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Any favorite atheist authors? (Original Post) sakabatou Oct 2020 OP
Terry Pratchett catrose Oct 2020 #1
Carl Sagan ItsjustMe Oct 2020 #2
Duppers Oct 2020 #5
I've read "Contact." sakabatou Oct 2020 #6
Read The Demon Haunted World exboyfil Oct 2020 #13
Christopher Hitchens. Laffy Kat Oct 2020 #3
I think I've read one of his books. sakabatou Oct 2020 #7
Agreed. Missn-Hitch Oct 2020 #21
LOL, I guess so! Laffy Kat Oct 2020 #22
LOL!! I REALLY do. Nice to meet you too. Missn-Hitch Oct 2020 #24
Those are good....Richard Dawkins can be an acquired taste... Moostache Oct 2020 #4
I have yet to read anything by Dennett sakabatou Oct 2020 #8
Recommended (Dennett works worth a read): Moostache Oct 2020 #10
The Demon Haunted World is a masterpiece exboyfil Oct 2020 #12
Kurt Vonnegut exboyfil Oct 2020 #9
HEMANT MEHTA JustFiveMoreMinutes Oct 2020 #11
Ah, yes, The Friendly Atheist. sakabatou Oct 2020 #18
Isaac Asimov. alwaysinasnit Oct 2020 #14
Aw you beat me to it. Susan Calvin Oct 2020 #16
... alwaysinasnit Oct 2020 #17
Isaac Asimov, as far as I know. Susan Calvin Oct 2020 #15
This probably won't qualify as an Atheist author calguy Oct 2020 #19
Salman Rushdie Warpy Oct 2020 #20
Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaiman... uriel1972 Oct 2020 #23
Book Recommend: Susan Jacoby's FREETHINKERS. Missn-Hitch Oct 2020 #25
Karl Marx FigTree Oct 2020 #26
1. Hitchens Brainstormy Nov 2020 #27
Philip Pullman PassingFair Nov 2020 #28
Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible, by Jerry Coyne Towlie Dec 2020 #29

catrose

(5,243 posts)
1. Terry Pratchett
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 07:45 PM
Oct 2020

That said, he writes mysticism (when the story calls for it) better than those who believe.

Laffy Kat

(16,531 posts)
3. Christopher Hitchens.
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 07:53 PM
Oct 2020

Yes, he made me angry many times and I certainly didn't agree with him on everything, but he was a wonderful and witty writer. I miss him every effing day. I also think Vanity Fair has gone way downhill since his death, and then Graydon Carter left. It's not the same.

Moostache

(10,180 posts)
4. Those are good....Richard Dawkins can be an acquired taste...
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 07:53 PM
Oct 2020
Carl Sagan was less "atheist" than he was a straight up proponent for evidentiary-based conclusions - which in general excludes most religious screeds, but he was an outstanding author and amazingly prescient at times too. MUST READ!

Sam Harris is easy to digest on his earlier works (like "letter to a 'Christian' nation&quot , but his more recent stuff is not so much atheist as political agenda at times with his anti-Muslim stances running over other topics.

Daniel Dennett is a great philosopher and author, but his style is dense writing and can be difficult to read at times (at least for me)...

Moostache

(10,180 posts)
10. Recommended (Dennett works worth a read):
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 08:02 PM
Oct 2020

Consciousness Explained (1991)

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

Breaking the Spell (2006)

exboyfil

(18,038 posts)
12. The Demon Haunted World is a masterpiece
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 08:03 PM
Oct 2020

I often wonder what Sagan and Harlan Ellison would say about Trumpism. They both may conclude that darkness is covering rationalism.

exboyfil

(18,038 posts)
9. Kurt Vonnegut
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 08:02 PM
Oct 2020

Jack London
Arthur C. Clarke
Harlan Ellison
H.P. Lovecraft (yes I know about his racism)

Non-Fiction
Carl Sagan
Richard Dawkins
Bart Ehrman

Robert Heinlein and Phillip Jose Farmer were agnostic

Interesting how few horror writers are listed as atheists.


Susan Calvin

(2,153 posts)
15. Isaac Asimov, as far as I know.
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 08:06 PM
Oct 2020

I also like that he called out Mensa for the ridiculous organization it is. And I say that as someone who is very very good on multiple choice tests which past a certain level mean nothing whatsoever.

calguy

(5,784 posts)
19. This probably won't qualify as an Atheist author
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 08:21 PM
Oct 2020

But I am fascinated by the works of Neville Goddard. He has a unique way of interpreting the bible that has nothing at all to do with religion. He views the bible as a symbolic metaphysical book. Whereas religions teach it as an historical book. He believes that none of the people or events in the bible ever existed. Instead, in his view, the figures and events in the bible represent "states of mind". I grew up in an evangelical Christian environment and went to Christian school through the eighth grade. After all the formal biblical education I received in my younger days, never ever could I grasp or accept what I was being taught. I rejected it all once I moved out of the house and got on my own.
Neville has a way of interpreting things in such a way that now the bible makes perfect sense to me. It might not be acceptable to an Atheist person, but to many who have rejected the indoctrination pushed by organized religion, Neville Goddard might provide an insight that had not yet been considered.

Warpy

(113,131 posts)
20. Salman Rushdie
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 09:50 PM
Oct 2020

"The Satanic Verses" was a total hoot.

Roddy Doyle, for The Barrytown Trilogy (the movie "The Committments" was the first book)

Dave Barry

Barbara Ehrehreich

Those are just off the top of my head. There are more than you know.

Missn-Hitch

(1,383 posts)
25. Book Recommend: Susan Jacoby's FREETHINKERS.
Mon Oct 26, 2020, 09:31 PM
Oct 2020

A history of American secularism. Robert Ingersoll was the Christopher Hitchens of his day when it came to god(s)(esses).

Towlie

(5,463 posts)
29. Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible, by Jerry Coyne
Fri Dec 18, 2020, 03:40 PM
Dec 2020

 


My favorite quote from him, which I don't think is in the book but is something he said during a debate, went something like "Saying science and religion are compatible because some scientists are religious is like saying Catholicism and pedophilia are compatible because some priests are pedophiles."

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