books to recommend?

[RussBLib]

Anyone have a/some favorite book(s) they'd like to share? My sister got me a well-worn copy of Sam Harris "The End of Faith" for XMAS and I am loving it. I checked it out at my local library a few years ago but I didn't read the whole thing. When I get books from the library, I tend to speed through them, knowing I will have to return them soon. Now, reading "The End of Faith" slowly and thoroughly, I am really enjoying it.

Some other favorites:

Sam Harris - Letter to a Christian Nation

Dan Barker - Losing Faith in Faith

Christopher Hitchens - God is Not Great

Christopher Hitchens - The Portable Atheist

Annie Laurie Gaylor - Women without Superstition

Anyone have any good ones to recommend?

[Tobin S.]

1. One by Sam Harris called "Free Will"

Not necessarily about faith or atheism, but very thought provoking all the same. Harris makes the argument that there is no such thing as free will. I still don't know if he's right. I probably read that book a year ago.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. You really got me thinking....

Have I ever read a book about atheism? Or aimed at truth about the Bible or religion? I have only read one, maybe because I really don't give a shit. I read Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman, because the only interest I have in this is knowing more of the history of Christianity (or other religions) so that I am armed against the silliness of believers who persecute me with their desire to "save me".

But I didn't remember if I had or had not read any books, so I found a list of the "100 best books about atheism". You might want to check it out. I actually have found a couple of books that I would be interested in reading (Asimov's Guide to the Bible and Ken's Guide to the Bible as well as Nailed by David Fitzgerald). You might find a few that interest you.

http://www.nowscape.com/books/ath_bok100.htm

[PassingFair]

19. Ken's Guide to the Bible is

...fantastic!

[YankeyMCC]

4. A couple I enjoyed and got a lot out of

Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Hecht

Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby

[progressoid]

8. Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism

I second that.

[LostOne4Ever]

5. Not really a book on Atheism

But I HIGHLY recommend Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain.

[PassingFair]

6. My number one, all time favorite:

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Not related to atheism...

But Catch 22 was one of my favorite books ever. The follow up, Closing Time, was probably the biggest piece of shit ever put on paper.

[defacto7]

9. The Orientalist by Tom Reiss

It covers the gray underbelly of religion, politics, history, the origins of many western wars at the turn of the century from the perspective of an extraordinary life born a Jew of vast wealth in Baku Azerbaijan at the turn of the 20th century, forced as a child to flee, changed his name, became a Muslim and wrote several books under different names lost to the casualties of politics. It's too involved to even begin to make a short synopsis. I learned a great deal from the reading.

[mr blur]

10. The Demon-haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark , Sagan

Last edited Mon Dec 30, 2013, 11:23 AM - Edit history (1)

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, of course.

Why I am not a Christian: and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects - Bertrand Russell

Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All - David Fitzgerald

[RussBLib]

11. Bertrand Russell

He, more than anyone, and that book - "Why I Am Not A Christian" - were the openings for me into a world free of religion. I'd forgotten that book, but that was really the very first anti-Christian/anti-religion book I ever read, and it REALLY opened up my eyes.

[PassingFair]

12. That Sagan book is fantastic! Great suggestions, all.

Also, his "Dragons of Eden" was an eyeopener for me!

[Brainstormy]

14. Yes! Sagan, the best starting point

And for those who like audio books, Dawkins reading in his own voice is beyond wonderful.

[dimbear]

15. The reason that Sagan is the best of them all, coming from this sarcastic old SOB:

he was gentle. And firm.

I don't know exactly how he did it. The man could sweet talk a rock.

He did have a beautiful voice.

He'd be our saint if we had 'em.

[Brainstormy]

13. Doubt: a History

By Jennifer Michael Hecht.

Posted from Amazon:
This is an account of the world's greatest ‘intellectual virtuosos,' who are also humanity's greatest doubters and disbelievers, from the ancient Greek philosophers, Jesus, and the Eastern religions, to modern secular equivalents Marx, Freud and Darwin—and their attempts to reconcile the seeming meaninglessness of the universe with the human need for meaning.

I really enjoyed this book.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. Couple.

Dawkins' 'The Blind Watchmaker'. Gives you the tools to counter the evolutionary appeals to incredulity about how 'perfect' our 'design' is.

Hawking 'The Grand Design'. Helps understand why there's something, rather than nothing, without raising the requirement of a supreme supernatural creator. Also some nuts and bolts of quantum theory, and why/how it's weird to us.


Edit: Also, Susan Clancy's 'Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens'. This book is VERY approachable, and helps understand why our mind records information the way it does, how perception fails us. How memory works. How intelligent, rational, successful people can also hold what you might call weird or untrue worldviews, etc.

[Promethean]

17. The title is a little confrontational

but the content is outstanding. It is basically a guide to having meaningful conversation with the religious. Meaningful being that you actually cause them to think which tends to actually make them question their faith.

A Manual for Creating Atheists - Peter Boghossian

[RebelOne]

18. There are quite a few here at the American Atheists website.

https://www.atheists.org/shop?&nccsm=15&__nccscid=19&__nccsct=Books

[onager]

20. Late as usual...

And everyone else has already recommended the books I would pick for good reads about atheism and doubt. Though I'd also recommend some of Michael Shermer's books, especially "Why People Believe Weird Things."

And also a wild card, not about religion per se but more about criticial thinking and why we humans so often throw it overboard:

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions & The Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay. First published in 1841, but you'll forget that completely as you go "WTF?" at these true stories.

Want to understand the Mortgage Meltdown of 2008? Just read the chapters on the Mississippi Scheme and the South Sea Bubble. And goofiest of all, the Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania.

Mackay also covers the European witch hunts and much more. The book is available cheap from many vendors, online and IRL.