Social justice book reviews
I wish that I could rejoice in the fact that today, I write my first ever blog post reviewing a book by a woman, but after reading it, I feel as though there is little to be joyful for. Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that it would be greatly beneficial for the future of America (and the rest of the world) if everyone read The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, but at the same time I felt that it was deeply disturbing.
Read more
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking is undoubtedly one of the—if not the—best-known science books of the twentieth century. Its 2005 follow-up work, A Briefer History of Time, starts its foreword with a note on the original 1988 bestseller’s sales: “A Brief History of Time was on the London Sunday Times best-seller list for 237 weeks and has sold about one copy for every 750 men, women, and children on earth.” From the perspective of today’s reluctance to ponder the greater questions posed to us by science (and the even greater unlikeliness that one is willing to pick up a science book at all), I’m astounded that that many people sat down and read a work like A Brief History of Time.
Read more
If you read my review of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos two weeks ago, then you’ll know that it became one of my all-time favorite books the moment I read it. I felt as though Sagan took topics that we think of everyday, not taking the time to really ponder, and made them spectacular. This is the power of his writing. Thus, this week I am passing him the metaphorical mic. I hope you enjoy these 37 great quotes from Cosmos as much as I did!
Read more
Cosmos by Carl Sagan left me speechless. I don’t even know how to express to you how moved I was by Sagan’s writing. But alas, putting into words the impressions left on me by nonfiction masterpieces like Cosmos is what The Curious Atheist blog is all about, so I suppose I’ll give it my best shot.
Read more
I identify as both an atheist and a bookworm. Over time, both of these identities have become so intertwined with each other that I can barely talk about one without bringing up the other. My favorite way to learn about this big, free, natural world is through reading, and in turn, most of my favorite books are about just that. So after years pursuing an atheistic, scientific, curiosity-fueled book collection that I prize and cherish, I’d like to hope that I’m qualified to give a few recommendations that budding—or lifelong—atheists would do well to read.
Read more
While I have been blogging for over three years, it was only two weeks ago when I first read and reviewed Sam Harris’s 2004 “New Atheist” bestseller, The End of Faith. I made it known in that review that The End of Faith is far from one of my favorite books, but I’ve found that it can be easy to separate the book as a whole from its quotability.
Like his colleagues Dawkins and Hitchens, Harris knows how to throw down a quotable one-liner with the best of them. Admittedly, Harris often uses harsher language than I feel comfortable using myself, but at the end of the day our values are more or less in line with one another. At the same time, I find it worth noting that several of Harris’s political or societal themes written about in 2004 feel all too timely today in 2020. So without further ado, here are 28 of The End of Faith‘s most memorable quotes!
Read more
Once upon a time, I read books to learn the arguments for and against the existence of god and for religion in general. It only took so long for me to feel fully comfortable on the side of atheism. Now my reading has expanded more into things I’m curious about like paleoanthropology and early Christianity. Relaxing with a good book has been one of my very favorite pastimes for a while. But I knew that my atheist reading repertoire wouldn’t be complete until I had finished Sam Harris’s The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. Unfortunately, it was anything but relaxing. In fact, I’d say that reading this was exhausting.
Read more
I had been meaning to read Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman for several months, but I kept putting it off. Now that I’ve finally read it, I wish I had done so earlier. It was incredible!
Read more
Three weeks ago, I reviewed my first ever Ian Tattersall book, Masters of the Planet. As I said then, Ian Tattersall is the curator of the American Museum of Natural History’s Spitzer Hall of Human Origins. He’s been involved in paleoanthropology since the 60’s, and his books combine his undeniable expertise with just enough of his own evidence-based opinions and a dash of wit.
Read more
Have you ever been going along throughout your day, minding your own business, when suddenly you were bombarded with an absolute fossil of a buried memory? Or rather, you get bits and pieces of a memory of an old book, movie, or TV show? When this happens, it can be next to impossible to think about anything else until you remember exactly what it is that your brain is reminding you of.
Read more