What doyouthink?
Rate this book
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
«Οι οπαδοί των νεράιδων δεν χτυπάνε την πόρτα σου για να σε προσηλυτίσουν. Δεν απαιτούν να διδάσκεται η ψευτοεπιστήμη τους στα σχολεία. Δεν καταδικάζουν σε θάνατο οπαδούς άλλων νεράιδων. Δεν ισχυρίζονται ότι οι ηθικοί κανόνες βγαίνουν από τις τελετές των νεράιδων και ότι χωρίς νεράιδες θα είχαμε συνουσίες στους δρόμους και την κατάργηση της ατομικής ιδιοκτησίας. Δεν λένε ότι οι νεράιδες έφτιαξαν τον κόσμο και ως εκ τούτου πρέπει να κλείνουμε το γόνυ στον Μεγάλο Αδελφό των νεράιδων. Δεν λένε ότι η νεράιδα θα σε διατάξει να σκοτώσεις την αδελφή σου αν κυκλοφορεί στο δρόμο με κάποιον που δεν είναι ο αδελφός της.
Νομίζω λοιπόν ότι ισχύει αυτό που ο ποιητής Σέλεϋ αποκαλούσε αναγκαιότητα του αθεϊσμού. Αργά ή γρήγορα θα πρέπει να πάρεις θέση. Είτε αποδίδεις την παρουσία σου εδώ στους νόμους της βιολογίας και της φυσικής είτε την αποδίδεις σε ένα θείο σχέδιο. (Μπορείς να διακρίνεις τον φίλο από τον εχθρό από το πώς απαντούν σε αυτό το αναπόδραστο ερώτημα και από το πώς αντιμετωπίζουν τις επιπτώσεις του.) Κι ωστόσο, όπως και οι πιστοί, άπαξ και αποφασίσουμε, έχουμε ακόμη πολλή δουλειά μπροστά μας.»
Ο Κρίστοφερ Χίτσενς, που πέθανε τον Δεκέμβρη του 2011, μας οδηγεί μες από την αγνωστικιστική και αντιθρησκευτική σκέψη πολλών αιώνων. Ο τόμος περιλαμβάνει 45 κείμενα που συνιστούν τον κανόνα του αθεϊσμού. Από τον Λουκρήτιο στον Ντέιβιντ Χιουμ, από τον Τόμας Χομπς και τον Σπινόζα ως τον Σέλλεϋ και τον Καρλ Μαρξ, και από τον Δαρβίνο και τον Φρόυντ ως τους νεότερους και σύγχρονους μαχητικούς συνήγορους του αθεϊσμού, τον Ρίτσαρντ Ντώκινς, τον Ντάνιελ Ντένετ, τον Μάικλ Σέρμερ, τον Σαμ Χάρις, τον Ίαν Μακιούαν, και πολλούς άλλους. Τα διαφωτιστικά όσο και απολαυστικά κείμενα της ανθολογίας, εμπλουτισμένα με τα εξαιρετικά σχόλια του Κρίστοφερ Χίτσενς, ενδιαφέρουν όχι μόνο τον άθεο, τον αγνωστικιστή και τον πανθεϊστή, αλλά διεγείρουν την περιέργεια ακόμη και του μονοθεϊστή αναγνώστη.
Νομίζω λοιπόν ότι ισχύει αυτό που ο ποιητής Σέλεϋ αποκαλούσε αναγκαιότητα του αθεϊσμού. Αργά ή γρήγορα θα πρέπει να πάρεις θέση. Είτε αποδίδεις την παρουσία σου εδώ στους νόμους της βιολογίας και της φυσικής είτε την αποδίδεις σε ένα θείο σχέδιο. (Μπορείς να διακρίνεις τον φίλο από τον εχθρό από το πώς απαντούν σε αυτό το αναπόδραστο ερώτημα και από το πώς αντιμετωπίζουν τις επιπτώσεις του.) Κι ωστόσο, όπως και οι πιστοί, άπαξ και αποφασίσουμε, έχουμε ακόμη πολλή δουλειά μπροστά μας.»
Ο Κρίστοφερ Χίτσενς, που πέθανε τον Δεκέμβρη του 2011, μας οδηγεί μες από την αγνωστικιστική και αντιθρησκευτική σκέψη πολλών αιώνων. Ο τόμος περιλαμβάνει 45 κείμενα που συνιστούν τον κανόνα του αθεϊσμού. Από τον Λουκρήτιο στον Ντέιβιντ Χιουμ, από τον Τόμας Χομπς και τον Σπινόζα ως τον Σέλλεϋ και τον Καρλ Μαρξ, και από τον Δαρβίνο και τον Φρόυντ ως τους νεότερους και σύγχρονους μαχητικούς συνήγορους του αθεϊσμού, τον Ρίτσαρντ Ντώκινς, τον Ντάνιελ Ντένετ, τον Μάικλ Σέρμερ, τον Σαμ Χάρις, τον Ίαν Μακιούαν, και πολλούς άλλους. Τα διαφωτιστικά όσο και απολαυστικά κείμενα της ανθολογίας, εμπλουτισμένα με τα εξαιρετικά σχόλια του Κρίστοφερ Χίτσενς, ενδιαφέρουν όχι μόνο τον άθεο, τον αγνωστικιστή και τον πανθεϊστή, αλλά διεγείρουν την περιέργεια ακόμη και του μονοθεϊστή αναγνώστη.
525 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2007
About the author
Christopher Hitchens
156books7,485followersChristopher Eric Hitchenswas an English-born American author, journalist, and literary critic. He was a contributor toVanity Fair,The Atlantic,World Affairs,The Nation,Slate,Free Inquiryand a variety of other media outlets. Hitchens was also a political observer, whose best-selling books — the most famous beingGod Is Not Great— made him a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He was also a media fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Hitchens was a polemicist and intellectual. While he was once identified with the Anglo-American radical political left, near the end of his life he embraced some arguably right-wing causes, most notably the Iraq War. Formerly a Trotskyist and a fixture in the left wing publications of both the United Kingdom and United States, Hitchens departed from the grassroots of the political left in 1989 after what he called the "tepid reaction" of the European left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie, but he stated on the Charlie Rose show aired August 2007 that he remained a "Democratic Socialist."
The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy, and his vociferous criticism of what he called "fascism with an Islamic face." He is known for his ardent admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, and for his excoriating critiques of Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton.
Hitchens was an anti-theist, and he described himself as a believer in the Enlightenment values of secularism, humanism, and reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christop...
Hitchens was a polemicist and intellectual. While he was once identified with the Anglo-American radical political left, near the end of his life he embraced some arguably right-wing causes, most notably the Iraq War. Formerly a Trotskyist and a fixture in the left wing publications of both the United Kingdom and United States, Hitchens departed from the grassroots of the political left in 1989 after what he called the "tepid reaction" of the European left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie, but he stated on the Charlie Rose show aired August 2007 that he remained a "Democratic Socialist."
The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy, and his vociferous criticism of what he called "fascism with an Islamic face." He is known for his ardent admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, and for his excoriating critiques of Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton.
Hitchens was an anti-theist, and he described himself as a believer in the Enlightenment values of secularism, humanism, and reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christop...
Ratings&Reviews
Friends&Following
Create a free accountto discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 587 reviews
February 9, 2015
THE UNAPPEALING ATHEIST PROPOSITION
One early medieval story says that humans are like a bird who flies in one window of a great hall where a vast banquet is in progress. The bird only has time to catch a glimpse of all the festivities before it flies out of the other window. That’s us: we rapidly pass from non-existence to non-existence. Is that going to be a message many people want to hear? No. Is that why religion with its vivid promises of afterlife joy (for you, and, hopefully, misery for your enemies) may still be attractive to most people? Yes. That and about a thousand other reasons.
It’s a good thing that atheists are now making themselves heard after centuries of oppression but I don’t like the way the argument has gone.
THE PROBLEMS OF THE WHOLE ATHEIST DEBATE THING
1. At the heart of it there is a meaningless question: do you believe in God? The believers don’t or can’t define what they mean by the word. Everyone appears to assume that the word God has the same meaning for everyone. That is not true. A lot of these debates are between people who never define their terms, so what they’re talking about is anyone’s guess.
2. The nature of belief: the majority of believers have not converted from one religion to another, they were born into a particular religion. They have never for one second considered the possibility that a different religion might actually be the true one. The very idea is obviously absurd for this great majority of all believers of all religions. How can a debate be had within such a confined space?
3. I have been waiting for a thousand years to be able to say this! That’s what it sounds like when you read these bitter, angry litanies of the horrors inflicted by the Christian Church on the people of the world. In essay after essay they are trundled out like the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds (a famous waxworks exhibit in London! I bet you knew that!). And after they get done with the followers of Jesus, the current grisly gang of jihadis provide many non-Christian examples of religious bloodlust. Okay, it probably needs to be said (but Christopher, not 15 times over) but this is not a debate about belief.
AND ANYWAY
The atheists denounce Christianity and Islam (the two main disturbers of the peace in this book) as if, with their suppression, none of this xenophobic, misogynistic and fratricidal violence would ever have happened. If these two religions had just fizzled out, like thousands of others, then mild pleasantness would have descended and scientists would have been busily inventing motor cars and packet soup before the 13th century. But what would have happened instead of Christianity and Islam? Imagine that the Roman religion persisted in the West and the local animist cults continued in Arabia and the Middle East, alongside Zoroastrianism. Would humans have avoided wars of conquest, disease, ignorance, slavery and all the rest of it? Not at all. There would have been different names on the shops but they would have been selling the same bloody goods. The atheists are cynical about religion but uncynical about human nature.
4. And then there’s being caught in the crossfire: the non-specialist reader of the atheist debate will be scoffing aspirin very quickly, to ward off the throbbing headaches caused by the sesquipedalian jawbreakers of the cosmologists, the theoretical physicists and the biologists on the one side and the theologians on the other side. If I wrote what I know about quantum uncertainty, Planck time and fructose on the back of an average sized postage stamp I would still have room left over for the ten commandments and the lyrics of Like a Rolling Stone. A lot of this stuff is above my paygrade.
SEMI-USEFUL
So, this book is only semi-useful and sporadically entertaining. Christopher himself can always provide a few zingers:
To be charitable, one may admit that the religious often seem unaware of how insulting their main proposition actually is.
Or - religion is based on
our willingness to be persuaded against all the evidence that we are indeed the centre of the universe and that everything is arranged with us in mind.
And I did really enjoy Richard Dawkins leaping all over the anti-evolutionists’ two favourite topics – first, The Worship of the Gaps, which refers to the gaps in the fossil record, which allegedly prove that evolution is wrong. RD says that when a new fossil is found which fits in one of these gaps, the creationists then proclaim that there are now two gaps where before there was only onE! And second, irreducible complexity. The creationists difficulties with things like the human eye or Venus’ Flower Basket, or Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia trilobata) (all examples taken from a book by the Watchtower Society calledLife – How Did it Get Here?) are dealt with as follows
The logic [of the creationists] turns out to be no more convincing than this: “I [insert own name] am personally unable to think of any way in which [insert biological phenomenon] could have been built up step by step. Therefore it is irreducibly complex. That means it was designed.”
MAYBE THERE ARE BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR TIME
There are always interesting bits and pieces in a collection of essays by such big names as these. In one, Ian McEwan casually tossed out that one poll showed that 53% of Americans believe that the universe is less than 6000 years old. I boggled at that. He was then quick to point out that
In Pennsylvania, Kansas and Ohio the courts have issued ringing rejections of Intelligent Design and voters have ejected creationists from school boards.
He also explains the enduring appeal of the belief that The Apocalypse ™ will happen in your own lifetime (44% of Americans) – he says that this is an indication of how difficult it is for many people to accept that they aren’t special. You see this in the harmless fatuousness of generational narcissism – (kids of today, they don’t know what music is!) but when people really expect The End of Times to be about to really happen it’s like – I’m not going quietly! When I go,the whole of time and space is coming with me!
A Venus' Flower Basket
March 23, 2019
The Portable Atheistis a compilation of rather intriguing, incisive material, primarily essays, written by a variety of famed skeptics throughout the ages. Below is a link to the book’s table of contents; many of the pieces can be found online, if you’d like to try a few on for size:
https://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/vf-...
Of these impressive contributors, I found the following to be the most memorable: Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, George Eliot, Mark Twain, H.P. Lovecraft, Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, and Penn Jillette.
The topics under discussion are wonderfully diverse, and include: psychological bases for religious thinking, the value of reason, the issue of morality, the Big Bang, the role of natural selection and evolution, the problem with resorting to a “God of the gaps,” substantial concerns regarding Christianity and Islam (including but not limited to historicity, ethics, plausibility, and the questionable benevolence of that kind of god), miracles (what would they look like, and what would they be capable of proving?), the cosmological argument, the problem with near death experiences, and quite a few others besides.
Overall, this book was decidedly formidable. Nearly all of it was thought-provoking to some degree, and many of the arguments were intelligent, highly persuasive, and admirably rigorous. There was, however, a slight issue with the same intellectual ground being trod in multiple essays, and hence a feeling of repetitiveness, but that’s to be expected in a collection such as this, and wasn’t overly bothersome here.
Also, my problem with a couple of the perspectives included in this volume is that dogmatic atheism can be just as noxious and irrationally inflexible as dogmatic religion. Though I myself am inclined to think atheists areprobablycorrect, I will not make a leap of faith and say I believe that atheism is the definitive answer, either. The opposite of a rigidly held belief is not, to my mind, an equally rigidly held disbelief. I think it’s better to avoid jumping to conclusions that simply aren’t (yet?) provable one way or the other, and to instead keep your mind open, and look around at life (usually in utter bafflement), and just admit that none of us has any real clue what the shit is going on here. Even the religious have to agree with that to some extent—if theyknewfor a fact that their god created all this, then theirfaith,which is generally an essential component of their religion, would cease to exist. Uncertainty is all that’s certain. I fail to comprehend why people fail to comprehend this.
So, I’ll have to stick with agnosticism for the present, concurring (for the most part) with this excellent point, which was presented early in the collection:
And yet, even though it’s proven somewhat futile thus far, we definitely shouldn’t stop searching for answers. The quest for more and better knowledge is something we ought never neglect. Our relentless curiosity and refusal to settle for the far-fetched creation myths of old is part of what I’m most proud of in a growing number of members of the human race. If nothing else, this fine collection of the writings of brilliant minds grappling with our most fundamental questions has motivated me to look around more, to reconnect with that innate sense of wonder and inquisitiveness at all of this existence, and to question the preconceived notions I’ve unconsciously allowed to accumulate in my head over the years. In that sense, this was a most inspirational volume, and I recommend that everyone explore at least some of its challenging, stimulating contents.
https://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/vf-...
Of these impressive contributors, I found the following to be the most memorable: Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, George Eliot, Mark Twain, H.P. Lovecraft, Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, and Penn Jillette.
The topics under discussion are wonderfully diverse, and include: psychological bases for religious thinking, the value of reason, the issue of morality, the Big Bang, the role of natural selection and evolution, the problem with resorting to a “God of the gaps,” substantial concerns regarding Christianity and Islam (including but not limited to historicity, ethics, plausibility, and the questionable benevolence of that kind of god), miracles (what would they look like, and what would they be capable of proving?), the cosmological argument, the problem with near death experiences, and quite a few others besides.
Overall, this book was decidedly formidable. Nearly all of it was thought-provoking to some degree, and many of the arguments were intelligent, highly persuasive, and admirably rigorous. There was, however, a slight issue with the same intellectual ground being trod in multiple essays, and hence a feeling of repetitiveness, but that’s to be expected in a collection such as this, and wasn’t overly bothersome here.
Also, my problem with a couple of the perspectives included in this volume is that dogmatic atheism can be just as noxious and irrationally inflexible as dogmatic religion. Though I myself am inclined to think atheists areprobablycorrect, I will not make a leap of faith and say I believe that atheism is the definitive answer, either. The opposite of a rigidly held belief is not, to my mind, an equally rigidly held disbelief. I think it’s better to avoid jumping to conclusions that simply aren’t (yet?) provable one way or the other, and to instead keep your mind open, and look around at life (usually in utter bafflement), and just admit that none of us has any real clue what the shit is going on here. Even the religious have to agree with that to some extent—if theyknewfor a fact that their god created all this, then theirfaith,which is generally an essential component of their religion, would cease to exist. Uncertainty is all that’s certain. I fail to comprehend why people fail to comprehend this.
So, I’ll have to stick with agnosticism for the present, concurring (for the most part) with this excellent point, which was presented early in the collection:
“Of all my seeking this is all my gain:
No agony of any mortal brain
Shall wrest the secret of the life of man;
The Search has taught me that the Search is vain.”
― Omar Khayyam
And yet, even though it’s proven somewhat futile thus far, we definitely shouldn’t stop searching for answers. The quest for more and better knowledge is something we ought never neglect. Our relentless curiosity and refusal to settle for the far-fetched creation myths of old is part of what I’m most proud of in a growing number of members of the human race. If nothing else, this fine collection of the writings of brilliant minds grappling with our most fundamental questions has motivated me to look around more, to reconnect with that innate sense of wonder and inquisitiveness at all of this existence, and to question the preconceived notions I’ve unconsciously allowed to accumulate in my head over the years. In that sense, this was a most inspirational volume, and I recommend that everyone explore at least some of its challenging, stimulating contents.
September 25, 2008
Hitchens is one of the wittiest men of our time, and as a great writer, his taste is impeccable.
I love reading essays and short pieces, but it becomes a problem when I find collections that I don't particularly like, because I don't want to buy a collection for a single essay.
That is not a problem with Hitchens, who combines the fundamental originators of the atheist thought, with the writings of Hume and Spinoza, with the great leaders of the modern atheist movement, including a few essays from my personal favorite, Professor Daniel Dennett.
He includes the essentials of Russell and Dawkins, which are, of course, unavoidable in a discussion of atheism, and he makes sure to tackle the elements of atheist and naturalist philosophy.
It's a wonderful collection, and anyone who wants something that they can read off-and-on, especially if you're in the collegiate realm where you can't focus on one thing and just slam through it, this is a great collection.
I will say that Hitchens' intro is not his best work, but there is something challenging about introducing a collection of arguments meant to speak for themselves. It still bears the stamp of a fantastic mind, and still has its shining moments.
I love reading essays and short pieces, but it becomes a problem when I find collections that I don't particularly like, because I don't want to buy a collection for a single essay.
That is not a problem with Hitchens, who combines the fundamental originators of the atheist thought, with the writings of Hume and Spinoza, with the great leaders of the modern atheist movement, including a few essays from my personal favorite, Professor Daniel Dennett.
He includes the essentials of Russell and Dawkins, which are, of course, unavoidable in a discussion of atheism, and he makes sure to tackle the elements of atheist and naturalist philosophy.
It's a wonderful collection, and anyone who wants something that they can read off-and-on, especially if you're in the collegiate realm where you can't focus on one thing and just slam through it, this is a great collection.
I will say that Hitchens' intro is not his best work, but there is something challenging about introducing a collection of arguments meant to speak for themselves. It still bears the stamp of a fantastic mind, and still has its shining moments.
August 11, 2016
Loved the guy. He lived in my neighborhood and lumbered around like a bear that had been poked by a stick. I've been following him since the 80's when he contributed regularly to The Nation. His contributions to Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy and Prospect were invaluable, his prose inimitable.
But when it comes to spiritual beliefs the guy was a cretin.
For all his erudition he never grokked that many humans have a desire to worship something outside themselves and that desire or need does not automatically make them stupid, deluded, evil or dangerous.
That was always Chris' problem: people's needs and weaknesses constituted a target for his rage. Once, in the early 90's at a briefing at Chapters Bookstore during the Serbian conflict he YELLED at some poor guy asking for some clarification on who was who. And I mean full-on Christian Bale. I got quiet and slipped out the door fearing he would become insane and kill someone. His righteous anger turned him into an enraged and senseless animal. This just to tell you he had no understanding or observation of his personal failings, which is why he drank and smoked himself (sadly) into an early grave.
That said, he was the closest thing to a wit and an intellectual we've had in the US.
But when it comes to spiritual beliefs the guy was a cretin.
For all his erudition he never grokked that many humans have a desire to worship something outside themselves and that desire or need does not automatically make them stupid, deluded, evil or dangerous.
That was always Chris' problem: people's needs and weaknesses constituted a target for his rage. Once, in the early 90's at a briefing at Chapters Bookstore during the Serbian conflict he YELLED at some poor guy asking for some clarification on who was who. And I mean full-on Christian Bale. I got quiet and slipped out the door fearing he would become insane and kill someone. His righteous anger turned him into an enraged and senseless animal. This just to tell you he had no understanding or observation of his personal failings, which is why he drank and smoked himself (sadly) into an early grave.
That said, he was the closest thing to a wit and an intellectual we've had in the US.
January 14, 2008
I would not call myself an atheist, but a some of what is collected in this book rings true to me. However, like most atheist philosophy there is much to be desired. Much of the counter-points favoring the non-existence of god(s) can be boiled down into:
1) God does not exist because there is no evidence.
2) God does not exist because there is evil in the world.
3) God does not exist because bad people have embellished on the myths.
4) God does not exist because there are too many gods both past and present.
I'm sure that I am over-simplifying, but that is essentially the crux of it as far as I can see. All of these thoughts ring a bit hollow to me, but they all touch on a larger understanding that I have yet to figure out myself. If I had to guess, the existence (or non) of the truth of god lies in the analysis of Dawkins' Spaghetti Monster (which does not make much of an appearance here).
Oh well. The quest continues.
-m
p.s. The worst part of this book lies in the fact that it seems to be a money-grab by Hitchens. It seems that he is trying to cash in on his recent fame by collecting some publicly available texts, writing one or two sentences about each, and then adding a couple lackluster "never before released" essays by a couple friends. As a side note, this book is far from portable.
1) God does not exist because there is no evidence.
2) God does not exist because there is evil in the world.
3) God does not exist because bad people have embellished on the myths.
4) God does not exist because there are too many gods both past and present.
I'm sure that I am over-simplifying, but that is essentially the crux of it as far as I can see. All of these thoughts ring a bit hollow to me, but they all touch on a larger understanding that I have yet to figure out myself. If I had to guess, the existence (or non) of the truth of god lies in the analysis of Dawkins' Spaghetti Monster (which does not make much of an appearance here).
Oh well. The quest continues.
-m
p.s. The worst part of this book lies in the fact that it seems to be a money-grab by Hitchens. It seems that he is trying to cash in on his recent fame by collecting some publicly available texts, writing one or two sentences about each, and then adding a couple lackluster "never before released" essays by a couple friends. As a side note, this book is far from portable.
March 31, 2022
Christopher Hitchens does not do anything lightly. This is full on conversion therapy, an intellectual ambush on the believers and the doubtful. He presents daunting critical reasoning and analysis written by the best of the classic and modern literary masters (Twain, Updike, Shelly, Hardy, Orwell...); philosphers (Marx, Mills, Russell, Mencken...) and the scientists (Darwin, Dawkin, Einstein, Weinberg...).
4.5 stars - despite it's excellence, it was challenging to comprehend, retain and appreciate all of it at one time. I did have to go back and repeat read more than few chapters. This is an important and a definitive read although an exhaustable one and I am sure to go back and re-read from time to time.
4.5 stars - despite it's excellence, it was challenging to comprehend, retain and appreciate all of it at one time. I did have to go back and repeat read more than few chapters. This is an important and a definitive read although an exhaustable one and I am sure to go back and re-read from time to time.
December 10, 2008
Although, as can only be expected, it is missing some crucial works, and allows for only small excerpts of others, it an excellent collection overall.
The first third of the book will allow you to understand the philosophical intellectual history of atheism/agnosticism (Lucretius (c. 60 BCE ), Hobbes, Spinoza, Hume, Mill, Marx, Eliot, Darwin, Twain, Freud, Einstein, Orwell, and Russell). The rest of the book has more modern and recent arguments, that I believe are more systematic and convincing.
My favorites:
(1) Hume: He takes the idea of miracles to task.
(2) Mill: Rationally explains his lack of faith.
(3) Marx: Ever wondered what the "opium of the people" really means?
(4) Mencken: A witty memorial service to all the "dead" gods
(5) Einstein: Always one of the best when it comes to collecting eloquent and humorous short quotes
(6) Russell: Puts superstition to task.
(7) Mackie: Discusses possible consequences of adopting atheism
(8) Shermer: Excellent parody of what one would have to believe if one wishes to reconcile what we know scientifically today with the teachings of the Bible.
(9) Dawkins: Probably the best presented argument for the unlikelihood of the existence of God, and a good refutation of some of the most powerful objections of theists. His book, "The God Delusion", is a more complete explanation.
(10) Stenger: The best attack on the cosmological arguments for God.
(11) Anderson: Wonderful summary of the type of moral things God does in the Bible, tells others to do, or simply permits. The bottom line: clearly no truly good moral person should look to the Bible exclusively for guidance.
(12) Weinberg: Another cosmological discussion, but he is more sympathetic to religion.
(13) Warraq: A long but devastating attack on the Quran. Also good for those that do not really understand the type of things actually written in Islamic religious doctrine (or for that matter, how these religious books came about).
The first third of the book will allow you to understand the philosophical intellectual history of atheism/agnosticism (Lucretius (c. 60 BCE ), Hobbes, Spinoza, Hume, Mill, Marx, Eliot, Darwin, Twain, Freud, Einstein, Orwell, and Russell). The rest of the book has more modern and recent arguments, that I believe are more systematic and convincing.
My favorites:
(1) Hume: He takes the idea of miracles to task.
(2) Mill: Rationally explains his lack of faith.
(3) Marx: Ever wondered what the "opium of the people" really means?
(4) Mencken: A witty memorial service to all the "dead" gods
(5) Einstein: Always one of the best when it comes to collecting eloquent and humorous short quotes
(6) Russell: Puts superstition to task.
(7) Mackie: Discusses possible consequences of adopting atheism
(8) Shermer: Excellent parody of what one would have to believe if one wishes to reconcile what we know scientifically today with the teachings of the Bible.
(9) Dawkins: Probably the best presented argument for the unlikelihood of the existence of God, and a good refutation of some of the most powerful objections of theists. His book, "The God Delusion", is a more complete explanation.
(10) Stenger: The best attack on the cosmological arguments for God.
(11) Anderson: Wonderful summary of the type of moral things God does in the Bible, tells others to do, or simply permits. The bottom line: clearly no truly good moral person should look to the Bible exclusively for guidance.
(12) Weinberg: Another cosmological discussion, but he is more sympathetic to religion.
(13) Warraq: A long but devastating attack on the Quran. Also good for those that do not really understand the type of things actually written in Islamic religious doctrine (or for that matter, how these religious books came about).
August 22, 2014
I was NOT a "non-believer" when I opened this book. I considered myself a believer in the spiritual realm, if not any organized religion. If I had label myself I'd say I was agnostic. By the end of the book I was quite prepared to say that I am an atheist.
People make lists of the books that impacted their lives. This one is top of mine. For better or worse!
People make lists of the books that impacted their lives. This one is top of mine. For better or worse!
January 22, 2015
Page 363 (my book) St. Augustine
“There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. It is this which drives us to try and discover the secrets of nature which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing, and which man should not wish to learn.”
These 47 essays are chronologically arranged from Lucretius to the 21st century. But over two-thirds of the essays are from 1900 onwards. One does get a history of atheism, and how, even to this day, it is difficult to acknowledge or admit that one is an atheist. One essay by A.C. Grayling said that the term should be “naturalist” which has a far more positive connotation.
The essays are uneven. I can’t for the life of me know why some were chosen – the essays by Leslie Stephen, Anatole France, Joseph Conrad, Martin Gardner, George Orwell, John Updike and a few more were useless. Bertrand Russell’s essay on “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish” was dated. The ten pages of quotes from Albert Einstein were simply repetitive.
If only all the writers could have been as entertaining as Mark Twain and Carl Sagan, the book would have been a pleasure to read! At times I had literally to force myself through the words of some essays.
The book is concerned mostly with Christianity and Islam – less on Judaism. Not much on Eastern religions. One also comes away with the essential ingredients of what constitutes a religion – creation and an end-time, heaven/hell, all religions intervene (don’t do this, do this, don’t touch that...). There is a riveting essay on “Revelations” by Ian McEwan.
Page 353
The resilience of the end-time forecasts – time and again, for five hundred years, the date is proclaimed, nothing happens, and no one feels discouraged from setting another date.
Page 356
The cast or contents of Revelation in its contemporary representations has all the colorful gaudiness of a children’s computer fantasy game – earthquakes and fires, thundering horses and their riders, angels blasting away on trumpets, magic vials, Jezebel, a red dragon and other mystical beasts...
The apocalypse is always around the corner.
Page 362
Where a god makes the world, it remains in his power to unmake it.
And of course there is sex. Christopher Hitchens, who cannot write a dull sentence in the introduction, says it best:
Page xxiii
From the weird obsession with virginity and the one-way birth canal through which prophets are “delivered”, through the horror of menstrual blood, all the way to the fascinated disgust with homosexuality and the pretended concern with children (who suffer worse at the hands of the faithful than any other group). Male and female genital mutilation; the terrifying of infants with hideous fictions about guilt and hell, the wild prohibition of masturbation: religion will never be able to live down the shame with which it has stained itself for generations in this regard, anymore than it can purge its own guilt for the ruining of formative periods of precious life.
Also one gains insight into the belief power of mankind that is somehow fixed to believe the supernatural. Think of UFO’s, of unending conspiracy theories – and then translate those over to religion. Many religions (past and present) have had virgins giving birth to prophets’, people today still search for Noah’s Ark and the many miracles that occurred so long ago.
Page 41 (David Hume)
The gazing populace, receive greedily, without examination, whatever soothes superstition, and promotes wonder.
Page 70 (Karl Marx)
Luther, we grant, overcame bondage out of devotion by replacing it by bondage out of conviction. He shattered faith in authority because he restored the authority of faith. He turned priests into laymen because he turned laymen into priests. He freed man from outer religiosity because he made religiosity the inner man. He freed the body from chains because he enchained the heart.
There is a brilliant essay by H.L. Mencken of all the “dead” religions.
Page 146
They were gods of the highest standing and dignity – gods of civilized peoples – worshipped and believed in by millions. All were theoretically omnipotent, omniscient, and immortal. And all are dead.
Carl Sagan gives us a feeling of how Christianity has “softened up”. For hundreds of years they were rounding up witches and demons – torturing and burning them. Perhaps, today, the residual affect is the abundance of horror films that keep circulating.
There are also essays on God’s place in the scientific world. With findings on the universe, biological development (evolution, genetics), on paleontology and geology - some theologists are looking more toward a mechanistic God. This God would be a rather “lazy God” – what does he do exactly? But this removes organized religion out of the picture with its sacred texts relegated to “file 13”. The universe has existed for some 14 billion years. This also points out “mankinds” insignificance in this overwhelming universe, on this planet with its immensity of species (many long gone) that have evolved over millions of years, as opposed to homo sapiens 200,000 years. So perhaps people turn to religion for solace – to escape their solitariness in the wide space of time.
From Woody Allen’s Annie Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U1-O...
There are also some interesting discussions on Jesus. Jesus demands faith, but not knowledge. In the essay by Ibn Warraq he points out that Jesus’s existence is somewhat shadowy. Most of what is written of him is 50 to 100 years after his death. So how true are these gospels – in an era where the average lifespan was short and of widespread illiteracy? Much of who Jesus was, and his words, are conjecture and hearsay.
Page 280 (David C. Dennett)
Try to imagine your outrage if a pharmaceutical company responded to your [law]suit by blithely replying “But we prayed good and hard for the success of the drug! What more do you want?"
There is an excellent essay by Richard Dawkins refuting the faith based Intelligent Design.
Page 282 Charles Templeton
In the course of our conversation I said, “But Billy [Graham], it’s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world wasn’t created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It’s not a matter of speculation; it’s a demonstrable fact.”
“I don’t accept that,” Billy [Graham] said.
Page 306 Richard Dawkins
The cannibalistic fantasy of “drinking the blood and eating the flesh” of the leader.
Page 343 Elizabeth Anderson
Believers in any one religion can offer no independent criteria for accepting their own revelations, miracles, and religions experiences while rejecting the revelations, miracles, and religious experiences that appear to support contradictory religious claims.
Page 346 Elizabeth Anderson
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.
Page 383 Salman Rushdie
Intellectual freedom, in European history, has meant mostly freedom from the restraints of the Church, not the state. This is the battle Voltaire was fighting.
The longest essay is by Ibn Warraq and is scathing on both Islam and Christianity.
Page 395 Ibn Warraq
Is it fitting that an All-Powerful, Omniscient, and Omnipotent God should revise His commands so many times? Does He need to issue commands that need revising so often? Why can He not get it right the first time, after all, He is all-wise? Why does He not reveal the better verse first?
And some essays point out that monotheistic religions are not so monotheistic – the cult of the saints, the Virgin Mary... But monotheism is intolerant – an only God is by nature a jealous God who will not allow another to live – “Thou shall make no craven image.”
Page 412 Ibn Warraq
It is very odd that when God decides to manifest Himself, He does so to only one individual. Why can He not reveal himself to the masses during the final game of the World Cup...
“There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. It is this which drives us to try and discover the secrets of nature which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing, and which man should not wish to learn.”
These 47 essays are chronologically arranged from Lucretius to the 21st century. But over two-thirds of the essays are from 1900 onwards. One does get a history of atheism, and how, even to this day, it is difficult to acknowledge or admit that one is an atheist. One essay by A.C. Grayling said that the term should be “naturalist” which has a far more positive connotation.
The essays are uneven. I can’t for the life of me know why some were chosen – the essays by Leslie Stephen, Anatole France, Joseph Conrad, Martin Gardner, George Orwell, John Updike and a few more were useless. Bertrand Russell’s essay on “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish” was dated. The ten pages of quotes from Albert Einstein were simply repetitive.
If only all the writers could have been as entertaining as Mark Twain and Carl Sagan, the book would have been a pleasure to read! At times I had literally to force myself through the words of some essays.
The book is concerned mostly with Christianity and Islam – less on Judaism. Not much on Eastern religions. One also comes away with the essential ingredients of what constitutes a religion – creation and an end-time, heaven/hell, all religions intervene (don’t do this, do this, don’t touch that...). There is a riveting essay on “Revelations” by Ian McEwan.
Page 353
The resilience of the end-time forecasts – time and again, for five hundred years, the date is proclaimed, nothing happens, and no one feels discouraged from setting another date.
Page 356
The cast or contents of Revelation in its contemporary representations has all the colorful gaudiness of a children’s computer fantasy game – earthquakes and fires, thundering horses and their riders, angels blasting away on trumpets, magic vials, Jezebel, a red dragon and other mystical beasts...
The apocalypse is always around the corner.
Page 362
Where a god makes the world, it remains in his power to unmake it.
And of course there is sex. Christopher Hitchens, who cannot write a dull sentence in the introduction, says it best:
Page xxiii
From the weird obsession with virginity and the one-way birth canal through which prophets are “delivered”, through the horror of menstrual blood, all the way to the fascinated disgust with homosexuality and the pretended concern with children (who suffer worse at the hands of the faithful than any other group). Male and female genital mutilation; the terrifying of infants with hideous fictions about guilt and hell, the wild prohibition of masturbation: religion will never be able to live down the shame with which it has stained itself for generations in this regard, anymore than it can purge its own guilt for the ruining of formative periods of precious life.
Also one gains insight into the belief power of mankind that is somehow fixed to believe the supernatural. Think of UFO’s, of unending conspiracy theories – and then translate those over to religion. Many religions (past and present) have had virgins giving birth to prophets’, people today still search for Noah’s Ark and the many miracles that occurred so long ago.
Page 41 (David Hume)
The gazing populace, receive greedily, without examination, whatever soothes superstition, and promotes wonder.
Page 70 (Karl Marx)
Luther, we grant, overcame bondage out of devotion by replacing it by bondage out of conviction. He shattered faith in authority because he restored the authority of faith. He turned priests into laymen because he turned laymen into priests. He freed man from outer religiosity because he made religiosity the inner man. He freed the body from chains because he enchained the heart.
There is a brilliant essay by H.L. Mencken of all the “dead” religions.
Page 146
They were gods of the highest standing and dignity – gods of civilized peoples – worshipped and believed in by millions. All were theoretically omnipotent, omniscient, and immortal. And all are dead.
Carl Sagan gives us a feeling of how Christianity has “softened up”. For hundreds of years they were rounding up witches and demons – torturing and burning them. Perhaps, today, the residual affect is the abundance of horror films that keep circulating.
There are also essays on God’s place in the scientific world. With findings on the universe, biological development (evolution, genetics), on paleontology and geology - some theologists are looking more toward a mechanistic God. This God would be a rather “lazy God” – what does he do exactly? But this removes organized religion out of the picture with its sacred texts relegated to “file 13”. The universe has existed for some 14 billion years. This also points out “mankinds” insignificance in this overwhelming universe, on this planet with its immensity of species (many long gone) that have evolved over millions of years, as opposed to homo sapiens 200,000 years. So perhaps people turn to religion for solace – to escape their solitariness in the wide space of time.
From Woody Allen’s Annie Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U1-O...
There are also some interesting discussions on Jesus. Jesus demands faith, but not knowledge. In the essay by Ibn Warraq he points out that Jesus’s existence is somewhat shadowy. Most of what is written of him is 50 to 100 years after his death. So how true are these gospels – in an era where the average lifespan was short and of widespread illiteracy? Much of who Jesus was, and his words, are conjecture and hearsay.
Page 280 (David C. Dennett)
Try to imagine your outrage if a pharmaceutical company responded to your [law]suit by blithely replying “But we prayed good and hard for the success of the drug! What more do you want?"
There is an excellent essay by Richard Dawkins refuting the faith based Intelligent Design.
Page 282 Charles Templeton
In the course of our conversation I said, “But Billy [Graham], it’s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world wasn’t created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It’s not a matter of speculation; it’s a demonstrable fact.”
“I don’t accept that,” Billy [Graham] said.
Page 306 Richard Dawkins
The cannibalistic fantasy of “drinking the blood and eating the flesh” of the leader.
Page 343 Elizabeth Anderson
Believers in any one religion can offer no independent criteria for accepting their own revelations, miracles, and religions experiences while rejecting the revelations, miracles, and religious experiences that appear to support contradictory religious claims.
Page 346 Elizabeth Anderson
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.
Page 383 Salman Rushdie
Intellectual freedom, in European history, has meant mostly freedom from the restraints of the Church, not the state. This is the battle Voltaire was fighting.
The longest essay is by Ibn Warraq and is scathing on both Islam and Christianity.
Page 395 Ibn Warraq
Is it fitting that an All-Powerful, Omniscient, and Omnipotent God should revise His commands so many times? Does He need to issue commands that need revising so often? Why can He not get it right the first time, after all, He is all-wise? Why does He not reveal the better verse first?
And some essays point out that monotheistic religions are not so monotheistic – the cult of the saints, the Virgin Mary... But monotheism is intolerant – an only God is by nature a jealous God who will not allow another to live – “Thou shall make no craven image.”
Page 412 Ibn Warraq
It is very odd that when God decides to manifest Himself, He does so to only one individual. Why can He not reveal himself to the masses during the final game of the World Cup...
October 6, 2009
Although I am certainly not an atheist, I enjoyed the book. Liked having a selection of "Atheist" readings with the additional comments of the author, a renowned atheist himself. I gave the book 3 stars because, well, not being an atheist, I found the book lacking on several levels.
First, the words the jump to my mind after reading this book are, "holier than thou," "dogmatic," "exclusive," and well, many others that are used by atheists against people of faith. What strikes me as hilarious, none of the philosophical arguments consist in any empirical proof whatsoever. So, let's agree that whether theologian or philosopher (including atheists), none of us can conclusively "prove" anything. We must each look at the relevant data and facts that we find in all domains of life and history and make our own decision as to what our beliefs are. Healthy debate is part of that decision making, which is why I liked reading this book.
Second, I found some of the argumentation used to be confusing. I understand that being an atheist, one does not have a belief in any god of any sort. However, when making broad statements about why one doesn't believe in a god, it is entirely unhelpful and misleading to lump all faiths into one big pile. Each faith has its own merits, difficulties, and history. To lump all together is to disregard and evade dealing with the strength of argument for a particular religion. I might add that just as it is logically impossible for all religions to be correct (i.e. lead to the same place), this includes atheism.
Finally, it is a bit intellectually dishonest to present some of these readings as representative of the whole of particular faiths. For example, in the George Elliot entry, the author(s) sort of pick at the person and work of Rev. John Cumming. While they my have some good points, John Cumming is not necessarily wholly representative of Biblical Christianity at all points. Thus, it is unjust to say John Cumming's beliefs and practices = Biblical Christianity, since we have picked him apart from our "correct" point of view, therefore Christianity is bunk. I expect better than this. I do understand that this book is presenting "slices" of historical readings, but the author does add his own comments, and therefore could touch on this and contemporary advances that have occurred since Rev. Cumming. We could make similar comments about his comments regarding the Catholic church.
This book is for anyone who wants a selection of atheistic readings to interact with. At the end of the day, I'm not sure there is anything conclusive, although the author would have you believe otherwise. I respect his conclusion of his personal assessment of our world and the facts before him, but I come to a vastly different, equally respectable conclusion (after considering the same facts and philosophical arguments).
First, the words the jump to my mind after reading this book are, "holier than thou," "dogmatic," "exclusive," and well, many others that are used by atheists against people of faith. What strikes me as hilarious, none of the philosophical arguments consist in any empirical proof whatsoever. So, let's agree that whether theologian or philosopher (including atheists), none of us can conclusively "prove" anything. We must each look at the relevant data and facts that we find in all domains of life and history and make our own decision as to what our beliefs are. Healthy debate is part of that decision making, which is why I liked reading this book.
Second, I found some of the argumentation used to be confusing. I understand that being an atheist, one does not have a belief in any god of any sort. However, when making broad statements about why one doesn't believe in a god, it is entirely unhelpful and misleading to lump all faiths into one big pile. Each faith has its own merits, difficulties, and history. To lump all together is to disregard and evade dealing with the strength of argument for a particular religion. I might add that just as it is logically impossible for all religions to be correct (i.e. lead to the same place), this includes atheism.
Finally, it is a bit intellectually dishonest to present some of these readings as representative of the whole of particular faiths. For example, in the George Elliot entry, the author(s) sort of pick at the person and work of Rev. John Cumming. While they my have some good points, John Cumming is not necessarily wholly representative of Biblical Christianity at all points. Thus, it is unjust to say John Cumming's beliefs and practices = Biblical Christianity, since we have picked him apart from our "correct" point of view, therefore Christianity is bunk. I expect better than this. I do understand that this book is presenting "slices" of historical readings, but the author does add his own comments, and therefore could touch on this and contemporary advances that have occurred since Rev. Cumming. We could make similar comments about his comments regarding the Catholic church.
This book is for anyone who wants a selection of atheistic readings to interact with. At the end of the day, I'm not sure there is anything conclusive, although the author would have you believe otherwise. I respect his conclusion of his personal assessment of our world and the facts before him, but I come to a vastly different, equally respectable conclusion (after considering the same facts and philosophical arguments).
June 12, 2011
Religion is the most perverse,dangerous and destructive force in the world,and even God,s favorite David of the bible implored: open mine eyes lord, so that I will know thee with my heart,mind,and whole being
So this call to use your mind and critically examine,both the argument for and against religion,is wise council
And I have spend more than 40 years in earnest search for the truth
I have broken the shackles of religion,and the freedom of atheism is highly recommended
This important book will help you work through some of the questions on this complex but important subject,but it is your business and your decision,which way you decide to vote?
Nobody can convince you of the truth either way,but I found overwhelming evidence against...so I choose atheist!
So this call to use your mind and critically examine,both the argument for and against religion,is wise council
And I have spend more than 40 years in earnest search for the truth
I have broken the shackles of religion,and the freedom of atheism is highly recommended
This important book will help you work through some of the questions on this complex but important subject,but it is your business and your decision,which way you decide to vote?
Nobody can convince you of the truth either way,but I found overwhelming evidence against...so I choose atheist!
January 26, 2012
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever edited by Christopher Hitchens
“The Portable Atheist” is the philosophical journey of atheist thought through time. The late great Christopher Hitchens selects forty seven essays by some of the most influential atheist/agnostic minds. This 528-page book is composed of forty seven essays by some of the most influential atheists/agnostics including heavyweights like: Einstein, Sagan, Russell, Darwin, Twain, Hume, Spinoza, Mill, Dawkins, Harris and many others.
Positives:
1. Great and diverse selection of atheist/agnostic essays.
2. Thought-provoking and fascinating views on religion.
3. One of the best introductions, I’ve ever read. It alone is worth the price of this book the rest is a bonus.
4. Hitchens provides a few introductory words for each essay.
5. The recurring theme of dismissing superstitions and myths.
6. David Hume provides great perspective on miracles and an interesting interview.
7. Quotes, quotes, quotes…great quotes throughout. “Questions of fact can only be solved by examining facts”. Here is another one of my favorites, “All logical arguments can defeated by the simple refusal to reason logically”.
8. Great lucid minds providing much needed wisdom.
9. Deism refuted.
10. The problem of evil. Many examples. “If evil predominates here, we have no reason to suppose that good predominates elsewhere”.
11. Cosmological argument put under the scrutiny of great minds.
12. Religious history was never more interesting. Luther’s impact is duly noted.
13. The argument from design and Darwin’s view of it. You get Carl Sagan’s view of this as well.
14. The clearly stated position of an agnostic.
15. The great mind of Spinoza taking Hume’s position of miracles to another level.
16. The evil of slavery and its link to Christianity…oh my. Fascinating stuff.
17. “Thou shalt suffer no witch to live…” it’s amazing the impact a few words has on humanity.
18. The philosophy of atheism…a very good essay.
19. Great insight on morality. “There is no moral obligation to believe what is unbelievable any more than there is moral obligation to do what is undoable”.
20. The concept of revelation and concise arguments against it.
21. The great thing about reading is that you are bound to learn something new. This book provided me the best understanding of why the concept of an afterlife diminishes our one and only real life. Thank you.
22. The great Einstein and his “religious” beliefs.
23. Supernatural births of gods. So many gods so little reason.
24. Bertrand Russell’s essay is an intellectual treat. Science versus faith. The absurdities of Aristotle.
25. The Anselm’s ontological argument discussed.
26. The purpose of life…the big philosophical questions. The moral consequence of atheism.
27. Nothing fails more than prayers.
28. Richard Dawkin’s essay a great refresher. Evolution it does a specie good.
29. Victor Stenger advances the argument that we know enough to discard the god hypothesis. Great use of physics and cosmology to base his arguments.
30. Elizabeth Anderson provides one of the strongest essays of this book. It’s an essay about how humans can possibly conduct themselves without a belief in the gods. Excellent!
31. The moral inconsistencies of the Bible and the lack of archaeological evidence.
32. Eschatology...always a fascinating topic.
33. The advantages of atheism are recurring throughout book, “to choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities”.
34. Ibn Warraq provides an excellent albeit long essay on why he is not a Muslim. The essay is actually from his book.
35. Sam Harris provides a hard hitting essay about some of the evils of religious dogma. “Whenever a man imagines that he need only believe the truth of a proposition, without evidence – that believers will go to hell, that Jews drink the blood of infants – he becomes capable of anything.”
36. A horrifying look at witchhunts and anti-Semitism.
37. Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s emotional and insightful essay on why she became an infidel.
Negatives:
1. The book is clearly uneven. Some essays are very long while others way too short.
2. Some of the essays are poems and well some of the messages and thoughts are lost on me.
3. At over 500 pages, it does require an investment of time.
4. As is always is the case with essays and in particular this book, some essays are of more interest than others. Some essays are more accessible than others.
5. Very few essays from women but I’m happy to report that the few provided are very good.
6. This book is anything but portable.
7. Hitchens introduction was so good that very few essays were able to live up to those standards.
8. Some essays just didn’t belong. The essay on Hegel and Germany by Karl Marx comes to mind.
In summary, a great set of thought-provoking essays. You are guaranteed to learn something new and fascinating. Some essays like the poem-based ones didn’t really work for me and some others didn’t feel like they belong. The great thing about a book about essays is that you can skip over the ones you don’t like. The introduction of this book is one of the wittiest and thought-provoking writings and many other provided plenty of food for thought. The intro and some of the essays are five-star material but others drag it down the book to a four. That being said, you can cherry pick and go through your favorites. A recommended buy!
Further suggestions: "Why I Became an Atheist", "The Christian Delusion" and “The End of Christianity” by John Loftus, "Sense and Goodness Without God" and "Why I'm Not a Christian" by Richard Carrier, "Man Made God" by Barbara G. Walker, "" The Invention of the Jewish People "by Shlomo Sand," Godless "by Dan Barker," Christian No More "by Jeffrey Mark, “A Universe from Nothing” by Lawrence M. Krauss, “Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion” by Phil Zuckerman and "The Invention of God" by Bill Lauritzen.
“The Portable Atheist” is the philosophical journey of atheist thought through time. The late great Christopher Hitchens selects forty seven essays by some of the most influential atheist/agnostic minds. This 528-page book is composed of forty seven essays by some of the most influential atheists/agnostics including heavyweights like: Einstein, Sagan, Russell, Darwin, Twain, Hume, Spinoza, Mill, Dawkins, Harris and many others.
Positives:
1. Great and diverse selection of atheist/agnostic essays.
2. Thought-provoking and fascinating views on religion.
3. One of the best introductions, I’ve ever read. It alone is worth the price of this book the rest is a bonus.
4. Hitchens provides a few introductory words for each essay.
5. The recurring theme of dismissing superstitions and myths.
6. David Hume provides great perspective on miracles and an interesting interview.
7. Quotes, quotes, quotes…great quotes throughout. “Questions of fact can only be solved by examining facts”. Here is another one of my favorites, “All logical arguments can defeated by the simple refusal to reason logically”.
8. Great lucid minds providing much needed wisdom.
9. Deism refuted.
10. The problem of evil. Many examples. “If evil predominates here, we have no reason to suppose that good predominates elsewhere”.
11. Cosmological argument put under the scrutiny of great minds.
12. Religious history was never more interesting. Luther’s impact is duly noted.
13. The argument from design and Darwin’s view of it. You get Carl Sagan’s view of this as well.
14. The clearly stated position of an agnostic.
15. The great mind of Spinoza taking Hume’s position of miracles to another level.
16. The evil of slavery and its link to Christianity…oh my. Fascinating stuff.
17. “Thou shalt suffer no witch to live…” it’s amazing the impact a few words has on humanity.
18. The philosophy of atheism…a very good essay.
19. Great insight on morality. “There is no moral obligation to believe what is unbelievable any more than there is moral obligation to do what is undoable”.
20. The concept of revelation and concise arguments against it.
21. The great thing about reading is that you are bound to learn something new. This book provided me the best understanding of why the concept of an afterlife diminishes our one and only real life. Thank you.
22. The great Einstein and his “religious” beliefs.
23. Supernatural births of gods. So many gods so little reason.
24. Bertrand Russell’s essay is an intellectual treat. Science versus faith. The absurdities of Aristotle.
25. The Anselm’s ontological argument discussed.
26. The purpose of life…the big philosophical questions. The moral consequence of atheism.
27. Nothing fails more than prayers.
28. Richard Dawkin’s essay a great refresher. Evolution it does a specie good.
29. Victor Stenger advances the argument that we know enough to discard the god hypothesis. Great use of physics and cosmology to base his arguments.
30. Elizabeth Anderson provides one of the strongest essays of this book. It’s an essay about how humans can possibly conduct themselves without a belief in the gods. Excellent!
31. The moral inconsistencies of the Bible and the lack of archaeological evidence.
32. Eschatology...always a fascinating topic.
33. The advantages of atheism are recurring throughout book, “to choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities”.
34. Ibn Warraq provides an excellent albeit long essay on why he is not a Muslim. The essay is actually from his book.
35. Sam Harris provides a hard hitting essay about some of the evils of religious dogma. “Whenever a man imagines that he need only believe the truth of a proposition, without evidence – that believers will go to hell, that Jews drink the blood of infants – he becomes capable of anything.”
36. A horrifying look at witchhunts and anti-Semitism.
37. Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s emotional and insightful essay on why she became an infidel.
Negatives:
1. The book is clearly uneven. Some essays are very long while others way too short.
2. Some of the essays are poems and well some of the messages and thoughts are lost on me.
3. At over 500 pages, it does require an investment of time.
4. As is always is the case with essays and in particular this book, some essays are of more interest than others. Some essays are more accessible than others.
5. Very few essays from women but I’m happy to report that the few provided are very good.
6. This book is anything but portable.
7. Hitchens introduction was so good that very few essays were able to live up to those standards.
8. Some essays just didn’t belong. The essay on Hegel and Germany by Karl Marx comes to mind.
In summary, a great set of thought-provoking essays. You are guaranteed to learn something new and fascinating. Some essays like the poem-based ones didn’t really work for me and some others didn’t feel like they belong. The great thing about a book about essays is that you can skip over the ones you don’t like. The introduction of this book is one of the wittiest and thought-provoking writings and many other provided plenty of food for thought. The intro and some of the essays are five-star material but others drag it down the book to a four. That being said, you can cherry pick and go through your favorites. A recommended buy!
Further suggestions: "Why I Became an Atheist", "The Christian Delusion" and “The End of Christianity” by John Loftus, "Sense and Goodness Without God" and "Why I'm Not a Christian" by Richard Carrier, "Man Made God" by Barbara G. Walker, "" The Invention of the Jewish People "by Shlomo Sand," Godless "by Dan Barker," Christian No More "by Jeffrey Mark, “A Universe from Nothing” by Lawrence M. Krauss, “Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion” by Phil Zuckerman and "The Invention of God" by Bill Lauritzen.
May 2, 2024
I wasn't a huge fan of this book when I flipped through it back in the day. I ended up listening to the audiobook this time which was a really pleasant experience.
It has a bit of an issue with preaching to the choir. I don't really think a believer is going to pick this up and renounce faith... it's for the atheist, but they already know all these arguments against faith.
Freud's The Future of an Illusion was my favourite segment and I'll probably revisit that full work again in the future. His criticism of the unfalsifiability of religion is great. "What is characteristic of illusions is that they are derived from human wishes."
It has a bit of an issue with preaching to the choir. I don't really think a believer is going to pick this up and renounce faith... it's for the atheist, but they already know all these arguments against faith.
Freud's The Future of an Illusion was my favourite segment and I'll probably revisit that full work again in the future. His criticism of the unfalsifiability of religion is great. "What is characteristic of illusions is that they are derived from human wishes."
June 28, 2020
Technically this is portable. But it's too big to fit in your pocket and too heavy to carry very far.
Still, it is a worthwhile compilation of various writers about why they don't believe in god. There is lots of repetition, especially in the earlier selections, so I skimmed over that. But some parts were still interesting.
All the names you expect are in here. Carl Sagan and Martin Gardner, who were influential on me, are included. But there are surprising inclusions as well: Omar Khayyam, George Eliot, Joseph Conrad, Emma Goldman, H.P. Lovecraft, Steven Weinberg, even John Updike (not an atheist, but has written atheistic ideas in fiction).
Some highlights for me:
Daniel Dennet praises the idea of saying "Oh My Goodness", not just as a cheap way of avoiding saying "God", but because "Goodness" is something we should celebrate and encourage. Goodness includes things such as education and tolerance.
A.C. Grayling considers whether an atheist can be a fundamentalist. He reframes the question by using the terms "Naturalist" and "Supernaturalist". Seen that way, how can one be a "Naturalist" and not be fundamentalist? Could you coherently believe that the world works by natural laws except on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
Sam Harris gave horrifying details about witch burning, a practice that continued up to around 1850, as well as more information than I knew about the history of anti-semitism. I'm well familiar with discussions of possible mistakes and internal contradictions in the Bible. But here Ibn Warraq gives a similar treatment to the Koran, and I've seen little of that before. (It is very brave to publish such things, just as it was brave of Voltaire, Spinoza, Hume, etc, a few hundred years ago. Even Warraq is a fake name to reduce personal risk.)
Ayaaan Hirsi Ali was braver to publish under her own name. I'll give her the last word, as this book does. What she says resonates with my own experience. In my case the book that helped me was by Bertrand Russel, but the experience was the same. Just the fact that I wanted to read it helped me realize I was already a non-believer.
When I finally admitted to myself that I was an unbeliever, it was because I simply couldn't pretend any longer that I believed. Leaving Allah was a long and painful process for me, and I tried to resist it for as long as I could. "
"I picked up a book -- The Atheist Manifesto by Herman Philippe.... I began reading it.... But I really didn't have to. Just looking at it, just wanting to read it -- that already meant I doubted. Before I'd read four pages I realized I had left Allah behind years ago."
(Read this about a year ago. Just getting around to posting this.)
January 21, 2008
Christopher Hitchens, why so angry? This is an interesting collection of essays, fiction, articles and arguments, compiled by the acidic and immature Hitchens. When Hitchens is NOT speaking, this proves evocative reading. When he is, it's annoying - like listening to a teenage girl on a cell phone on the train fighting with her boyfriend-of-the-week about "I know you are, but what am I? Shut up no you shut up you stupidhead meanyperson."
October 19, 2017
Lot of insights from the notions of several great thinkers. Irrespective of your views on Atheism, it's essential to read through some of the essays to get a lot better ideas and visions on life.
Hitchens was surely a great person with his sheer witty erudite personality. Since my inception on curiously knowing about the world (mostly western, which I was oblivious of) I had found a lot of wonderful, wiser brave persons.Glad this book actually helped me find more. This book contains 47 essays of people who lived on diversified eras and with diversified visions. one of the common connections is all of them were/are free thinkers. Almost every essay was so beautiful thought provoking and at even sometimes wondering (Lucretius' from BCEs).
“Kuhn is thanking God because he has not been chosen. Kuhn is out of his senses. Does he not see Beppo the Greek in the bunk next to him, Beppo who is twenty years old and is going to the gas-chamber the day after tomorrow and knows it and lies there looking fixedly at the light without saying anything and without even thinking anymore?Can Kuhn fail to realize that next time it will be his turn? Does Kuhn not understand that what has happened today is an abomination, which no propitiatory prayer, no pardon no expiation by the guilty, which nothing at all in the power of man can ever clean again?
If I was God, I would spit at Kuhn’s prayer.”
- Primo Levi
"In the book in which God explained how He did all this, in one chapter He said he created Adam and Eve together
out of the dust at the same time, but in another chapter He said He created Adam first, then later created Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs. This caused confusion in the valley of the shadow of doubt, so God created theologians to sort it out. "
- Michael Shermer
**Some of them really deserves to be reread especially fromBertrand Russell, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, Einstein, Ayaan Hirshi Ali, Sam Harris, Shermer, Sam Harris, Carl Sagan, Sigmund Freud, George Orwell, Steven Weinberg, Penn Jillette.
October 19 - November 2, 2016
Hitchens was surely a great person with his sheer witty erudite personality. Since my inception on curiously knowing about the world (mostly western, which I was oblivious of) I had found a lot of wonderful, wiser brave persons.Glad this book actually helped me find more. This book contains 47 essays of people who lived on diversified eras and with diversified visions. one of the common connections is all of them were/are free thinkers. Almost every essay was so beautiful thought provoking and at even sometimes wondering (Lucretius' from BCEs).
“Kuhn is thanking God because he has not been chosen. Kuhn is out of his senses. Does he not see Beppo the Greek in the bunk next to him, Beppo who is twenty years old and is going to the gas-chamber the day after tomorrow and knows it and lies there looking fixedly at the light without saying anything and without even thinking anymore?Can Kuhn fail to realize that next time it will be his turn? Does Kuhn not understand that what has happened today is an abomination, which no propitiatory prayer, no pardon no expiation by the guilty, which nothing at all in the power of man can ever clean again?
If I was God, I would spit at Kuhn’s prayer.”
- Primo Levi
"In the book in which God explained how He did all this, in one chapter He said he created Adam and Eve together
out of the dust at the same time, but in another chapter He said He created Adam first, then later created Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs. This caused confusion in the valley of the shadow of doubt, so God created theologians to sort it out. "
- Michael Shermer
**Some of them really deserves to be reread especially fromBertrand Russell, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, Einstein, Ayaan Hirshi Ali, Sam Harris, Shermer, Sam Harris, Carl Sagan, Sigmund Freud, George Orwell, Steven Weinberg, Penn Jillette.
October 19 - November 2, 2016
November 1, 2011
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
is a collection of essays by various authors who have addressed the topic of atheism and/or agnosticism throughout the years. Although there are a few gems to be found (Hitchen’s introduction, essays by Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, Salman Rushdie to name a few), most of the articles are pure drudgery written by long-winded philosophers who appear to have been paid by the word (or page). I particularly hated the section from Einstein, which consisted of an endless series of two sentence snippets from letters written throughout his lifetime... all of which repeat the exact same thing (no personal god, no afterlife, god reveals himself in the orderly harmony of the universe... rather bland and unremarkable stuff that fails to improve with repetition). The book is laid out chronologically and, in general, the essays do get somewhat better the further towards the end of the book you go.
I suspect that in putting together a book of this sort, that it is rather easy to load it up with material from dead authors - since their work is in the public domain and thus no royalties need be paid. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that anyone felt the need to cull the material for unique or interesting ideas. While the book certainly contains“Readings for the Nonbeliever”,I would disagree with the premise that many of them are“Essential”.
One thing I did find interesting is how many of the writings echo the sentiments put forth by the new atheists (Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens). These newer writers (who are perceived as rather revolutionary) are really just updating older ideas for the current generation of free thinkers.
I suspect that in putting together a book of this sort, that it is rather easy to load it up with material from dead authors - since their work is in the public domain and thus no royalties need be paid. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that anyone felt the need to cull the material for unique or interesting ideas. While the book certainly contains“Readings for the Nonbeliever”,I would disagree with the premise that many of them are“Essential”.
One thing I did find interesting is how many of the writings echo the sentiments put forth by the new atheists (Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens). These newer writers (who are perceived as rather revolutionary) are really just updating older ideas for the current generation of free thinkers.
July 5, 2012
The late Christopher Hitchens was a tremendous wit and man of letters, as well as an effective political and religious polemicist. This is a collection of some of the greatest Atheistic, or at least skeptical writings, selected and abridged by Hitchens with short introductions to each as well as a longer opening introduction. While that longer essay is a bit of a period piece not up to the standard of most of Hitchens writing, his shorter intros are delightful. His choices range from classical (Lucretius) to delightfully unexpected (Sir John Betjemen), to the just plain bizarre (Penn Jillette); as expected, there is quite a bit of material from his friends Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, McEwan, and Rushdie. All in all, the collection is effective and thought provoking, and variant enough that, except for a drop-off in quality towards the end, it doesn't get boring or repetitive. One hardly needs to be an Atheist or even secular to ponder over and enjoy The Portable Atheist, and the high quality of most of the material makes it one of Hitchens' best endeavors in his particular brand of argumentative secularism.
December 26, 2010
An outstanding collection of essays and extracts from godless and freethinking writers throughout the ages. Amongst the highlights are the pamphlet for which Shelly was thrown out of university and contributions from Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine. Some, such as Thomas Hardy and HL Mencken consign gods to the grave of history, while others argue strong cases for a morality that does not rely on the promise of reward or the threat of punishment from a creator. While some of the writings are distinctly anti-theistic, others argue for the wisdom of agnosticism. Nearly all are thoughtful, wise and thoroughly worth investigating, irrespective of the reader's own position on the spectrum of belief.
February 27, 2009
This would be more properly titled "The Portable Anti-Religion: Essential Readings for the Angry Atheist". I really despise books and arguments that portend to be atheistic but are really just arguments against religion. When you are arguing to be atheistic, you should start from the assumption of atheism, instead of spending a whole volume arguing against it. This book clearly wasn't written for the "non-believer" because it spends the entire span of the book arguing against religion and trying to convince readers of its evil. Don't waste your money, unless you are looking for an argument to be an atheist, and you can come up with plenty reasons on your own.
April 16, 2021
Anotherexcellenttour de forcethrough time and thought. Hitchens assembled the best of the best for this anthology, including short works entire and fine excerpts from longer. Really couldn't be better.
As with any multi-author anthology, individual entries vary in quality, tone, usefulness, and effectiveness. Some are too angry to be helpful; others are too doubtful to be definite. In striving to be thorough, Hitchens may have pitched a wider tent than the title promises (thank goodness for subtitles, eh?). But the aim of this book is not to persuade - it's to collect individual viewpoints, journal entries, and personal indictments from top minds who, for a spectrum of reasons, have found it reasonable or otherwise necessary to part ways with organized religion. As such, it's invaluable. Couldn't be better.
My one real quibble is with that kitschy title. For, at 500 6 "x9" pages and weighing well over a pound, "portable" this tome is not!
As with any multi-author anthology, individual entries vary in quality, tone, usefulness, and effectiveness. Some are too angry to be helpful; others are too doubtful to be definite. In striving to be thorough, Hitchens may have pitched a wider tent than the title promises (thank goodness for subtitles, eh?). But the aim of this book is not to persuade - it's to collect individual viewpoints, journal entries, and personal indictments from top minds who, for a spectrum of reasons, have found it reasonable or otherwise necessary to part ways with organized religion. As such, it's invaluable. Couldn't be better.
My one real quibble is with that kitschy title. For, at 500 6 "x9" pages and weighing well over a pound, "portable" this tome is not!
June 26, 2021
I love all the different angles this book comes at religion
Swapping italics for ' instead. Hopefully will sort out the foreign letters later
Contents
xi
xiii
1. LUCRETIUS, from De Rerum Natura (On The Nature of Things) Book I Translated by W. Hannaford Brown
2. OMAR KHAYYAM, from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A Paraphrase from Several Literal Translations by Richard Le Gallienne
3. THOMAS HOBBES, Of Religion, from Leviathan - Page 12
4. BENEDICT DE SPINOZA, Theological-Political Treatise - Page 21
5. DAVID HUME, The Natural History of Religion - Page 26
Of Miracles - Page 32
6. JAMES BOSWELL, An Account of My Last Interview with David Hume, Esq. - Page 46
7. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY - A Refutation of Deism - Page 50
8. JOHN STUART MILL, Moral Influences in My Early Youth, From 'Autobiography' - Page 57
9. KARL MARX, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right - Page 64
10. GEORGE ELIOT, Evangelical Teaching - Page 75
11. CHARLES DARWIN, Autobiography - Page 93
12. LESLIE STEPHEN, An Agnostic's Apology - Page 97
13. ANATOLE FRANCE, Miracle - Page 112
14. MARK TWAIN, Thoughts of God, From 'Fables of Man' -Page 116
Bible Teaching and Religious Practice, From 'Europe and Elsewhere' and 'A Pen Warmed Up In Hell' - Page 119
15. JOSEPH CONRAD, Author's Note to 'The Shadow Line' - Page 123
16. THOMAS HARDY, 'God's Funeral' - page 126
17. EMMA GOLDMAN, The Philosophy of Atheism - Page 129
18. H.P. LOVECRAFT, A Letter on Religion - Page 134
19. CARL VAN DOREN, Why I AM An Unbeliever - Page 138
20. H.L. MECKEN, Memorial Service - Page 143
21. SIGMUND FREUD, From 'The Future of an Illusion', Translated and edited by James Strachey - Page 147
22. ALBERT EINSTEIN, Selected Writings on Religion - Page 155
23. GEORGE ORWELL, From 'A Clergyman's Daughter' - Page 166
24. JOHN BETJEMAN, 'In Westminister Abbey' - Page 168
25. CHAPMAN COHEN, Monism and Religion - Page 170
An Old Story - Page 178
26. BERTRAND RUSSELL, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish - Page 181
27. PHILIP LARKIN, 'Aubade' - Page 207
27. PHILIP LARKIN, 'Churchgoing' Page 209
28 MARTIN GARDNER, The Wandering Jew and the Second Coming - Page 211
29. CARL SAGAN, The Demon Hunted World - Page 218
The God Hypothesis - Page 226
30. JOHN UPDIKE, From 'Roger's Version' - Page 239
31. J.L. MACKIE, Conclusions and Implications, From 'The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God - Page 246
32. MICHAEL SHERMER, Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation Story - Page 267
33. A.J AYER, That undiscovered Country - Page 270
34. DANIEL C. DENNETT, Thank Goodness! - Page 277
35. CHARLES TEMPLETON, From 'A Farewell to God',
A Personal Word - Page 282
Questions to Ask Yourself - Page 285
36. RICHARD DAWKINS
Why There Almost Certainly Is No God - Page 287
Gerin Oil - Page 305
Atheists for Jesus - Page 307
37. VICTOR STENGER, From 'God: the Failed Hypothesis', Cosmic Evidence - Page311
38. DANIEL C. DENNETT, A Working Definition of Religion, From "Breaking Which Spell?" Page 328
39. ELIZABETH ANDERSON, If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted? Page 333
40. PENN JILLETTE, There Is No God - Page 349
41. IAN MCEWAN, End of the World Blues - Page 351
42. STEVEN WEINBERG, What About God? From 'Dreams of a Final Theory' Page 366
43. SALMAN RUSHDIE, "Imagine There's No Heaven": A Letter to the Six billionth World Citizen- Page 380
44. IBN WARRAQ, The Koran - Page 384
The Totalitarian Nature of Islam - Page 445
45. SAM HARRIS, In the Shadow of God, From 'The End of Faith' - Page 454
46. A.C. GRAYLING, Can an Atheist Be a Fundamentalist? From 'Against All Gods' - Page 473
47. AYAAN HIRSI ALI, How (and Why) I Became an Infidel - Page 477
Credits and Permissions - Page 481
Index - Page 485
Swapping italics for ' instead. Hopefully will sort out the foreign letters later
Contents
xi
xiii
1. LUCRETIUS, from De Rerum Natura (On The Nature of Things) Book I Translated by W. Hannaford Brown
2. OMAR KHAYYAM, from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A Paraphrase from Several Literal Translations by Richard Le Gallienne
3. THOMAS HOBBES, Of Religion, from Leviathan - Page 12
4. BENEDICT DE SPINOZA, Theological-Political Treatise - Page 21
5. DAVID HUME, The Natural History of Religion - Page 26
Of Miracles - Page 32
6. JAMES BOSWELL, An Account of My Last Interview with David Hume, Esq. - Page 46
7. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY - A Refutation of Deism - Page 50
8. JOHN STUART MILL, Moral Influences in My Early Youth, From 'Autobiography' - Page 57
9. KARL MARX, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right - Page 64
10. GEORGE ELIOT, Evangelical Teaching - Page 75
11. CHARLES DARWIN, Autobiography - Page 93
12. LESLIE STEPHEN, An Agnostic's Apology - Page 97
13. ANATOLE FRANCE, Miracle - Page 112
14. MARK TWAIN, Thoughts of God, From 'Fables of Man' -Page 116
Bible Teaching and Religious Practice, From 'Europe and Elsewhere' and 'A Pen Warmed Up In Hell' - Page 119
15. JOSEPH CONRAD, Author's Note to 'The Shadow Line' - Page 123
16. THOMAS HARDY, 'God's Funeral' - page 126
17. EMMA GOLDMAN, The Philosophy of Atheism - Page 129
18. H.P. LOVECRAFT, A Letter on Religion - Page 134
19. CARL VAN DOREN, Why I AM An Unbeliever - Page 138
20. H.L. MECKEN, Memorial Service - Page 143
21. SIGMUND FREUD, From 'The Future of an Illusion', Translated and edited by James Strachey - Page 147
22. ALBERT EINSTEIN, Selected Writings on Religion - Page 155
23. GEORGE ORWELL, From 'A Clergyman's Daughter' - Page 166
24. JOHN BETJEMAN, 'In Westminister Abbey' - Page 168
25. CHAPMAN COHEN, Monism and Religion - Page 170
An Old Story - Page 178
26. BERTRAND RUSSELL, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish - Page 181
27. PHILIP LARKIN, 'Aubade' - Page 207
27. PHILIP LARKIN, 'Churchgoing' Page 209
28 MARTIN GARDNER, The Wandering Jew and the Second Coming - Page 211
29. CARL SAGAN, The Demon Hunted World - Page 218
The God Hypothesis - Page 226
30. JOHN UPDIKE, From 'Roger's Version' - Page 239
31. J.L. MACKIE, Conclusions and Implications, From 'The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God - Page 246
32. MICHAEL SHERMER, Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation Story - Page 267
33. A.J AYER, That undiscovered Country - Page 270
34. DANIEL C. DENNETT, Thank Goodness! - Page 277
35. CHARLES TEMPLETON, From 'A Farewell to God',
A Personal Word - Page 282
Questions to Ask Yourself - Page 285
36. RICHARD DAWKINS
Why There Almost Certainly Is No God - Page 287
Gerin Oil - Page 305
Atheists for Jesus - Page 307
37. VICTOR STENGER, From 'God: the Failed Hypothesis', Cosmic Evidence - Page311
38. DANIEL C. DENNETT, A Working Definition of Religion, From "Breaking Which Spell?" Page 328
39. ELIZABETH ANDERSON, If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted? Page 333
40. PENN JILLETTE, There Is No God - Page 349
41. IAN MCEWAN, End of the World Blues - Page 351
42. STEVEN WEINBERG, What About God? From 'Dreams of a Final Theory' Page 366
43. SALMAN RUSHDIE, "Imagine There's No Heaven": A Letter to the Six billionth World Citizen- Page 380
44. IBN WARRAQ, The Koran - Page 384
The Totalitarian Nature of Islam - Page 445
45. SAM HARRIS, In the Shadow of God, From 'The End of Faith' - Page 454
46. A.C. GRAYLING, Can an Atheist Be a Fundamentalist? From 'Against All Gods' - Page 473
47. AYAAN HIRSI ALI, How (and Why) I Became an Infidel - Page 477
Credits and Permissions - Page 481
Index - Page 485
December 21, 2008
This compendium will last a while, but dipping in here and there seems the best approach. There are some interesting essays from the early part of the last century that were important in convincing my father to get over believing in god(s).
I wasn't planning on buying the book, but just happened to be browsing it at Powell's when my friend Chris Faatz, one of our great free-range intellectuals (and a Buddhist), stopped to say hello. He knew the book and pointed several essays that recommends. I was sold. By the way, that was a classic example of "hand-selling" that is lost in superstores. In fact, Chris almost had me buying a shelf of books to go with this one. And I'll be back.
I wasn't planning on buying the book, but just happened to be browsing it at Powell's when my friend Chris Faatz, one of our great free-range intellectuals (and a Buddhist), stopped to say hello. He knew the book and pointed several essays that recommends. I was sold. By the way, that was a classic example of "hand-selling" that is lost in superstores. In fact, Chris almost had me buying a shelf of books to go with this one. And I'll be back.
February 2, 2020
¿Cómo puede un "ateo militante" como yo no haber leído todavía este libro?
Eso es precisamente lo que me pregunté el día que lo saque de mi atestada biblioteca (saturada de libros sin leer) y lo desempolve para al fin "exorcizarlo".
Como lo esperaba este es un libro lleno de "demonios", pero en el sentido original de la palabra, lleno de mentes e ideas absolutamente luminosas, que incluso desde los primeros tiempos entendieron y denunciaron la falacia de todas las creencias sobrenaturales.
No me puedo haber divertido más viendo confirmadas (pero también llenándome de nuevas ideas) todas las ideas que había sostenido desde mi adolescencia tan solo por mi intuición y mi reducida cultura; en esta increíble colección de ensayos esas mismas ideas están elaboradas por hombres y mujeres que han analizado por cientos de años el espinoso tema de la religión.
Alguno podría decir que ese es justamente el problema: es un libro que confirma mi sesgo ateísta y que posiblemente si un intelectual publicará un libro titulado "Dios existe" con una compilación similar, los creyentes lo leerían y verían confirmadas también sus propias creencias.
Pero no.
Primero, y esta es solo una conjetura en la que tengo plena confianza, dudo mucho que entre los intelectuales creyentes (un curioso oxímoron por cierto), teólogos, científicos (confundidos) o filósofos posmodernistas y relativistas, se encuentre uno con la agudeza intelectual y valentía de Christopher Hitchens (que no descansa en paz porque ya se murió y los muertos no descansan porque están muertos).
Y segundo porque ningún creyente podrían encontrar una colección tan diversa de autores, estilos y fuentes para soportar la ridícula idea de que existen seres sobrenaturales que se ocupan del mundo, deciden qué comemos y con quién y cuándo tenemos sexo.
Esa una de las mejores características de esta colección de escritos: la diversidad.
En ella encontraremos desde relatos (o contrarelatos) de experiencias despúes de la muerte de respetados filósofos, pasando por una carta enviada al niño seis mil millones, poesía, escritos satíricos, juiciosos análisis de la veracidad de los milagros, sesudos análisis gramaticales del Coran y estudios sobre de la veracidad fáctica e incluso histórica de los "libros sagrados".
Y es que sí una cosa tiene la religiones y sus creencias en divinidades "metiches" (especialmente las monoteístas, que son en las que creen la mayoría de los fieles del mundo) es su pobrísima diversidad de temas y argumentos.
No habría manera de compilar tantos ensayos y tan diferentes para ampliar el argumento tomista de: "dios es perfecto, solo lo que existe puede ser perfecto, entonces dios existe." Plop!
Como sucede con todo lo "gentil", con todo lo "laico", con todo lo "ateo", por definición el libro no es perfecto (de allí mi calificación de 4 estrellas).
Los primeros ensayos (los más antiguos) son difíciles de leer y en mi opinión desaniman fácilmente al lector menos comprometido.
Es claro que el propósito de Hitchens fue organizar los escritos en orden cronológico, pero también es claro que el libro no es simplemente una "enciclopedia" o un "libro de referencia" y debería seducir al lector que lo lee de corrido.
Yo, personalmente, habría comenzado la colección con algunos de los más brillantes y cortos ensayos que podrían seducir con facilidad a los lectores y que al mismo tiempo les ofrecerían una muestra fidedigna de la "inteligentsia" atea de todos los tiempos: "¿Cómo (y por qué) me hice infiel?", "Imagina que el cielo no existe", "Thank goodness", "Compendio de pacotilla intelectual", "Por qué no soy creyente", "Dios no existe", "¿Puede ser fundamentalista un ateo?", "Enseñanza de la biblia y práctica religiosa", "El mundo y sus demonios", entre otros.
Algunos ensayos son casi imposibles de leer y de seguir, excepto si te pones en modo "estudiante de filosofía": el texto de Marx "Contribución a la crítica de la filosofía del derecho de Hegel" (en realidad no entendí porque esta en esta colección y me desanimo a leer la obra de Marx por incomprensible); "Conclusiones e implicaciones" de L. Mackie (un ensayo al que le faltan 900 páginas de contexto); "De los Rubaiyat" de Omar Jayam (por algo dicen que la poesía es como las matemáticas); y "De rerum natura" de Lucrecio (interesante leer los autores latinos originales... lástima que el abismo de 2.000 años se note inmediatamente). Entre otros.
El libro es una fuente casi infinita de citas y datos para los buenos ateos (o los "naturalistas" como defiende el filósofo moral A. C. Caytling que deberían llamarnos realmente); yo me he deleitado reproduciendo muchas de esas citas en mi red social favorita, Twitter. Pueden encontrar algunos de ellos sí buscan el hashtag #NoMasReligion (soy el único que la usa en esa red llena de "ateos mansos" y "agnósticos" respetuoso de las creencias ajenas).
Me encontré entre los ensayos, mi primera aproximación al conocimiento del Islam (hay dos o tres escritos excelentes, eruditos y muy completos con una crítica ácida a los principios de esta religión semítica) y la conclusión no puede ser para mí otra (después de leer además toda la colección): si el cristianismo es la empresa criminal más grande de la historia, aquella con el número de almas reducidas a cenizas más numerosa de entre todas las que nacieron en malas ideas, el islamismo (que cuenta con su propio prontuario comparable) es sin duda alguna el más estúpido, abyecto y primitivo sistema de creencias que ha sobrevivido a la llegada de la era de la ciencia. Esta religión miserable ha empezado a competir con la horrenda religión cristiana por ser la mala idea que mayor sufrimiento producirá en el presente y en el futuro en nuestro planeta.
Cruzo los dedos para que mis hijos o mis nietos vean el día en que se extinga, como se extinguieron los cultos que exigían sacrificios de niños y mujeres de la antigüedad, este miserable virus mahometano y con él todas las pútridas ideas semíticas.
¿Seré muy optimista?
Reto a quién crea (así sea ligera o tímidamente) en los dioses de sus abuelos, a quien practique los extraños rituales de religiones de la edad de bronce traídos de Palestina a occidente, para que lea este libro y siga creyendo públicamente en ellas, sin avergonzarse un poco de su propia irracionalidad.
Eso es precisamente lo que me pregunté el día que lo saque de mi atestada biblioteca (saturada de libros sin leer) y lo desempolve para al fin "exorcizarlo".
Como lo esperaba este es un libro lleno de "demonios", pero en el sentido original de la palabra, lleno de mentes e ideas absolutamente luminosas, que incluso desde los primeros tiempos entendieron y denunciaron la falacia de todas las creencias sobrenaturales.
No me puedo haber divertido más viendo confirmadas (pero también llenándome de nuevas ideas) todas las ideas que había sostenido desde mi adolescencia tan solo por mi intuición y mi reducida cultura; en esta increíble colección de ensayos esas mismas ideas están elaboradas por hombres y mujeres que han analizado por cientos de años el espinoso tema de la religión.
Alguno podría decir que ese es justamente el problema: es un libro que confirma mi sesgo ateísta y que posiblemente si un intelectual publicará un libro titulado "Dios existe" con una compilación similar, los creyentes lo leerían y verían confirmadas también sus propias creencias.
Pero no.
Primero, y esta es solo una conjetura en la que tengo plena confianza, dudo mucho que entre los intelectuales creyentes (un curioso oxímoron por cierto), teólogos, científicos (confundidos) o filósofos posmodernistas y relativistas, se encuentre uno con la agudeza intelectual y valentía de Christopher Hitchens (que no descansa en paz porque ya se murió y los muertos no descansan porque están muertos).
Y segundo porque ningún creyente podrían encontrar una colección tan diversa de autores, estilos y fuentes para soportar la ridícula idea de que existen seres sobrenaturales que se ocupan del mundo, deciden qué comemos y con quién y cuándo tenemos sexo.
Esa una de las mejores características de esta colección de escritos: la diversidad.
En ella encontraremos desde relatos (o contrarelatos) de experiencias despúes de la muerte de respetados filósofos, pasando por una carta enviada al niño seis mil millones, poesía, escritos satíricos, juiciosos análisis de la veracidad de los milagros, sesudos análisis gramaticales del Coran y estudios sobre de la veracidad fáctica e incluso histórica de los "libros sagrados".
Y es que sí una cosa tiene la religiones y sus creencias en divinidades "metiches" (especialmente las monoteístas, que son en las que creen la mayoría de los fieles del mundo) es su pobrísima diversidad de temas y argumentos.
No habría manera de compilar tantos ensayos y tan diferentes para ampliar el argumento tomista de: "dios es perfecto, solo lo que existe puede ser perfecto, entonces dios existe." Plop!
Como sucede con todo lo "gentil", con todo lo "laico", con todo lo "ateo", por definición el libro no es perfecto (de allí mi calificación de 4 estrellas).
Los primeros ensayos (los más antiguos) son difíciles de leer y en mi opinión desaniman fácilmente al lector menos comprometido.
Es claro que el propósito de Hitchens fue organizar los escritos en orden cronológico, pero también es claro que el libro no es simplemente una "enciclopedia" o un "libro de referencia" y debería seducir al lector que lo lee de corrido.
Yo, personalmente, habría comenzado la colección con algunos de los más brillantes y cortos ensayos que podrían seducir con facilidad a los lectores y que al mismo tiempo les ofrecerían una muestra fidedigna de la "inteligentsia" atea de todos los tiempos: "¿Cómo (y por qué) me hice infiel?", "Imagina que el cielo no existe", "Thank goodness", "Compendio de pacotilla intelectual", "Por qué no soy creyente", "Dios no existe", "¿Puede ser fundamentalista un ateo?", "Enseñanza de la biblia y práctica religiosa", "El mundo y sus demonios", entre otros.
Algunos ensayos son casi imposibles de leer y de seguir, excepto si te pones en modo "estudiante de filosofía": el texto de Marx "Contribución a la crítica de la filosofía del derecho de Hegel" (en realidad no entendí porque esta en esta colección y me desanimo a leer la obra de Marx por incomprensible); "Conclusiones e implicaciones" de L. Mackie (un ensayo al que le faltan 900 páginas de contexto); "De los Rubaiyat" de Omar Jayam (por algo dicen que la poesía es como las matemáticas); y "De rerum natura" de Lucrecio (interesante leer los autores latinos originales... lástima que el abismo de 2.000 años se note inmediatamente). Entre otros.
El libro es una fuente casi infinita de citas y datos para los buenos ateos (o los "naturalistas" como defiende el filósofo moral A. C. Caytling que deberían llamarnos realmente); yo me he deleitado reproduciendo muchas de esas citas en mi red social favorita, Twitter. Pueden encontrar algunos de ellos sí buscan el hashtag #NoMasReligion (soy el único que la usa en esa red llena de "ateos mansos" y "agnósticos" respetuoso de las creencias ajenas).
Me encontré entre los ensayos, mi primera aproximación al conocimiento del Islam (hay dos o tres escritos excelentes, eruditos y muy completos con una crítica ácida a los principios de esta religión semítica) y la conclusión no puede ser para mí otra (después de leer además toda la colección): si el cristianismo es la empresa criminal más grande de la historia, aquella con el número de almas reducidas a cenizas más numerosa de entre todas las que nacieron en malas ideas, el islamismo (que cuenta con su propio prontuario comparable) es sin duda alguna el más estúpido, abyecto y primitivo sistema de creencias que ha sobrevivido a la llegada de la era de la ciencia. Esta religión miserable ha empezado a competir con la horrenda religión cristiana por ser la mala idea que mayor sufrimiento producirá en el presente y en el futuro en nuestro planeta.
Cruzo los dedos para que mis hijos o mis nietos vean el día en que se extinga, como se extinguieron los cultos que exigían sacrificios de niños y mujeres de la antigüedad, este miserable virus mahometano y con él todas las pútridas ideas semíticas.
¿Seré muy optimista?
Reto a quién crea (así sea ligera o tímidamente) en los dioses de sus abuelos, a quien practique los extraños rituales de religiones de la edad de bronce traídos de Palestina a occidente, para que lea este libro y siga creyendo públicamente en ellas, sin avergonzarse un poco de su propia irracionalidad.
September 1, 2017
Hitchens collected about 50 essays on atheism. Essential readings for the nonbeliever, as the sub-title claims. The problem, of course, is that the nonbeliever hardly needs to be convinced that there is no God. And I doubt that a believer will be really shaken in her beliefs by reading this.
The essays are ordered chronologically and I have to admit that the older stuff required some energy that did not really pay off. It is only when we reach the times of Einstein and Russell that some of the essays in addition to being informative become also fun to read.
The main problem with support for atheism is that the burden of proof should be on the other side. And there just is no argument against: I believe because the Bible is the inerrant word of God.
Anyone who has an open mind and is really undecided in the question of God would only need to read one piece: The Memorial Service by H.L. Mencken. By far the strongest argument against theism. And it is just a list of dead gods.
Most of the writers here who try to present actual rational arguments against God are rather weak (and that includes men I greatly admire like Dennett and Dawkins.) For example, to call the ontological proof for the existence of God obviously wrong is not an argument. And it is also not an argument to say it is wrong because Kant said so. According to Leibniz the proof is valid for the concept of God, but whether the concept is possible is another question. Which is a higher level of argument where serious philosophical (or theological, if you will) thinking is required.
Leibniz, by the way, also has some solutions to the free will and theodicy problem to offer. And when you attack a position you should attack its strongest proponents. And not some half illiterate compilers of biblical myths.
Apart from Mencken the best essays are by Elizabeth Anderson, Victor Stenger and Steven Weinberg. Weinberg especially is a pleasure to read. You can sense passionate thinking as the background of his writing. Whereas a lot of the other essays are just a collection of more or less witty platitudes.
The essays are ordered chronologically and I have to admit that the older stuff required some energy that did not really pay off. It is only when we reach the times of Einstein and Russell that some of the essays in addition to being informative become also fun to read.
The main problem with support for atheism is that the burden of proof should be on the other side. And there just is no argument against: I believe because the Bible is the inerrant word of God.
Anyone who has an open mind and is really undecided in the question of God would only need to read one piece: The Memorial Service by H.L. Mencken. By far the strongest argument against theism. And it is just a list of dead gods.
Most of the writers here who try to present actual rational arguments against God are rather weak (and that includes men I greatly admire like Dennett and Dawkins.) For example, to call the ontological proof for the existence of God obviously wrong is not an argument. And it is also not an argument to say it is wrong because Kant said so. According to Leibniz the proof is valid for the concept of God, but whether the concept is possible is another question. Which is a higher level of argument where serious philosophical (or theological, if you will) thinking is required.
Leibniz, by the way, also has some solutions to the free will and theodicy problem to offer. And when you attack a position you should attack its strongest proponents. And not some half illiterate compilers of biblical myths.
Apart from Mencken the best essays are by Elizabeth Anderson, Victor Stenger and Steven Weinberg. Weinberg especially is a pleasure to read. You can sense passionate thinking as the background of his writing. Whereas a lot of the other essays are just a collection of more or less witty platitudes.
June 3, 2009
Some thoughts from reading snippets of this tome for my job...
1. At 500 pages and a few pounds, this is anything but "portable"
2. For people who don't believe in a God, they spend an awful lot of time and energy talking about Him.
3. If this is a true representation of atheists, then they are egotistical, arrogant, vile, cruel, hate-filled, and generally depressive people.
1. At 500 pages and a few pounds, this is anything but "portable"
2. For people who don't believe in a God, they spend an awful lot of time and energy talking about Him.
3. If this is a true representation of atheists, then they are egotistical, arrogant, vile, cruel, hate-filled, and generally depressive people.
November 21, 2022
After a vitriolic introduction, as always with Hitchens, here we go onto lands where God is either seriously being questioned, or, downright unwelcome!
From science to philosophy, and from literature to the autobiographical testimonies of key figures, Hitchens walks us through time and the continents to deliver this anthology of texts, atheistic for some, agnostic for others, but all labelled 'essential readings for the nonbeliever'.
There is, of course, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett, them lot who were nicknamed, including Hitchens himself, 'The Four Horsemen'. There is, above all, a wide selection of essays challenging prejudices, interrogating the existence of God, and critically combing faith as much as the institutions and behaviours relying on and/or flowing from it.
Why not believing in God? Why faith should not be sheltered from criticism? Are religions really the roots of our morale? What about miracles? Our outlook upon death? Mystical experiences? The issue with Islam?
Guests in here are as diverse and they can be contradictory, rendering this read even more open and thoughtful. Lucrecius, Hobbes, Spinoza, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Anatole France, George Orwell, Ian McEwan, Freud, Einstein, Darwin, Penn Jillette, A.C. Grayling etc... There's no harm in being rational! Personally, I was particularly fascinated by the wonderful writings of Carl Sagan, the moving letter of Salman Rushdie, Bertrand Russell's contribution, the debunking job of Elizabeth Anderson, the harrowing experience of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the views of Ibn Warraq upon Islam.
It's a massive opus for sure, and, sadly, limited mostly to the English-speaking world when it comes to contemporary authors. But, when it comes to expose atheism/ agnosticism in all its relevance and diversity of thoughts, well, it's a great read!
From science to philosophy, and from literature to the autobiographical testimonies of key figures, Hitchens walks us through time and the continents to deliver this anthology of texts, atheistic for some, agnostic for others, but all labelled 'essential readings for the nonbeliever'.
There is, of course, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett, them lot who were nicknamed, including Hitchens himself, 'The Four Horsemen'. There is, above all, a wide selection of essays challenging prejudices, interrogating the existence of God, and critically combing faith as much as the institutions and behaviours relying on and/or flowing from it.
Why not believing in God? Why faith should not be sheltered from criticism? Are religions really the roots of our morale? What about miracles? Our outlook upon death? Mystical experiences? The issue with Islam?
Guests in here are as diverse and they can be contradictory, rendering this read even more open and thoughtful. Lucrecius, Hobbes, Spinoza, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Anatole France, George Orwell, Ian McEwan, Freud, Einstein, Darwin, Penn Jillette, A.C. Grayling etc... There's no harm in being rational! Personally, I was particularly fascinated by the wonderful writings of Carl Sagan, the moving letter of Salman Rushdie, Bertrand Russell's contribution, the debunking job of Elizabeth Anderson, the harrowing experience of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the views of Ibn Warraq upon Islam.
It's a massive opus for sure, and, sadly, limited mostly to the English-speaking world when it comes to contemporary authors. But, when it comes to expose atheism/ agnosticism in all its relevance and diversity of thoughts, well, it's a great read!
Shelved as 'xx-dnf-skim-reference'
May 24, 2020(the paper copy came due when I'd only read the introduction and skimmed the first few entries... I have a request at metro & at pbs)
(update: reading the digital copy is also difficult... I think maybe it's just not all that interesting. I finally looked at the index and found almost nothing I wanted to see more of, except George MacDonald [presumably [author:George MacDonald|2413], but the entries are not paged, and the only result of the search for that name brings us back to the index, so was his entry edited out of the book but not the index?)
I have gotten some interesting snips (below) and will accept a paper copy if one is offered on pbs, then I could read slowly, marking up physically....
"If there were a future state, Mr. Boswell, I think I could give as good an account of my life as most people."David Hume,inAn Account of My Last Interview with David Hume
"Design must be proved before a designer can be inferred."Percy Bysshe ShelleyA Refutation of Deism: in a Dialogue
"There is not attribute of God which is not either borrowed from the passions and powers of the human mind, or which is not a negation. Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Infinity, Immutability, Incomprehensibility, and Immateriality, are all words that designate properties and powers peculiar to organised beings, with the addition of negations, by the the idea of limitation is excluded." ibid
(update: reading the digital copy is also difficult... I think maybe it's just not all that interesting. I finally looked at the index and found almost nothing I wanted to see more of, except George MacDonald [presumably [author:George MacDonald|2413], but the entries are not paged, and the only result of the search for that name brings us back to the index, so was his entry edited out of the book but not the index?)
I have gotten some interesting snips (below) and will accept a paper copy if one is offered on pbs, then I could read slowly, marking up physically....
"If there were a future state, Mr. Boswell, I think I could give as good an account of my life as most people."David Hume,inAn Account of My Last Interview with David Hume
"Design must be proved before a designer can be inferred."Percy Bysshe ShelleyA Refutation of Deism: in a Dialogue
"There is not attribute of God which is not either borrowed from the passions and powers of the human mind, or which is not a negation. Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Infinity, Immutability, Incomprehensibility, and Immateriality, are all words that designate properties and powers peculiar to organised beings, with the addition of negations, by the the idea of limitation is excluded." ibid
September 6, 2011
The Portable Atheist is an astounding 'tour de force' of critical writer's critique of Religion, citing the diverse religious arguments in detail.
Containing 47 selections from some very famous and non-famous people on the value of atheism, this book is indeed a storehouse of
many thought provoking pieces, including a brilliant 14 page fiery introduction by Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens takes liberty in introducing us to each contributing piece in this provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and
agnostic thought through the ages. This book is wonderfully edited by chronologically organizing the evolution of atheism ( or nontheism),
from historical perspectives to current day thought.
With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you’ll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature,
and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of many diverse thinkers.
To mention a few:
- Lucretius,
- Benedict de Spinoza,
- David Hume -
to more of a middle stage, consisting of:
- Charles Darwin,
- John Stuart Mill,
- Mark Twain,
- George Eliot,
- Bertrand Russell,
- Emma Goldman,
and then to modern-day critics like:
- Albert Einstein,
- Carl Sagan,
- Victor Strenger,
- Daniel Dennett,
- Sam Harris,
- Penn Jillette,
- Richard Dawkins,
and many others well-known and lesser known writers,
even including never-before-published pieces by:
- Salman Rushdie,
- Ian McEwan,
and Ayaan Hirsi Ali....
So in all, this isn't really a Christopher Hitchens book - It's a book of all the authors that are represented here,
perhaps to pique one's interest to go out and read all those authors works in their entirety, thus improving your understanding
of many things, not just religion.
I think it would also be a good read for any theist who want to understand more about the "atheist" position...
It is important to note that some of the writings that were included despite not being written by self-proclaimed atheists,
but Hitchens is good at pointing these out and giving his reasons for including them - so all in all, the book is probably the better for it.
Don't let the title mislead you, this 500 page paperback is "portable" only in the sense that this anthology
is compacted with an abundance of informative content.
"The Portable Atheist" is a fascinating and captivating collection of Atheist writings that one can simply pick up at any point,
wherever one may be, and choose a reading of their interest - whatever length or format they wish.
Great reading, instructive, and, most of all, provides hope that clear thinking might just have a chance...
All beliefs aside, the selections in this book are powerfully argued and well written. as many people have the
common misunderstanding that atheists are pessimists or discontented with.
I'd recommend it to anyone with a hunger for the truth and an open mind.
July 16, 2009
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever, compiled by Christopher Hitchens, is not a novel, as such, but a collection of essays, quotes and short critiques on the subject of religion and god(s), written by notable figures across the centuries. TPA will quickly get you in touch with dozens of the world’s most influential nonbelievers of the past and present, rather than having to scour a myriad of books in order to find their essays – all thanks to Hitchens.
Among the essayists chosen are Karl Marx (this comes as no surprise, as Hitchens himself was a former Marxist), David Hume, Charles Darwin, Mark Twain,H.L. Mencken (who writes an hilarious essay dedicated to the memory of all of the abandoned gods), Sigmund Freud, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and many others. There is even a rather amusing essay by Penn Jillette – the larger, more loquacious half of the comedic duo Penn & Teller.
Here is a favorite passage of mine, which comes from the poem God’s Funeral, by Thomas Hardy:
And tricked by our own early dream
And need of solace, we grew self-deceived
Our making soon our maker did we deem
And what we had imagined we believed.
It is difficult to ascertain if TPA is perhaps just a collection of Hitchens’ favorite atheists, rather than the definitive volume of non-believing luminaries, but each selection is deliciously well-chosen and represent a compendium of some of the sharpest literature in anti-theology. Hitchens himself has also written an enjoyably barbarous introduction to the book, as well as brief introductions to each of the selected authors.
The Portable Atheist is really more of a handy reference to keep on the bookshelf, if, say, you happen to be looking for a particularly powerfully-delivered sermon on the evil tenets of the Old Testament, versus a good summer read to tote to the beach. But the book will definitely allow you to become more familiar with these amazing writers, both classical and modern, and will save you the effort of having to seek them out yourself – saving you both time and money.
P.S. The title is a tad misleading, as at a daunting 499 pages, the book’s girth makes it anything but “portable.”
Among the essayists chosen are Karl Marx (this comes as no surprise, as Hitchens himself was a former Marxist), David Hume, Charles Darwin, Mark Twain,H.L. Mencken (who writes an hilarious essay dedicated to the memory of all of the abandoned gods), Sigmund Freud, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and many others. There is even a rather amusing essay by Penn Jillette – the larger, more loquacious half of the comedic duo Penn & Teller.
Here is a favorite passage of mine, which comes from the poem God’s Funeral, by Thomas Hardy:
And tricked by our own early dream
And need of solace, we grew self-deceived
Our making soon our maker did we deem
And what we had imagined we believed.
It is difficult to ascertain if TPA is perhaps just a collection of Hitchens’ favorite atheists, rather than the definitive volume of non-believing luminaries, but each selection is deliciously well-chosen and represent a compendium of some of the sharpest literature in anti-theology. Hitchens himself has also written an enjoyably barbarous introduction to the book, as well as brief introductions to each of the selected authors.
The Portable Atheist is really more of a handy reference to keep on the bookshelf, if, say, you happen to be looking for a particularly powerfully-delivered sermon on the evil tenets of the Old Testament, versus a good summer read to tote to the beach. But the book will definitely allow you to become more familiar with these amazing writers, both classical and modern, and will save you the effort of having to seek them out yourself – saving you both time and money.
P.S. The title is a tad misleading, as at a daunting 499 pages, the book’s girth makes it anything but “portable.”
Displaying 1 - 30 of 587 reviews