Summer Reading Recommendations by TheHumanist.com Readers
Thanks to our loyal TheHumanist.com readers for answering Senior Editor Maggie Ardiente’s call last week for summer reading recommendations! There’s still plenty of summer days left—be sure to check out any of the books recommended... Read More
PLATO AT THE GOOGLEPLEX: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s ode to philosophy, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, imagines a collision of worlds: What would happen if Plato, the famous philosopher, suddenly appeared in the twenty-first century? In... Read More
Book Review: Democracy’s Defender: The Life of L.M. Birkhead by Jim Grebe
Jim Grebe’s book Democracy’s Defender: The Life of L.M. Birkhead presents the life of a Methodist minister-turned humanist Unitarian minister-turned social activist. Born in Missouri in 1885, Leon Milton Birkhead was a man of reason... Read More
Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire
When the United States was very young—circa 1808—President Thomas Jefferson and the wealthy, successful businessman John Jacob Astor (fur trading, Manhattan real estate) had a joint brainstorm. In the aftermath of the Meriwether Lewis and... Read More
Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict
Some humanists endorse the ancient notion that a wise guy invented religion with an omniscient god so that people, who might otherwise do bad things, would stay in line for fear that the god was... Read More
Book Review: Greta Christina’s Coming Out Atheist
In Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why Greta Christina provides a highly readable, helpful guide to the issues atheists face on whether and how to come out... Read More
5 Famous Atheists in Literature
In a recent Slate article Dan Falk asks, “Was Shakespeare an atheist?” and concludes that he very well may have been. But Shakespeare is hardly alone on a list of literary figures who questioned the... Read More