Books like Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

01

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins · Religion & Spirituality

The God Delusion is Richard Dawkins' comprehensive case against religious belief, published in 2006 as the most high-profile work of the New Atheist movement.

Shares religion and evolution with Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.

02

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Sam Harris · Religion & Spirituality

The End of Faith was written in the weeks following the September 11 attacks and published in 2004.

Both dig into religion.

03

Consciousness Explained

Daniel C. Dennett · Philosophy

Consciousness Explained is Daniel Dennett's attempt to replace what he calls the Cartesian Theater — the intuitive picture of consciousness as a single unified stream of experience observed by a self — with a model he calls Multiple Drafts.

Shares naturalism and philosophy of mind with Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.

04

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins · Science

The Selfish Gene reframes evolution from the organism's point of view to the gene's.

Both dig into evolution.

05

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Christopher Hitchens · Religion & Spirituality

God Is Not Great is Christopher Hitchens' comprehensive polemic against religion, published in 2007 as part of the wave of "New Atheist" books that included Dawkins' The God Delusion, Harris' The End of Faith, and Dennett's Breaking the Spell.

Both dig into religion.

06

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking is Daniel Dennett's handbook for thinking well — a collection of seventy-odd conceptual tools assembled across a long career in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and evolutionary theory.

Shares evolution and philosophy of mind with Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.

07

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

Peter Godfrey-Smith · Science

Peter Godfrey-Smith is a philosopher of science and a scuba diver who began spending time with octopuses off the coast of Sydney, and Other Minds is the result of that dual perspective.

Shares evolution and philosophy of mind with Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.

08

Letter to a Christian Nation

Sam Harris · Philosophy

Letter to a Christian Nation is a short, blunt book written in direct address to American Christians.

Both dig into religion.

09

Myths to Live By

Joseph Campbell · Philosophy

Myths to Live By collects a series of lectures Joseph Campbell delivered at Cooper Union in New York City between 1958 and 1971.

Both dig into religion.

10

The Mind's I

Douglas Hofstadter & Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

The Mind's I is a collaborative anthology edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, two of the most influential thinkers on consciousness and mind of the late twentieth century.

Both dig into philosophy of mind.

11

The Power of Myth

Joseph Campbell · Philosophy

The Power of Myth is the transcript of six hours of conversations between Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers, filmed at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in 1985 and 1986 and broadcast on PBS in 1988, shortly after Campbell's death.

Both dig into religion.

12

The Sacred and the Profane

Mircea Eliade · Philosophy

The Sacred and the Profane is Mircea Eliade's most accessible introduction to his life's central argument: that religious experience is a distinct mode of being in the world, irreducible to sociology, economics, psychology, or any other secular explanatory framework.

Both dig into religion.