Atheists, what books do you recommend for an atheist ?

Question

Don't say the bible and The God delusion. I have both of those.

Answer 1

"Moby d**k" by Herman Melville. It's a very subversive book!

Answer 2

The Panda's Thumb, and Wonderful Life, by Stephen Jay Gould. Grendel by John Gardner. I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves.

Answer 3

The Bible, The God Delusion, The God, The Bible Delusion...  

actually, How To Exist In A World That Hates You

Atheism for Dummies

The Nature of Life

Of Living And Dying

Between Death And Happiness

Answer 4

"Stranger in a Strange land" R Heinlein.

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Answer 5

This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson.

It's about the relationship between Darwin and the  Beagle's ship captain Fitzroy, who would be considered a religious fundamentalist these days. Fitzroy was a brilliant man in his own right and was the person who founded our meteorology system.

It's historical fiction, not a biography but I found it entertaining.

Answer 6

Origin of species, the selfish gene, and anything by Carl Sagan, and Stephen Hawking.  

Answer 7

Tanakh, Qur'an, Vadas.  That covers all the major religions and their predecessors. Letter to a Christian Nation, God: The Failed Hypothesis for a couple decent books on atheism.  

Edit: Oh and for fiction, Number of the Beast by Heinlein, mind blowing and fun.

Answer 8

'De Rerum Natura' by Lucretius.  It's beautiful and atheistical to the core.

Answer 9

Christopher Hitchens - God is not Great.

If you aren't familiar with Christopher there's a YouTube link below.

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Answer 10

Any of Joseph Campbell's books: The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Myths to live By.

The Other Bible edited by Willis Barnstone.

I actually enjoy reading anything about the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Religions of the World. Gods, Graves and Scholars. a series of archeology books called the Ebla Archives.

Answer 11

the God delusion

Answer 12

Comic books are probably the best books for atheists to amuse themselves with.

Answer 13

Stranger in a Strange Land, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Brave New World, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the Wild Card series, the Xanth series and many more. I figured I should stop as I could go on all day.

Answer 14

God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens.

Also the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials

Answer 15

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.

It's personally my favorite book, although I realize it's probably not what you are looking for. It's a humorous novel about what "might have happened" during the first 30 years of Jesus' life that they didn't write about in the Bible.

Assuming you like comedy, you should pick it up.  

Answer 16

About a year ago, another user, SuperAtheist, suggested a book that can be read on-line or downloaded free of charge.  I read it, and enjoyed it immensely:

Superstition in all Ages

by John Meslier (1732)

A remarkable book, written 300 years ago by a French priest, that demolishes the foundations of religion!

http://www.smouse.demon.co.uk/meslier/me...

INTRODUCTION

In 1733, the priest of the small Catholic church at Etrépigny, in Champagne, France, died. Jean Meslier had held the office for the previous forty years without significant incident, and had given no sign in that time of being anything other than a devout, principled and committed village priest.

Upon his death, however, notes were found that led to the discovery of a six-hundred-page manuscript that Meslier had written in utter secrecy, with no other soul previously aware of its existence.

In this remarkable document Meslier had constructed a solidly-based refutation of Catholicism, Christianity, religion, God and all other forms of superstition. His logic is impeccable and painstaking.

Meslier had entitled his masterpiece simply ‘Common Sense’. While immaculately sensible, it was considerably more so than is common. Nevertheless, the title suggests the level-headed way he demolishes theism from first principles.

At the time, atheists - though there were many - had no scientific and testable alternatives to a Creator God: genetics, evolution, abiogenesis and cosmogony were unknown. As they do today, religions filled the gap by default, having the only coherent (however flawed) hypotheses that addressed these issues.

As a result, noted anti-theists of the period - such as Voltaire - were forced into a deist philosophy - one that assumed that issues of humanity, life and the universe must be the product of some ‘higher power’ - as no other proposition was present.

Meslier had no such qualms or reservations. His rejection of religion was total, and included dismissal of supernatural influences in all aspects of reality. Without entering into unfounded speculation on the details, he proposed that life, Man and the universe had natural causes and origins, and rejected the need to adduce the supernatural into any aspect of these matters.

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