Expert: Austin Cline - 2/10/2009

Question
Hi Austin,

I always used to consider myself a "Christian" in the general sense whenever someone asked what religion I was. That was until I started to think about why I actually answered "Christian" when I never really went to church, except for Christmas and maybe Easter, and thought that most of the bible was fabricated, edited or just pretty strange.
Once I started to question why I had these beliefs and how I was just born into a Christian family, it basically snowballed from there and before I knew it one day someone asked what religion I was and I replied that I was an atheist. It just suddenly seemed so obvious that there was a very slim chance that is a god, and I felt like I had been liberated and no longer had to worry about such silly things like sin, afterlife and what faith I was and why. It really was like believing in a Santa Clause for adults but having someone eventually tell you the truth.
Since then I've tried to discover more about atheism, evolution and the scientific world in general.
My question is if you could recommend some books about atheism and/or evolution for further reading. I have read some books like the God Delusion, A short history of nearly everything, God is not great and Holy Blood Holy Grail...

Thanks for you time and for your answers.

Brian

Answer
I have a list of books on atheism which I've reviewed:

http://atheism.about.com/od/booksatheism/

I also have many other categories of books which I've reviewed:

http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/

The books on skepticism are perhaps most important, because how you arrive at your beliefs can matter more than what you believe. Better to be a skeptical, critically thinking atheist than a gullible theist:

http://atheism.about.com/od/booksskepticism/


These would be a good choice to start with:

http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/WeirdThings.htm
http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/PhilosophTool.htm