The Portable Atheist

Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

By: Christopher Hitchens

Narrated by: Nicholas Ball

From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of God Is Not Great, a provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages with never-before-published pieces by Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices past and present that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, H. L. Mencken, Albert Einstein, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and many others well-known and lesser known. And they're all set in context and commented upon as only Christopher Hitchens, "political and literary journalist extraordinaire" (Los Angeles Times), can.

Atheist? Believer? Uncertain? No matter: The Portable Atheist will speak to you and engage you every step of the way.

©2007 Christopher Hitchens (P)2007 Phoenix Books, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A fascinating collection of readings from some of the West's greatest thinkers." ( Publishers Weekly)

Interesting points....

I liked most parts of this book and am interested in reading more on the subject by this author.

Thought Provoking Look into the horrors of Religion

Extremely well written, researched and thought out. A provocative look into the horrors and absurdity of all religions.

Unabridged is not so

After finishing listening to the two part unabridged version as advertised, I was able to compare my Kindle PC text version and my printed book version. I was very disappointed to find out that more than half of the essays were left out. I can understand that it would have made it extremely long to listen to or that some of the essays are extracts of bestselling books. But I think Audible.com should make it clear that it is not an unabridged version as I consider this false advertising. Nevertheless, it is fabulous and eye opening information. It is well read with a clear professional voice. That is my only complaint.

Audiobook is incomplete

I also own the hard copy. Over 200 pages from my hard copy are not even read. This was unfortunate.
I am a major Hitchens fan.

Had to return this and buy the Kindle version

The concept is great, and the reader’s voice is pleasant, but I was defeated by too many distracting mispronunciations. “Solipsist” becomes “solipist”, “vinous” beomes “vineous”, etc., etc. It may not matter to some, but it bothers me. I’m reading this one in pixel form.