The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer

The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer

by Christopher Hitchens
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer

The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer

by Christopher Hitchens

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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780306816086
Publisher: Hachette Books
Publication date: 11/06/2007
Pages: 528
Sales rank: 80,094
Product dimensions: 6.05(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Christopher Hitchens was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School. He is the author of numerous books, including works on Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Orwell, Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and his #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award nominee, God Is Not Great.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments     xi
Introduction   Christopher Hitchens     xiii
from De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), Book I, Translated by W. Hannaford Brown     1
from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A Paraphrase from Several Literal Translations by Richard Le Gallienne     7
Of Religion, from Leviathan     12
Theological-Political Treatise     21
The Natural History of Religion     26
Of Miracles     32
An Account of My Last Interview with David Hume, Esq.     46
A Refutation of Deism     50
Moral Influences in My Early Youth, From Autobiography     57
Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right     64
Evangelical Teaching     75
Autobiography     93
An Agnostic's Apology     97
Miracle     112
Thoughts of God, From Fables of Man     116
Bible Teaching and Religious Practice, From Europe and Elsewhere and A Pen Warmed Up In Hell     119
Author's Note to The Shadow Line     123
God's Funeral     126
The Philosophy of Atheism     129
A Letter on Religion     134
Why I Am An Unbeliever     138
Memorial Service     143
from The Future of an Illusion, Translated and edited by James Strachey     147
Selected Writings on Religion     155
from A Clergyman's Daughter     166
In Westminster Abbey     168
Monism and Religion     170
An Old Story     178
An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish     181
Aubade     207
Church Going     209
The Wandering Jew and the Second Coming     211
The Demon-Haunted World 218
The God Hypothesis     226
from Roger's Version     239
Conclusions and Implications, From The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God     246
Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation Story     267
That Undiscovered Country     270
Thank Goodness!     277
from A Farewell to God, A Personal Word     282
Questions to Ask Yourself     285
Why There Almost Certainly Is No God     287
Gerin Oil     305
Atheists for Jesus     307
from God: the Failed Hypothesis, Cosmic Evidence 311
A Working Definition of Religion, From "Breaking Which Spell?"     328
If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?     333
There Is No God      349
End of the World Blues     351
What About God? From Dreams of a Final Theory     366
"Imagine There's No Heaven": A Letter to the Six Billionth World Citizen     380
The Koran     384
The Totalitarian Nature of Islam     445
In the Shadow of God, From The End of Faith     454
Can an Athiest Be a Fundamentalist? From Against All Gods     473
How (and Why) I Became an Infidel     477
Credits and Permissions     481
Index     485
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