| The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 52 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1854
Category: Book
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Studio: Da Capo Press
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
Label: Da Capo Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.6
ISBN: 0306816083
Dewey Decimal Number: 211.8
EAN: 9780306816086
ASIN: 0306816083
Publication Date: November 5, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 the Portable Atheist January 6, 2009
As usual Hitchens is brilliant in his own writings and in choosing others that he considered worthwhile.
 Don't buy this book. Instead look for God elsewhere. January 5, 2009
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you haven't found God yet then keep looking. Don't Stop. Never Stop Looking.
There is a lot of evidence for God = The Bible. There is a lot of scientific evidence supporting his existence. I will start with Intelligent Design as it is supported by modern scientists and destroys the theory of evolution. Check for yourself. As they learn more about DNA then it becomes impossible to justify creation by accident. I recommend "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel. He has both a book and DVD by this same name. See if you can dispute the evidence that DNA is extremely complex and couldn't have been created accidentally. Nature also shows there is a God. There are a number of animals that defy evolution. There is a DVD series called "Incredible Creatures that defy Evolution".
If you are trying to justify being a nonbeliever then look at the evidence that Christians espouse. I have only given you a couple of examples above.
Be Honest with yourself.
If you are looking for God then I have given you some suggestions above. If you want to be a nonbeliever or stay a nonbeliever then save your money - just stop looking - you won't need to buy this book to stay a nonbeliever. It is not worth your hard earned money.
A phenomenal compilation. December 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Portable Atheist contains over forty-five selections from various freethinking heavyweights.
The compilation includes material from the following writers: Lucretius, Omar Khayyam, Thomas Hobbes, Benedict De Spinoza, David Hume, James Bowell, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, George Eliot, Charles Darwin, Leslie Stephen, Anatole France, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Emma Goldman, H.P. Lovecraft, Carl Van Doren, H.L. Mencken, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, George Orwell, John Bentjemen, Chapman Cohen, Bertrand Russell, Philip Larkin, Martin Gardner, Carl Sagan, John Updike, J.L. Mackie, Michael Shermer, A.J. Ayer, Daniel Dennett, Charles Templeton, Richard Dawkins, Victor Stenger, Elizabeth Anderson, Penn Jillette, Ian McEwan, Steven Weinberg, Salman Rushdie, Ibn Warraq, Sam Harris, A.C. Grayling and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Taken together, these selections compose a great book that exhibits the spirit of agnostic/atheistic thought.
Bravo, Mr. Hitchens! Five stars for your compilation!
God, Zeus. And the Difference is? December 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The Portable Atheist": what a wonderful read! It challenges, it amuses but, most of all, it has no time for the sheer and utter nonsense that is religion. And here, religion means all religions and not certain select ones.
Christopher Hitchens has compiled a thought provoking grab bag of readings from across the ages and across the planet. He begins with Lucretius and Thomas Hobbes and finishes with Sam Harris and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. In between, the reader is confronted by Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins. There are many sections that I enjoyed. For example, consider the following:
Mark Twain: "There was never yet a case of suffering or sorrow which God could not relieve. Does He sin, then?"
Elizabeth Anderson: "To a mainstream Christian, Jew or Muslim, nothing is more obvious than that founders and prophets of other religions...are either frauds or delusional". In other words, the faithful can readily see the flaws of other faiths but never the flaws of their own.
Ibn Warraq: "It is very odd that when God decides to manifest Himself, He does so only to one individual. Why can He not reveal Himself to the masses in a football stadium during the final of the World Cup". God sounds a bit like a UFO that is only seen by a hillbilly in the Ozarks.
There are many more quotes but I think the reader gets the flavour. This is a book to be enjoyed by the rational and despised by the irrational and their thought police. I recommend it wholeheartedly. However, if you ever doubt the stupidity of religion just try the Sam Harris line that replaces the word God with Zeus. This shows up religion for the ridiculous farce that it is.
"The fool has said in his heart, There is no God". Psalm 14:1 December 2, 2008
1 out of 61 found this review helpful
Your thirst for answers can only truly be quenched within the Bible. God's inspired, infalliable, and inerrant Word holds answers to scientific questions throughout. Besides creation, the Bible explains truths from the sciences of genetics, isotasy, agriculture, astronomy, paleontology anatomy, medicine, and many more! All of them thousands of years before man discovered them on their own.
The Bible tells us that we were created to give praise to our Heavenly Father. Once you realize that man is wretched and sinful and that only through Christ can we escape God's wrath on Judgement Day, then and only then can you be truly happy, secure in the knowledge of your eternal life.
So, what should a person do to get to Heaven? If you said, "There is no Heaven" or "You just have to live a good life",YOU ARE WRONG. Stay with me and find out why. Let's see if you've been a good person. Jesus said "Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery in their heart". Have you ever lusted? Have you hated anyone(committed murder in your heart)? Have you made a god in your mind to suit yourself(idolatry)? Have you used God's name in vain? Have you ever stolen anything regardless of value? If you have then you are a thief. If you have told just one lie, then you are a liar and CANNOT get into heaven. On Judgment Day you will be found guilty and end up in Hell forever. But that's not God's will. We broke his Law but because Jesus paid our fine by dying on the cross, God can forgive us. If you REPENTand trust the Savior, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life. So confess your sins to God today, put your faith in Christ, and obey God. Read John 14:21
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