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Christopher Hitchens
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The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever Paperback – November 6, 2007

by Christopher Hitchens (Editor, Introduction)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,363 ratings
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Christopher Hitchens's personally curated New York Times bestselling anthology of the most influential and important writings on atheism, including original pieces by Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan



From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of God Is Not Great, a provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages--with never-before-published pieces by Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices--past and present--that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. 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 Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, H. L. Mencken, Albert Einstein, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and many others well-known and lesser known. And they're all set in context and commented upon as only Christopher Hitchens--"political and literary journalist extraordinaire" (Los Angeles Times)--can. Atheist? Believer? Uncertain? No matter: The Portable Atheist will speak to you and engage you every step of the way.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    499 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Da Capo Press
  4. Publication date
    November 6, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    6.05 x 1.7 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780306816086
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0306816086
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hitchens, an avowed atheist and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great, is a formidable intellectual who finds the notion of belief in God to be utter nonsense. The author is clear in his introduction that religion has caused more than its fair share of world problems. "Religion invents a problem where none exists by describing the wicked as also made in the image of god and the sexually nonconformist as existing in a state of incurable mortal sin that can incidentally cause floods and earthquakes." The readings Hitchens chooses to bolster his atheist argument are indeed engaging and important. Hobbes, Spinoza, Mill and Marx are some of the heavyweights representing a philosophical viewpoint. From the world of literature the author assembles excerpts from Shelley, Twain, Conrad, Orwell and Updike. All are enjoyable to read and will make even religious believers envious of the talent gathered for this anthology. What these dynamic writers are railing against often enough, however, is a strawman: an immature, fundamentalist, outdated, and even embarrassing style of religion that many intelligent believers have long since cast off. It could be that Hitchens and his cast of nonbelievers are preaching to the choir and their message is tired and spent. However, this remains a fascinating collection of readings from some of the West’s greatest thinkers.

Review

"Those objections and the writings Hitchens assembles to buttress them will surely bring on new controversies which is just the sort of thing on which he has thrived over a long and fruitful career."
―Kirkus

"MY PRAYERS ARE answered! I'd always wanted a 500-page paperback crammed with arguments against the existence of God--and now, thanks to Christopher Hitchens, that tireless proselytizing rationalist, here it is."
―Adam Begley, New York Observer

"A fascinating collection of articles that just say no to religion...Required reading for anyone who believes, disbelieves, or just isn't sure yet."
―People "Critic's Choice"

"A great Christmas gift for anybody who doens't believe in Christmas. In fact, it's the closest thing to heaven a confirmed atheist is likely to find."
―Sunday Mercury

"Valuable."
―Library Journal

"Hitchens has returned to the Belief Wars backed by a full army...The Godless Warrior marshals in an Atheist A-Team."
―San Diego Union Tribune

"Should be sufficient fodder for anyone uncomfortable with the notion of a creator."
―Hartford Courant

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0306816083
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press; First Edition (November 6, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 499 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780306816086
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306816086
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.27 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.05 x 1.7 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,363 ratings

About the author

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Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

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Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was the author of Letters to a Young Contrarian, and the bestseller No One Left to Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family. A regular contributor to Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly and Slate, Hitchens also wrote for The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and The Independent, and appeared on The Daily Show, Charlie Rose, The Chris Matthew's Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, and C-Span's Washington Journal. He was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
1,363 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Steven Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, Great, Outstanding, Commentary on many different religions, background and history
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013
Verified Purchase
Fantastic, Great, Outstanding, Commentary on many different religions, background and history. This book was recommended to me by a friend and at first I was hesitant to get it. I do consider my self a Christian but don't agree with the concept of a Christian theocracy which the ultraconservative Christian Right as tried to push on the United States citizens for the last 30 years in spite of the separation of church and state guaranteed by the constitution.
I found this book to be really inspiring in the way it has helped me understand the foundations of many different world religions as well as Christianity. This book confirmed what I have long suspected. Religion has its roots, in superstition, magic and lack of science which over time, has progressed into a political system or theocracy.
Some people have called religion the biggest business in the world and I have to agree. This book kinds of grows on you. I was a religion minor in college and thought I knew a lot but boy did I have a lot to learn. I left this book with a feeling that if I want to believe in superstition and magic I still have that choice but it is not anything I would want to base a government on. All the progress we have made in social equality and scientific understanding could be easily wiped away, not just by religions from outside the United States but also from our own Abrahamic religious roots. I consider this book an excellent primer on the origins of world religions as well as showing how religion and politics go hand in hand. I now agree entirely with the founders of our constitution in supporting the separation of church and state. If believing in the spiritual nature of life is comforting to you this book will not take away that feeling. What it may do is strengthen your ability to feel safe and secure in your belief set with out giving into supporting the religion others in power seem to insist on you accepting as authentic.
Im happy to say I don't think we have any "God Given Rights" to guns or that we should hate birth control or gays. I also don't want to see us go back to the "good old days" before we knew the Earth was round and not the center of the universe or didn't know germs and viruses caused disease. I feel my sense of the spiritual nature of life most strongly when I am out in nature enjoying the trees and life that surrounds me, but funny, so called "primitive peoples" wiccans and pagans have been feeling the same for generations before the Catholic Church or Islam came into power.
I think this is a very liberating collection of work from many diverse experts in all the primary religions of the world and is VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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L. C. MacDonald
5.0 out of 5 stars These collected works go together very well.
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2012
Verified Purchase
I'm about 3/4 of the way through and I am very happy I bought this. I don't own any of christopher Hitchen's actual books, I have, however, watched his debates and speeches on Youtube, so I have a fairly good understanding of his arguments. This is not a book by Hitchens, but rather a selection of writings by other atheists.

What I wanted from this book was a broad reading of atheistic literature through the ages, and this is exactly that. It is not thorough, but it does go through many of the well known atheists, and also through some lesser known ones. He touches briefly upon Marx, just show people the actual "religion is opium for the masses" quote in context. Apparently that was a pet peeve of Hitchen's, so he added a chapter of Marx's work for clarification.

Not only are these selections from arguments, but he also has a chapter from a narrative novel, that highlights a common argument of the "apparent design of the universe" and "something cannot come from nothing", which made it interesting to read the argument in narrative form during a dinner party. There is also a memoir from a man who knew Billy Graham and was close to him; this was one of my favorite parts to read, because it got inside (second hand) the head of Graham and how one decision effected this man's life; a life of education vs a life of preaching to the masses. It was a poignant reflection and probably could've happened to anyone in those circumstances.

There is plenty of arguments against the various notions of a god, which mostly focuses on christianity; so if you want the book for that it's definitely a good buy. Although, if you're familiar with all the arguments it won't really show you anything different or new. What it does do is give you the cream of the crop of the writing abilities of various atheists. The arguments may be old now, but their words give them such clarity that it's hard to put down. On the same point, there is this one selected work that had me going for the dictionary every paragraph, it was quite thick, not necessarily pompous, but if english is your second language or your vocabulary is just alright, then it might give you problems. Most the work in here is not difficult to understand, so one could skip over the hard parts and not miss out that much.
9 people found this helpful
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William F. Caton
5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful to help keep the madness away!
Reviewed in Canada on July 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
For the world to survive and progress, we must stop letting these ridiculous myths and outright inhuman religions have any power over us. This book helps.
2 people found this helpful
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Maxy Fistarol
5.0 out of 5 stars Molto interessante, ma bisogna avere voglia di leggerlo.
Reviewed in Italy on April 11, 2021
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Molto interessante, ma bisogna avere voglia di leggerlo.
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Vicente Escobedo Jr
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book with many content
Reviewed in Mexico on December 15, 2019
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I liked very much this Book, has many pages and I read when I drink coffee, It s very good and has many essays, articles
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Breton Wench
5.0 out of 5 stars Daily Atheism in bite size chunks.
Reviewed in France on November 5, 2020
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Does what it says. A wonderful book to dip into to find essays and reflections on the philosophy of living atheism. I regularly refer to this book after all this time.
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knight
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible ! For all the non-believers out there.
Reviewed in India on April 19, 2019
Verified Purchase
All our non-believer (literary) ancestors are included. Nice essays for short reads. Wake up and read one for the day. Book came in a decent condition(although had to replace the one before for poor quality ). The replaced one was nice. Don’t but from the seller called amazing books.
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