The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 547
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
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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 38 more reviews...
 Dear Autumn September 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The idea that the total public scientific datum is prone to crystallization within the mindstream of a functional interpreter as honest belief in the irreality of the supernatural is the memetic fallacy (the wack wrapper, antimoreality, unfactual selection, true malefiction, neophobe's fun and exciting new crush, I'm>sick manoeuvre, missed-leading heathen's fiendingest lebensphenomenologie, intentional deficit, intelligence failure, for them: somehow too-ready being-un-ready-to-hand, vainglorious needs' IV, Janjaweed dro, waterless fountain, rotten apple that should have been left behind, stipend of bad-faith, willed Nyeism, nihlargesse, "I didn't", ethanol ... the devolutionary gnome's playhouse and favoured hiding spot of Earth's most vulgar and detestable confabulists) par excellence.
Thank You Mr. Hitchens September 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While I believe no philosophical idea or scientific explanation can ever put to rest the idea of god, let alone the possibility, The Portable Atheist is a brilliant collection of examples in which people have used the idea of god through religion to intimidate, persecute, enslave and murder millions of people for thousands of years. This book also exemplifies the civilized and promising nature of scientific enquiry in the writings of men including Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein. What I think books like this one do best is to demonstrate how obscenely religion weakens the human spirit and destroys education, but most importantly I think it gives atheists and agnostics a voice, a way and a reason to stand up to insane thoughts and assures the nonbeliever, someone like me, that I am not alone in this world. So I thank you Christopher Hitchens and everyone else who contributed to this book for assuring me that I am indeed not alone.
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.
--
 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
2 out of 2 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.
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