Note: Please recommend other titles in the comments!
I decided to make a list that was a sort of refreshing alternative to the recent bestsellers. I have several reasons for this. First of all, Harris, Dawkins, Hitchens and Pullman are getting so much media attention that you don’t need me to tell you about them. I worry that other magnificent authors are suffering from something akin to the Harry Potter eclipsing phenomenon. Secondly, I wanted to compile a list that wouldn’t chase away closet doubters and struggling theists. I’m not one for preaching to the choir–they’re already converted. These are books that have the potential to provide comfort and challenge to theists and skeptics alike. Finally, I wanted to collect in one place some of the works that were influential in my own upward spiral into skepticism.
1. Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment
John Horgan was a senior writer for Scientific American, and in this book he embarks on a trip that encompasses everything from his personal experiments with the concoctions of Amazonian shamans to well-funded scientific studies on the brains of meditating monks. Rational Mysticism is a fascinating exploration of altered states, mystical experiences, and the biology of epiphany.
2. Varieties of Unbelief: From Epicurus to Sartre
I read this for a Modern Atheism course I took at UCI–the class had a boisterous mix of believers and skeptics and was the most bloody fun I had in any single college class. It’s essentially a short greatest hits compilation of the writings of skeptical philosophers and writers from Hume to Nietzsche, Voltaire to Schopenhauer. This book breaks their writings in to appetizing bites and makes their writings very accessible to non-philosophers like me. It also provides enough challenging questions to fuel hours of debate with minimal intervention from mediating professors.
Jennifer Michael Hecht is one of my heroes for writing this book. She turns standard approaches to the history of thought all topsy-turvy and creates this sweeping narrative of doubt. The cast of characters includes Job, Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Freud and women like Hypatia, Emily Dickinson and Margaret Sanger.
4. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography
Some of the greatest skeptics are firmly ensconced in their religions, and J. D. Crossan is as Irish and Catholic as he is ballsy in the his pursuit of the truth. I recommend Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography because I come from a Christian background and this helped me to completely humanize Jesus. There are hundreds of comparable Jesus biographies, as well as brilliant and accessible studies that focus on founders of other faiths, including Mohammed, Buddha, and Moses.
There are many books that look at religions in comparison with each other. Reading these were often humbling experiences for me, as I learned that my own religion of origin was not as unique in its claims as I thought. Women, Family, and Utopia compares the celibate Shakers, the polygamous Mormons and the strangely structured “free love” community at Oneida in the 19th century. Religion scholars are churning out thousands of such titles each year.
This is an incredibly moving story of a brilliant young Hasidic Jewish artist who struggles to follow both the truth of his genius and the truths imposed by his religious community.
7. Why Atheism?
Some of my favorite arguments for atheism are calmly, eloquently and simply presented in this compact tome. My favorite is the explanation of justified belief, using an intelligent young child’s convictions of the reality of Santa Claus.
8. The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre 
Lovecraft does an excellent job of making one feel like an annoying little gnat in a universe populated by giants–including tentacled, many-fanged gnat-catchers. HPL is an excellent antidote for any kind of hubris.
9. Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
I include this book because of its emphasis on practice over belief. Let’s face it–without the infrastructure of religious society and the reinforcement of religious ritual, it can be difficult to find the discipline to regularly cultivate compassion, emotional serenity, and a clear mind. Walsh strips much of the religious trappings off of many of the best of religion’s meditative practices and ethical teachings and distills them into this handy manual. It’s full of fun stories and anecdotes meant to inspire and elevate (kind of self-helpish, but I like this sort of thing).
10. Cosmos
Last, and most certainly not least, is Cosmos by the late Carl Sagan. Much of the science is a little dated, but that’s the point of half of the book–our cosmologies keep transforming, and what was gospel in one age becomes the myths of the next. What persists, however, is the wonder and awe inspired by the natural world. The canopy of stars–billions and billions of them–is a grand enough cathedral.
So, this is my completely arbitrary and incomplete list. Do you have any you’d like to recommend?
11 responses so far ↓
1 Kevin // Jan 5, 2008 at 4:13 am
I would recommend:
Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus.
This book handles with living in an absurd world (aka a world without meaning). There are many existentialist books with this kind of theme but very few of them achieve the poetic sincerity of Sisyphus. Camus also leads us in a positive direction in this book - a nice refresher.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Many good and bad things can be said about this book but it has undeniably influenced nonreligious thinkers around the world for over 100 years.
I suppose that is it. I don’t have many current authors to offer that may have been overshadowed by over-merchandised works (unfortunately!).
I am in full agreement that the Modern Atheism class was the most fun I’ve had while at University (even though I was mostly too shy to speak up).
2 markii // Jan 5, 2008 at 8:02 am
i am very thankful for skepticism. luckily, as i was investigating mormon history for myself, bob mccue (google his name to see his extensive online writings) recommended to me ‘why people believe weird things’, by michael shermer. skepticism rang true and honest to me. intellectual honesty was and is a main philosophy and virtue of the scientific method. after learning the tools of critical thinking, i no longer needed to read dozens and dozens of books on mormon history to decipher whether it was divine or not. books on skepticism helped me filter information and allowed me the use of the sharp-edged occam’s razor when i needed to make my own mind up about a certain issue.
i’ve since found out that no one really knows anything, and no one will ever know anything (about god, for example). anything other than that- any philosophy or virtue true to humans i believe can be discovered by anyone with a little logic, reason, meditation and contemplation. what i mean is that humanistic values can be arrived at and shared with other humanists, as soon as doubt is embraced, and logic is treated as superior to faith.
another book on skepticism that i’d like to recommend is ‘Don’t Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking’.
Oh….and The Bible.
3 Rich // Jan 5, 2008 at 8:37 am
John, I’m delighted to see Lovecraft in the midst of all these books! More than a little surprising, but oddly refreshing. :o) (I probably own most of his works, and what I don’t own, you can probably find online here
I know I’m repeating myself here, but Sagan’s Demon Haunted World surely fits this list.
As one of the (apparently few) deists here, (and in the spirit of Obama’s getting away from polarizing politics), I will again strongly recommend E. O. Wilson’s The Creation. He’s an atheist reaching out to deists in an appeal to unite in the common cause of saving our planet. It is one of the most inspiring and beautifully written books I’ve read in a long time.
4 Rich // Jan 5, 2008 at 9:00 am
Oops, my bad. I should have said I’m (still) a theist, not (strictly) a deist, though there’s a bit of that in me as well, FWIW.
5 Rich // Jan 5, 2008 at 9:02 am
Oops, my bad. I should have said I’m (still) a theist, not (strictly) a deist, though there’s a bit of that in me as well, FWIW (and please substitute “theist” for “deist” throughout my earlier comment).
6 Elise // Jan 5, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I’m a bit disheartened to have to say I have read none of these. However, I certainly would like to and will add them to my very long list of books to read in my lifetime. And try to re-commit myself to reading in 2008, since it’s taken a back burner lately….
I would recommend “The Art of Possibility”, which I am working on but haven’t finished. The basic idea is just what the title suggests - a sort of spirituality that involves recognizing the possibilities in ourselves and others, and being enlightened by doing so.
7 John // Jan 6, 2008 at 10:27 am
MarkII, I’m reading a separate Shermer book (Why Darwin Matters) and I love the clarity of his writing style.
Rich, no worries! Also, I remember reading somewhere (Elaine’s blog?) that you had read “The Cats of Ulthar” to your kids–I did the same for mine last year!
I’m going to let the comments gather a few more responses, then I’ll promote everyone’s suggestions to post-level.
8 Elaine // Jan 6, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I can’t think of any new suggestions off-hand, but I do want to enthusiastically second the two selections on your list, John, that I have read…”Cosmos” and “My Name is Asher Lev”.
9 xJane // Jan 6, 2008 at 7:43 pm
ooo, all these sound delicious! I’d like to add a few:
Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
I’ve a copy of it in English, which I’m not too certain how easy it is to by, since it’s a Norwegian book originally; but it’s been widely translated. It’s a great introduction to philosophy (as in, the art of thinking). Even a non-philosopher like you, John, ought to like it. It’s written, however, for CatGirl, so you now have an excuse to buy
heryourself a copy!Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Just about anything by Terry Pratchett contains surprising insights into religion & doubt (his Discworld is what it sounds like, held up by elephants standing on a turtle…) done in an irreverent & humorous manner, which always helps. Omens, however, includes Neil Gaiman’s twisted view of the universe. Together, they’re a dynamite combination & I wish they had done more stuff in collaboration. This is the chronicle of the End Times: the Great Battle between Good and Evil and Other Capital Ideas.
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
I can’t enthuse about this book enough. I’m about 90 pages into and have been telling everyone I know (and here, some I don’t) to read it. Go read it. It’s a history of her own struggle with doubt &, eventually, discovery of yoga.
in that vein, I’ll suggest
Prayer of Heart & Body, Thomas Ryan
for xian yogis. I got this for my sister after I read it because she was having a crisis of faith since she loved yoga but knew it was a path toward Satan. Ryan is a priest of some flavor that has a great breakdown about what can be learned from the practice of yoga and brought into just about any meditative practice.
That’s it for now…I’ll have to read many more books this year, it seems!
10 Jeff // Jan 7, 2008 at 4:26 pm
If you liked My Name Is Asher Lev, you might also enjoy two of Potok’s other novels, The Chosen and The Promise. They have similar themes.
I also like the skeptical themes present in Elie Wiesel’s trilogy–Night, Dawn, and Day. Wiesel lost his faith in Auschwitz, and explores his doubts beautifully in these three works.
I just bought Norman Mailer’s novel The Gospel According to the Son, which looks interesting, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Has anyone read it?
11 Brooke // Jan 11, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Cool list. I’ve only read one of those (Potok). Thanks for sharing!
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