Book List
This is my current reading list related to atheism, science, skepticism, etc. Books are color coded red for books I have not read, green for books I have read and yellow for books I am reading.
Currently Reading
These are the books I'm currently working on. Some of them are more of reference / bathroom reading type material so they stay on this list for a long time.
| Amazing . . . but False! | David Diefendorf & James Randi | own | ||
| Everything You Know About God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion | Unknown | own | ||
| Mind Hacks | Tom Stafford and Matt Webb | own | ||
| Sense and Goodness Without God | Richard Carrier | own |
Fiction
| Anthem | Ayn Rand | own | ||
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | own | ||
| Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science | Carl Sagan | own | ||
| His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass | Philip Pullman | own | Read: 2009 |
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| It's been a long time since I've been this hooked on any book series. | ||||
| His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass | Philip Pullman | own | Read: 2009 |
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| His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife | Philip Pullman | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Awesome! | ||||
| The Jewel of Medina | Sherry Jones | own | ||
| Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and No One | Friedrich Nietzsche | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Not my thing. Apparently. | ||||
Kids
| Maybe Yes Maybe No | Dan Barker | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story | Lisa Westberg Peters | own | Read: 2009 |
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| My daughter loves this book. Great story and beautiful art. | ||||
| Tree Of Life Wonders Of Evolution | Ellen Jackson | own | Read: 2009-03-06 |
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Philosophy
| Myths to Live By | Joseph Campbell | own | Read: 0000-00-00 |
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| I made it about 50% of the way and gave up. I found this very dull and I don't think I agree with the thesis of the importance of myth and rites in society today. | ||||
| The undiscovered self (Mentor book) | C. G Jung | own | ||
| Wisdom of the West | Bertrand Russell | own | ||
Religion
| 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God | Guy P. Harrison | own | Read: 2009-01-12 |
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| This book was fantastic. Of all the books I've read I think this would be the most interesting (and least offensive) for those who aren't quite decided yet. | ||||
| Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas | Elaine Pagels | own | ||
| Breaking The Spell | Daniel Dennett | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Christianizing the Roman Empire (A.D. 100-400) | Ramsay MacMullen | own | ||
| DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY - (Wordsworth Collection) | Fernand Comte | own | ||
| Everything You Know About God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion | Unknown | own | ||
| God Hates You: Hate Him Back | CJ Werleman | own | Read: 2009-02 |
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| Offensive, funny, and packed with great information. Much more in depth than I had expected. | ||||
| God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything | Christopher Hitchens | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Packed with information | ||||
| God's Problem (Audiobook) | Bart D Ehrman | own |
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| God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist (signed by the author) | Victor J. Stenger | own | Read: 2008 |
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| Pretty good. Stenger took the approach that if the Christian-Judao God exists with the attributes that most practicing Christians believe he has, then there should be some evidence for it. Stenger investigates many different areas of the world and beyond and concludes in each one that the world is exactly what we would expect if there were no God.It's nothing revolutionary and I prefer other books in the genre (God Delusion for example) but it's good and quite readable. | ||||
| Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists (signed by author) | Dan Barker | own | Read: 2009-04-10 |
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| This book was excellent. I'd seen Dan Barker talk in person and this followed the his presentation but with far more detail. | ||||
| How We Believe, 2nd Edition: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God | Michael Shermer | own | Read: 2008 |
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| Lots of interesting information but a bit dry. Since I read on the bus on the way in to work and the way home it was a struggle :)That aside it was a pretty good read and I'm glad I read it. Shermer has a much more relaxed view towards religion than some (cough. Dawkings. caugh.) | ||||
| I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist's Eyes | Hemant Mehta | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Not what I was expecting. It was more targeted at church leaders and giving insight into what an atheist thinks of their church services. It was a little too charitable... | ||||
| INFIDEL | AYAAN HIRSI ALI | own | ||
| In Defense Of Atheism | Michel Onfray | own | Read: 2008-11-26 |
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| Not that the position of atheism needs any defense (Russell's Teapot anyone?), but I think Michael Onfray did a pretty good job of outlining some of the danger of the three monotheisms. This book was a completely different approach from Victor Stenger's scientific approach. In Defense of Atheism was more of a historical look at the horrific roots of these faiths and their the irrelevancy in modern society. It was a good book but not great. | ||||
| Irreligion | John A Paulo | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Is Christianity Good for the World?: A Debate | Christopher Hitchens | own | Read: 2008-11-27 |
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| This was a ridiculously short read. It took one day of commuting to read. I'm not sure it was worth $14. This book is a transcript of a short debate on "Is Christianity Good for the World" between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson. Douglas' opening statement was "God knew we were going to have to pick up dimes, and so He gave us finger nails." When I read that I thought that Christopher Hitchens was going to cut this guy to ribbons but, disappointingly, I don't think he accomplished that. If anything, for most of the debate, I had the impression that Mr. Wilson was leading. Wilson asked over and over again "where do atheists get their morality from" and Wilson, and myself, were disappointed he seemed to be avoiding the question (at least until the very end). There are so many good answers to this question that I think he could have touched on. Of course, Mr. Wilson relied heavily on assertions like "Christianity is Good because Jesus is the life of the world"... ?!? You can't just make a statement like that unless you establish the divinity, and goodness, of Jesus which he certainly didn't. All in all I guess it was like most arguments between atheists and theists. It was fairly pointless and seemed like a back-and-forth of two sides that don't really understand each other. | ||||
| Jesus, Interrupted (Audiobook) | Bart D Ehrman | own |
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| I find Bart Ehrman's books absolutely fascinating. The more I learn about this history of the Bible the more I appreciate it. | ||||
| Ken's Guide to the Bible | Ken Smith | own | Read: 2008 |
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| Letter to a Christian Nation (Vintage) | Sam Harris | own | Read: 2008 |
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| A very fast read. Well constructed arguments. | ||||
| Misquoting Jesus | Bart D Ehrman | own | Read: 2009 |
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| I like this book. It's an interesting story about how to Word has changed over the last 2000 years, who might have changed it, and why. He also spends a great deal of time explaining how we can tell that something has been changed and how we try to find what the original text was. | ||||
| Not The Impossible Faith: Why Christianity Didn't Need a Miracle to Succeed | Richard Carrier, Ph.D. | own | ||
| Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit | Garry Wills | own | ||
| Pocket Aquinas | Monarch St Aquinas | own | ||
| Religion Explained | Pascal Boyer | own | ||
| Religion, the Social Context | Meredith B. McGuire | own | ||
| Sasquatch | Don Hunter | |||
| Sense and Goodness Without God | Richard Carrier | own | ||
| Suffering Religion | Unknown | own | ||
| The Bible For Dummies | Jeffrey Geoghegan | own | ||
| The Book of Mormon | Joseph Smith... Er.. God | own | ||
| The Counter-Creationism Handbook | Mark Isaak | own | ||
| The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason | Sam Harris | own | Read: 2008 |
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| Interesting read and Sam does have some good points but his view is a bit extreme for my liking and his embracing of spirituality doesn't sit right with me. | ||||
| The Gnostic Gospels | Elaine Pagels | own | Read: 2008 |
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| The God Delusion | Richard Dawkins | own | Read: 2008-00-00 |
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| A fascinating book. Dawkin's points are well presented and very readable. | ||||
| The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes | Dean H. Hamer | own | ||
| The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth | Thomas Jefferson | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Interesting. It was kind of cool having the teachings of Jesus condensed into about 80 pages. Unfortunately, I'm unimpressed. For the son of God he seems to focus a lot on what, by today's standards, is irrelevant and he has this annoying habit of using confusing parables (even his disciples didn't get a lot of them). | ||||
| The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality | Andre Comte-Sponville | own | Read: 2009-03-05 |
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| I didn't find this book particularly interesting. The first couple chapters seemed similar to other atheist books except with less compelling arguments. The last chapter (there are only three) was dedicated to spirituality and it seemed like a lot of pseudo-intellectual crap to me (become one with truth, separate you from yourself, be one with the ALL and there is no more ego only truth, etc). It was a struggle to make it through the last 70 pages or so. | ||||
| The Secret Teachings of All Ages | Manly P. Hall | own | ||
| The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions | Huston Smith | own | ||
| The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible | A. J. Jacobs | own | Read: 2009 |
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| Not at all what I expected but it was interesting. | ||||
| Who Wrote the Bible? | Richard E. Friedman | own | Read: 2008 |
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| I really enjoyed this book. It sounds, to me anyways, like it should be a rather dry subject, trying to determine who wrote the Old Testament, but it was enthralling. Really! I was told by a religious friend that his Church actually recommends this book to "seekers"; I find that odd. While this book did give me an new appreciation for the literary and historical value of the Bible, it certainly did not convey, to me, that this was a work of divinity. If I were seeking I would think this might sway me away from the church (not that that's a problem). I imagine a biblical literalist would find this an uncomfortable read. For the rest of us I'd highly recommend it! | ||||
| Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects | Bertrand Russell | own | ||
| Why I Became An Atheist | John Loftus | own | Read: 2009 |
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| I just couldn't get into this one. | ||||
Science
| A Brief History of Time | Stephen Hawking | own | ||
| A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love | Richard Dawkins | own | Read: 2009-01-20 |
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| This was a great collection of essays on a wide range of topics. I very much enjoyed this book although I did skip over a few essays that were not of interest to me. | ||||
| Bonk | Mary Roach | own | Read: 0000-00-00 |
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| Kind of an odd book but it's certainly the best book on "the coupling of science and sex" I've ever read :) | ||||
| Cosmos | Carl Sagan | own | ||
| Death by Black Hole | Neil DeGrasse Tyson | own | ||
| Engineering in the Ancient World (Ancient Culture | J.G. Landels | own | ||
| Exploding Suns | Isaac Asimov | own | ||
| How Humans Evolved, Fourth Edition | Robert Boyd | own | ||
| Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space | Isaac Asimov | own | ||
| Mind Hacks | Tom Stafford and Matt Webb | own | ||
| On the Origin of Species | Charles Darwin | own | ||
| Quirkology: How we discover the big truths | Richard Wiseman | own | ||
| Quirkology: The curious science of everyday lives | Richard Wiseman | own | ||
| Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks | Arthur Benjamin | own | ||
| Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife | Mary Roach | own | ||
| Subatomic Monster | Isaac Asimov | own | ||
| The Dragons of Eden | Carl Sagan | own | ||
| The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution [AUDIOBOOK] | Richard Dawkins | Read: 2009-11 | ||
| The Origin of Species | Charles Darwin | own | ||
| The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author | Richard Dawkins | own | ||
| Time: Planet Earth: An Illustrated History | Time Inc. Home Entertainment | own | ||
| Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder | Richard Dawkins | own | Read: 2009-04-28 |
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| This book was fantastic. The last few chapters were a bit heavy for me but the first 3/4 was thrilling. | ||||
| What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable | John Brockman | own | ||
| Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design | Michael Shermer | own | Read: 0000-00-00 |
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| An excellent overview of the case against ID, the evidence for evolution, and how/why most Christians can accept evolution. | ||||
| Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body | Neil Shubin | own | Read: 2009-10-26 |
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| I loved this book. It does a wonderful job of showing how we fit into the evolutionary tree. It was fascinating cover to cover. | ||||
Skepticism
| Amazing . . . but False! | David Diefendorf & James Randi | own | ||
| Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing \ | Philip C. Plait | own | Read: 0000-00-00 |
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| A fun and interesting book. I'd totally recommend this book. | ||||
| Beyond Innumeracy | John Allen Paulos | own | ||
| Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions | James Randi | own | Read: 2009 |
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| It started off rather dry with some pretty in depth studies into specific paranormal claims. However, roughly 1/3 of the way through the book it changed from kind dry to AWESOME! It took me months to get through the first 1/3 and a week to get through the last 2/3. Despite the slow start this book was definitely worth my time. The discussion of how one investigates the paranormal claims was fascinating. | ||||
| Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences | John Allen Paulos | own | Read: 2009 |
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| The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark | Carl Sagan | own | Read: 2009 |
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| The world would be a different place if everyone had read a book like this.Carl Sagan discusses the process and importance of science and critical thought. | ||||
| Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time | Michael Shermer | own | Read: 2009 |
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| It had a lot of overlap with his book on religion but it was still good. He included a lot more personal stories in this one which I really liked. | ||||