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| The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever | 
| Manufacturer: DaCapo
Category: EBooks
List Price: $17.50
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $7.51 (43%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 17817
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 499
Dewey Decimal Number: 211.8
ASIN: B000UZPH44
Publication Date: November 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Christopher Hitchens, the acclaimed journalist and best-selling author of God Is Not Great, selects and introduces an illuminating collection of the most essential and influential writings for the non-believer, including selections from Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Karl Marx, Richard Dawkins, H.L. Mencken, Sam Harris, and more.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
 Of Course, There is no god! How stupid can you be? August 11, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Monsieur Christopher Hitchens has performed a necessary intellectual work of mercy. Once humankind desists from its vulgar notion of deity, it can begin the tiresome duties of keeping as much of us as possible alive.
Since we are competently trained in ancient Semitic and Ind-European languages and theoretical mathematics, we twin brothers know who has been doing the heavy lifting of keeping humanity alive and prosperous. It certainly is not the dolts in political, religious or military systems (they who live off the backs of the common people).
Mr. Hitchens has given us fresh fruit from the tree of 'real' knowledge to advance the survivability of our species. Professor Dawkins and to-be Dr. Sam Harris (neuro-science technical background) have enriched the soil of these trees in the enclosed orchard of learning.
If we presently do not get beyond this vulgar Bronze Age duplicity of rulership and priestcraft, we will be doomed to extinction as a species in our niche biosphere, or filmy skin of Earth!
The fools in religion merely have to adduce one rare, slender piece of evidence for the existence of deity. Perchance, our archeologists will find the finger of Yahweh on Mt. Sinai who impertinently gave us the incompetent Ten Commandments (Do not read in Egyptian Hieroglyphics the Book of the Dead for the 'real' 42 commandments---from whence the Hebrews shamefully and slavishly stole!) to bolster their puny claims.
Right ideas for the right time!
Respectfully,
John E.D.P. Malin,
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer
James F.D.P. Malin,
Vice Chairman of the Board & Chief Research & Development Officer
Informatica Corporation [A.D. 1984-2008]
Executive Division
P.O. Drawer 460
Cecilia, Louisiana 70521-0460
"Fathers of the Silicon Bayou"
Contact Information: InformaticaMalin@gmail.com
P.S. Master the higher mathematics of Algebraic Geometry, it is the genuine and authentic language of global human survival; presently, it is the mathematics adduced by our structured and unstructured data systems running our economic business structures or organizations.
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 Great Reading July 10, 2008
It's nice to read the viewpoints of different authors. I never tire of reading how intelligent people view religion. I do, however, tire of dogmatic imbeciles like Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson etc. who blather on about "what the bible says." Maybe that should read those books someday and understand that no civilized society should look to them as anything more than literary entertainment.
Not So Portable Yet Extraordinary July 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a nice collection of essays, letters and excerpts from other writings from a number of different non-believing and freethinking authors throughout history.
The introduction by Hitchens does a nice (and poignant as always) job at framing the chronologically arranged collection of pieces. Along with contemporary writers such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennet and Salman Rushdie, other 'jewels' are collected from times past: from Benedict de Spinoza and Thomas Hobbes, to H.P. Lovecraft, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, George Orwell and many more.
Most of the segments are accessible reads. Some offer interesting insight, like Thomas Hobbes and Bertrand Russell. Some show the sharpest wit, such as Mark Twain and George Eliot, and a couple (in my opinion) were on the boring side, most notably Karl Marx's introduction to Hegel's Critique of Pure Reason.
The book closes with Salman Rushdie's remarkable letter to a new-born baby written for the UN-sponsored book, "A Letter to Six Billion People". All in all, a great (and long!) read.
The works of some great thinkers about unbelief June 27, 2008
It sometimes takes courage and conviction to do your own thinking, especially about matters religious, and the selections here present thought and arguments through the ages about unbelief and imaginary friends, about the cruelties forced upon others by people who think that they will gain a diety's favor by murdering or torturing others. All believers are enablers. Nice people, huh? These murderers and torturers are the believers, not the unbelievers. Believers also try to make unbelievers uncomfortable. I for one will no longer tolerate that.
The burden of proof is always upon the believer. "Faith" is no argument. It's a belief not based on fact. Children believe things on faith. Not thinking, responsible adults.
My copy of this book is by now dog-eared and highlighted. Some authors are better than others and some are easier to read, but I feel I am in good company with these authors for all they have learned in life and for their ability to think for themselves. For their courage and conviction I salute all who have gone before and fought their oppressors. Their path was harder than mine.
I don't need to believe in an ego induced afterlife. Fear of death is the motivator for religion, nothing more, nothing less. The ego, over and over and over again.
Buy this book and let it be your friend. Let it rid you of guilt and free you of your imagined sins against an imagined "lord" and jealous "god." Enjoy the only life you ever will have. On death you will be in the same "place" you were "at" before you were born.
The Portable Atheist June 13, 2008
Being a fan of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennet, and other authors/thinkers pertaining to this "genre", I have no choice but to offer Kudos. There are many views from various characters throughout world history to our present time included in this compilation of quotes, notations, and essays etc.etc. This book should be included in any collection of voices representing freethought and even as a reference for any research along these same lines.
Thank You, Don Ward
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