Atheism, Skepticism, Humanism, Philosophy & Agnosticism
Peter A. Angeles (editor) (1997). Critiques of God. Prometheus Books.
Dan Barker (1992). Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist. The Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Daniel C. Dennett (2003). Freedom Evolves. Viking.
Richard Dawkins (2006). The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin.
Daniel C. Dennett (2006). Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Viking Adult.
Noah Feldman (2005). Divided by God. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Owen Flanagan (2002). The Problem of the Soul. Basic Books.
Marci Hamilton (2005). God vs. the Gavel.
Sam Harris (2004). The End of Faith. Norton and Co.
Sam Harris (2006). Letter To A Christian Nation. Knopf.
William Harwood (1992). Mythology's Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus. Prometheus Books.
Susan Jacoby (2004). Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. Metropolitan Books.
Douglas E Krueger (1998). What Is Atheism? A Short Introduction. Prometheus Books.
Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore (1997). The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious Correctness. Norton.
Paul Kurtz (1983). In Defense of Secular Humanism. Prometheus Books.
Michael Martin (1990). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Temple University Books.
Michael Martin & Ricki Monnier, editor (2006). The Improbability of God. Prometheus Books.
Michael Martin & Ricki Monnier, editor (2003). The Impossibility of God. Prometheus Books.
Robin Le Poidevin (1996). Defending Atheism: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Routledge.
Michael Shermer (2004). The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule. Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
Michael Shermer (2003). How We Believe: Science, Skepticism and the Search for God (2nd ed.). Owl Books.
Michael Shermer (2002). Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time (2nd ed.). Owl Books.
Lee M. Silver (2006). Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life. Harpers Collins.
Peter Singer (1993). Practical Ethics.
James P. Sterba (editor) (2000). Earth Ethics, 2nd Edition. Prentice Hall.
George Smith (1989). Atheism: The Case Against God. Prometheus Books.
George Smith (2000). Why Atheism?. Prometheus Books.
Philip A. Stahl (2000). The Atheist’s Handbook to Modern Materialism. Professional Press.
Mark Twain (2004). Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings. HarperCollins Publishers. (first published posthumously in 1938)
Popular Science
Bill Bryson (2004). A Short History of Nearly Everything. Broadway.
Richard Feyman (1995). Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics. Basic Books.
Timothy Ferris (1998). The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report. Simon & Schuster.
Brian Greene (2000). The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Vintage.
Chris Mooney (2005). The Republican War On Science. Basic Books.
Stephen William Hawking (2001).The Universe in a Nutshell. Bantam.
Stephen William Hawking (1988).A Brief History of Time. Bantam.
Alan Lightman (1994).Einstein's Dream. Warner Books.
Carl Sagan (1985).Cosmos. Ballantine Books.
Carl Sagan (1986).Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Ballantine Books.
Edward O. Wilson (2004).On Human Nature. Harvard University Press.
Edward O. Wilson (2003).The Future of Life. Vintage.
Critical Thinking
Robert E. Bartholomew & Benjamin Radford (2003). Hoaxes, Myths and Mania: Why We Need Critical Thinking. Prometheus Books.
Alec Fisher (2001). Critical Thinking: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
James Randi (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books.
James Randi (1982). Flim Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions. Prometheus Books.
Hy Ruchlis (1990). Clear Thinking: A Practical Introduction. Prometheus Books.
Carl Sagan (1996). The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Random House.
Theodore Schick & Lewis Vaughn (2004). How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age. McGraw-Hill Humanities.
Critical Analysis of the Bible
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."--Isaac Asimov (American scientist and writer).
If freethinkers want to discuss or debate Christianity with Christians, we recommend that freethinkers read the Bible. The following is a list of three popular Bible versions (New Revised Standard Version; King James Version; New International Version) as well as a list of books about the history of Christianity and critical analysis of the Bible.
Three Holy Bible Recommendations
Michael D. Coogan (2001). The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
The Holy Bible: King James Version
The Holy Bible: New International Version
Books about the history and content of the Bible
Ben Edward Akerley (1999). The X-rated Bible: An Irreverent Survey of Sex in the Scriptures. Feral House.
Tim Callahan (1997). Bible Prophecy. Millennium Press.
Tim Callahan (2002). Secret Origins of the Bible. Millennium Press.
Bart Erhman (2005). Misquoting Jesus : The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. Harper San Francisco.
Bart Erhman (2003). The Lost Christianities: The Battle for Scriptures and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press.
Bart Erhman (2003). Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It Into The New Testament. Oxford University Press.
G.W. Foote and W.P. Bell (1992). Bible Handbook. American Atheist Press.
Randal Helms (1997). Who Wrote the Gospels? Millennium Press.
Randal Helms. (1990). Gospel Fictions. Prometheus Books.
Michael Martin (1991). The Case Against Christianity. Temple University Books.
C. Dennis McKinsey (1995). The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy. Prometheus Books.
Bertrand Russell (1957). Why I am Not a Christian: and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. Simon and Schuster.
Thomas Paine. The Age of Reason (first published in the 1700's; Paine coined the name "United States of America" for the region that rebelled against the British Empire.)
Elaine Pagels (1989). The Gnostic Gospels. Vintage.
Charles Templeton (1996). Farwell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith. McClelland & Stewart Inc.
Evolution and Creationism
Click HERE to read what *scientists* say about evolution!
Daniel Dennett (1995). Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. Touchtone.
Tim M Berra (1990). Evolution and the Myth of Creationism: A Basic Guide to the Facts in the Evolution Debate. Stanford University Press.
Charles Darwin (1859). Origin of Species.
Charles Darwin and E.O. Wilson (editor). (2005). From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the HMS Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals). W.W. Norton.
Richard Dawkins (1990). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press.
Richard Dawkins (1996). The Blind Watchmaker. W.W. Norton.
Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward (1996). River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
Barbara Forrest and Paul Gross (2003). Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Oxford University Press.
Douglas J Futuyma (1995). Science on Trial: The Case for Evolution.
Laurie Godfrey, ed. (1983). Scientists Confront Creationism.
Phillip Kitchen (1986). Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism.
Richard Leakey (1994). The Origin of Humankind. Basic Books.
Ernst Mayr (2002). What Evolution Is.
Massimo Pigliucci (2002) Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. Sinauer Associates.
Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (1993). Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are. Ballantine Books.
Eugenie C. Scott (2004). Evolution vs. Creationism.
Niall Shanks (2004). God, the Devil, and
Michael Shermer (2007). Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design Holt Paperbacks.
Chris Stringer and Peter Andrews (2005). The Complete World
of Human Evolution.
Carl Zimmer (2006). Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. Harper Perennial.