THE PORTABLE ATHEIST Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

In books such as GOD IS NOT GREAT, the militant anti-religionist Hitchins bangs his drum so loudly that he gives even us fellow atheists a headache. Here, happily, he has compiled an extensive and thought-provoking anthology of skeptical literature, modern and ancient, from the likes of Lucretius, Omar Khayyám, Spinoza, Hume, Darwin, Mark Twain, Marx, and Rushdie, to name a few. He begins with an overlong introduction, rehearsing his own complaints against organized religion and faith, then proceeds more succinctly to introduce each selection. Narrator Nicholas Ball gives an Apollonian reading in a mellifluous, resonant baritone. His mannerisms, though pretty, often obscure meaning. He delivers the words accurately and obeys the punctuation without expressing the relationship of the thoughts expressed with one another, or even making the individual thoughts coherent. Y.R. 128/130 © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2008]