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A review by rodhilton
The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens
1.0
Christopher Hitchens, author of "God is Not Great" has assembled something of a bible for atheists. There are many similar books out there, often with names like "The Atheist Bible," and all of them essentially set out to create a collection of inspirational writings about nonbelief.
Many of these have a humanist slant, or a morality slant, or a stress on the logic and reason of nonbelief. Hitchens, however, seems far more slanted in favor of criticism of religion. Most of the writings he has selected for his compilation criticize religion for its various failings.
Now, before I say what I thought about this book, I want to say a bit about my beliefs. I'm not a particularly religious person. I am usually reluctant to use the word "atheist" because that word's definition differs between people so greatly that using it does little more than fail to communicate anything useful to others. The word I prefer is "nonreligious" as it correctly conveys that I do not adhere to any organized religion or dogma. I am largely open minded but remain skeptical, and I demand evidence to prove things true before I accept them as fact.
I have read Dawkins's "The God Delusion", Harris's "The End of Faith", and Hitchens's "God is Not Great" and I found all three to be excellent books, which I would rate and recommend highly (though of the three, I found Harris's to be the most disappointing).
You would expect, then, that I would find a great deal to enjoy in this book. However, you would be wrong.
I absolutely hated "The Portable Atheist." And when I say hated, I mean I really, really hated it. Getting through this book was an absolute chore, and I likely would have given up on it if not for the fact that I felt I needed to read the entire thing to be qualified to write a review of it here.
The Portable Atheist is incredibly, unbearably boring. It may be one of the most boring books I've ever read in my life.
What Hitchens has deemed "essential readings for the non-believer" would be more accurately described as "a random collection of essay fragments and quotations that have something or other to do with nonbelief."
There appears to be no cohesive point to the book at all. It's not a series of writings that, together, make any kind of point. It's literally just essays, generally the most pretentious-sounding possible, that relate to nonbelief in some way or another. Some Einstein quotes, a chunk of a Bertrand Russell essay, and so forth, make up a book that could have been reorganized into literally any order without any noticeable effect. Any number of the essays could have been replaced with any number of other essays by notable nonbelievers and the book would have the exact same message: none at all.
The idea that this book is somehow "portable" like an atheist might carry it around with them as a source of inspiration when needed is laughable and embarrassing. Virtually none of the essays say anything positive about atheism, nonbelief, agnosticism, or humanism. Almost every essay is simply an attack on religion, usually Christianity.
Every single chapter of this book, and I mean every single one, would be better read as part of the original book in which it was published. This book is essentially a "greatest hits" collection, but like many greatest hits collection CDs the reader is often left wondering just what in the hell was the rationale behind the inclusion of some tracks. The book felt, to me, like an atheist blog, consisting of "I found this random essay interesting, here's an excerpt" style posts, published in no discernible order or with any discernible organization. It's as if Hitchens simply picked essays out of a bag and threw them together.
This book is positively dreadful, and I can't imagine any atheist enjoying it unless it's the first and only book about nonbelief they have ever read.
Many of these have a humanist slant, or a morality slant, or a stress on the logic and reason of nonbelief. Hitchens, however, seems far more slanted in favor of criticism of religion. Most of the writings he has selected for his compilation criticize religion for its various failings.
Now, before I say what I thought about this book, I want to say a bit about my beliefs. I'm not a particularly religious person. I am usually reluctant to use the word "atheist" because that word's definition differs between people so greatly that using it does little more than fail to communicate anything useful to others. The word I prefer is "nonreligious" as it correctly conveys that I do not adhere to any organized religion or dogma. I am largely open minded but remain skeptical, and I demand evidence to prove things true before I accept them as fact.
I have read Dawkins's "The God Delusion", Harris's "The End of Faith", and Hitchens's "God is Not Great" and I found all three to be excellent books, which I would rate and recommend highly (though of the three, I found Harris's to be the most disappointing).
You would expect, then, that I would find a great deal to enjoy in this book. However, you would be wrong.
I absolutely hated "The Portable Atheist." And when I say hated, I mean I really, really hated it. Getting through this book was an absolute chore, and I likely would have given up on it if not for the fact that I felt I needed to read the entire thing to be qualified to write a review of it here.
The Portable Atheist is incredibly, unbearably boring. It may be one of the most boring books I've ever read in my life.
What Hitchens has deemed "essential readings for the non-believer" would be more accurately described as "a random collection of essay fragments and quotations that have something or other to do with nonbelief."
There appears to be no cohesive point to the book at all. It's not a series of writings that, together, make any kind of point. It's literally just essays, generally the most pretentious-sounding possible, that relate to nonbelief in some way or another. Some Einstein quotes, a chunk of a Bertrand Russell essay, and so forth, make up a book that could have been reorganized into literally any order without any noticeable effect. Any number of the essays could have been replaced with any number of other essays by notable nonbelievers and the book would have the exact same message: none at all.
The idea that this book is somehow "portable" like an atheist might carry it around with them as a source of inspiration when needed is laughable and embarrassing. Virtually none of the essays say anything positive about atheism, nonbelief, agnosticism, or humanism. Almost every essay is simply an attack on religion, usually Christianity.
Every single chapter of this book, and I mean every single one, would be better read as part of the original book in which it was published. This book is essentially a "greatest hits" collection, but like many greatest hits collection CDs the reader is often left wondering just what in the hell was the rationale behind the inclusion of some tracks. The book felt, to me, like an atheist blog, consisting of "I found this random essay interesting, here's an excerpt" style posts, published in no discernible order or with any discernible organization. It's as if Hitchens simply picked essays out of a bag and threw them together.
This book is positively dreadful, and I can't imagine any atheist enjoying it unless it's the first and only book about nonbelief they have ever read.