Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World – This book awakened me, not from theism, but from complacency.

Pascal Boyer’s Religion Explained – Unbelievably clear account of why some religious notions get committed to memory and transmitted and some don’t.

Dan Dennett’s Breaking the Spell – Makes the case that comparative religions should be compulsory in US curriculum. Suggests this approach would water down dogmatic beliefs.

W.K. Clifford’s The Ethics of Belief – Makes the case that in order to have a ‘right to believe’ something you must defend your method at arriving at such knowledge claims. It is not religious conclusions that are wrong per se, it is the method that is wrong (faith).

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?

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 her yourself 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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).