Books like The God Delusion

01

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 God Delusion.

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.

Shares atheism and religion with The God Delusion.

03

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Robert M. Sapolsky · Science

Behave is Robert Sapolsky's attempt to explain why humans do what they do — the violence, the altruism, the tribalism, the heroism — by working through every layer of biology that contributes to a single act.

Shares evolution and morality with The God Delusion.

04

Why Buddhism Is True

Robert Wright · Religion & Spirituality

Why Buddhism Is True is Robert Wright's argument that modern evolutionary psychology and neuroscience provide independent confirmation for core Buddhist claims about the mind, suffering, and the nature of the self.

A kindred religion & spirituality read.

05

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

Daniel C. Dennett · Philosophy

Breaking the Spell is Daniel Dennett's case that religion is a natural phenomenon — one that can and should be studied using the methods of evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and anthropology.

Shares evolution and religion with The God Delusion.

06

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 morality with The God Delusion.

07

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation

Matt Ridley · Science

The Origins of Virtue begins from a puzzle: humans cooperate extensively with non-relatives, a behavior that seems to contradict the logic of natural selection, which predicts that organisms should act in the interests of their genes and close kin.

Shares evolution and morality with The God Delusion.

08

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.

09

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.

10

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.

11

A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution

Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg · Science

A Crack in Creation is Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg's account of how CRISPR-Cas9 works, what it can do, and why its possibilities should give everyone pause.

Both dig into evolution.

12

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson · Science

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's attempt to understand the scientific story of everything — from the Big Bang to the emergence of modern humans — by spending three years talking to scientists and reading science history.

Both dig into evolution.