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Your Own Sacred Texts

What books do you Atheists worship? (I need suggestions here. Selfish person coming through!)

Name favorite titles, even if they aren't really Atheist books. Read a great book on Evolution? A book that explains the science of homosexuality? A picture book of undersea creatures? A biography of Penn? A cookbook that includes flying spaghetti monster supreme? Or a beautiful fiction about Princess Sprinkles in the enchanted forest?

Okay, so I went overboard with the suggestions, but lets go for variety and the reasons you love them. Personally, I'd especially be interested in religious/psychology stuff. ...And maybe a picture book.

To start off, I really love The Scarlet Letter. ...Everyone else in my class hated it. Interestingly, even though it's fiction, it still offers a lot of information and combats Puritan ideals... a great perspective and beautiful story to boot.

Tags: atheist, books, moocow

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Permalink Reply by godlesstwisted on August 8, 2009 at 7:21am

The Handmaid's Tale is a great 'Anti-religious' feminist work. Dawkin's 'The God-Delusion' is an excellent introduction into what Atheists do not believe. And for a picture book you can't beat 'The hungry caterpillar', genius. lol.

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Permalink Reply by Jezzy on August 8, 2009 at 1:20pm

The Hungry Caterpillar is pretty good, but I think it could have done with more pirates. Just personally.

And thanks. :D

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Permalink Reply by Kristi Leitholt on August 8, 2009 at 1:28pm

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Letter to a Christian Nation, and The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

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Permalink Reply by JayBarti on August 8, 2009 at 1:33pm

Interestingly one of the series of books I really enjoyed as a teen were Dougal Dixon's After Man and Man After Man

They really gave me an understanding of what was meant by idea of evolution, they are both purely speculative, and probably out of date with modern science, but the fundamentals are fairly solid. It is an interesting what if look at the future of life on earth, it actually got me over my fear of death in a funny way because it helped me understand that the end of the world (ty cold war) is not the end of everything.

Also I have to thank you for this question as it made me go and see what he has done lately and lo and behold... The Future is Wild.

Based on research and interviews with dozens of scientists, this documentary was put together to show how life could evolve in the future if Homo sapiens became extinct; the Discovery Channel broadcast softened the harsh outlook by stating the human race had completely migrated from the Earth and had sent back probes to examine the progress of life on Earth. The show was played out in the form of a nature documentary.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Stanton on October 12, 2009 at 4:07am

I saw an episode of The Future is Wild a few years ago. Entertaining, but surely one of the silliest things I've ever seen. I can just imagine the brainstorming session that led the Sharkopath - "Dude its like a shark that, like, glows and stuff".

In the same vein but less preposterous is The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Particularly interesting in this is his look at demilitaraised zones and the speed at which nature has reclaimed our cities and biodiversity has flourished.

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Permalink Reply by Hann Chiu on August 8, 2009 at 1:49pm

Hitchhikers Guide, definitely.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Moss on May 19, 2011 at 1:10am

I'm so glad the HHGTTG is mentioned as a must read. Douglas Adams was a genius, and a devote vegetarian too; so much for atheists having no absolute morals eh?

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Permalink Reply by FreeThinker on August 8, 2009 at 2:31pm

I would say "revere", rather than "worship", but anyway...

The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Age of Reason - Thomas Paine
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche
The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus

Dawkins' "The God Delusion" didn't present any new information to me, but I would certainly recommend it to someone who didn't understand the atheist's perspective or to any theist with an open mind. I haven't read any books by Hitchens or Harris. I just bought Daniel Dennett's books "Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting" and "Consciousness Explained", so those may be added to the list soon if they are as good as the reviews I've read.

Another book that I'd recommend, which has nothing explicitly to do with religion or atheism, is "Depression Is A Choice" by A.B. Curtiss. When my mother passed away, I was having a hard time dealing with it and this book really helped me understand depression and how to overcome it. I'd recommend it even if you aren't experiencing depression.

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Permalink Reply by Janet Holmes on August 9, 2009 at 2:34am

Well obviously "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin of happy memory of course!

Then 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and all Terry Pratchet's books - 'The Colour of Magic' and all the Discworld books.

Judith Rich Harris' 'The Nurture Assumption', a fabulous book about psychology.
'The Jesus Puzzle' by Earl Doherty
'The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man' by Robert M. Price

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Permalink Reply by Louis on August 10, 2009 at 9:42pm

Oxford English Dictionary

Because the most useful book in the world is the book with all the words in it.

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Permalink Reply by Mel on August 10, 2009 at 9:59pm

Terry Pratchett.
He's very sneaky. He pretends to write comedic fantasy, but he's ACTUALLY writing a multi-layered commentary on the human condition. Most of his novels have a theme - topics ranging from attitudes to death, science, the industrial revolution, politics, war, racial conflict, and of course, a few on religion.
"Nation" is my current favourite - but this is subject to change.
"The Science of the Discworld" books are pretty accessible and are great pop-sci.