism.
While specific to the fucking LDSers, it is nevertheless a great primer as to just how fucked up a religion can get in 100 years, let alone 2000.
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
![[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/zf86M5L7/extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg)
