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

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 atheism and religion with The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.

02

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.

Shares atheism and religion with The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.

03

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris · Religion & Spirituality

Waking Up is Sam Harris' argument that the insights of contemplative traditions — particularly Buddhism's claim that the sense of self is an illusion — can be separated from religious metaphysics and investigated directly through meditation and introspection.

Both dig into atheism.

04

The Dhammapada

Anonymous · Religion & Spirituality

The Dhammapada — Path of Truth or Path of the Dhamma — is the most widely read canonical Buddhist text in the world, a collection of 423 verses attributed to the Buddha and compiled from the Pali Canon.

Both dig into ethics.

05

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.

Shares religion and ethics with The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.

06

The Battle for God

Karen Armstrong · Religion & Spirituality

The Battle for God is Karen Armstrong's history of religious fundamentalism across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the early modern period to the late twentieth century.

Both dig into religion.

07

The Case for God

Karen Armstrong · Religion & Spirituality

The Case for God is Karen Armstrong's argument that the new atheism misunderstands what sophisticated religious believers in most traditions have actually claimed about God.

Both dig into religion.

08

The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer · Religion & Spirituality

The Cost of Discipleship was published in Germany in 1937, four years after Hitler came to power and two years after Bonhoeffer had taken over the underground seminary at Finkenwalde.

Both dig into ethics.

09

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

trans. Sri Swami Satchidananda · Religion & Spirituality

The Yoga Sutras is a foundational text of classical Indian philosophy, compiled by the sage Patanjali — likely around 400 CE, though some scholars place the compilation earlier or later.

Both dig into ethics.

10

A Universe from Nothing

Lawrence M. Krauss · Science

A Universe from Nothing is Lawrence Krauss's argument that modern physics has resolved, or at least reframed, the ancient philosophical question of why there is something rather than nothing.

Both dig into atheism.

11

Better

Atul Gawande · Health

Better is Atul Gawande's examination of what it means to perform well in medicine, a field where the stakes are as high as they get and where the gap between ordinary and excellent care routinely determines who lives and who dies.

Both dig into ethics.

12

Boy Erased: A Memoir

Garrard Conley · Memoir

Boy Erased is Garrard Conley's memoir of attending Love in Action, a conversion therapy program in Memphis, Tennessee, in the early 2000s.

Both dig into religion.