Jack Huberman

This book has an introduction. While it has no index, it is alphabetically arranged by the names of those quoted. Quoting from the book's back cover, "Sensing a backlash against the fundamentalism and ignorance that have made America a worldwide laughingstock, best-selling author Jack Huberman has collected a treasure trove of quotes by philosophers, scientists, poets, writers, artists, entertainers, and political figures. These aphorisms will delight and hearten, but also challenge nonbelievers, and perhaps even make believers think again. (Quotes are from such varied people as): Buddha, George Carlin, Noam Chomsky, Larry Flynt, E. M. Forster, (and) Benjamin Franklin, (etc.).… (meer)

If you want ammunition to answer the religious zealots and their less than enlightened ilk, look no further. The subtitle of this book is pretty accurate as it will give skeptics, non-believers, etc. plenty to think about and to toss back at those who like to cite verse of whatever their sacred text might be. However, do not think that this is a book of just non-believer quotes. The book does feature quotes by popes, preachers, ministers and other assorted religious leaders as well. The result is that not only do you get a quotations book, but you get a sense of arguments and conversations and debates over time. You also get some pretty interesting quotes from people you might not expect. I personally found a quote by Anton LeVay to be particularly interesting and relevant to our time. You may end up finding something relevant to your experience as well.

Besides the quotes, another strength of the book are the notes from the editor about each personality. There are a lot of people quoted here that I had never heard of before. That is not an obstacle because Mr. Huberman does give pretty good notes on each person. In addition, he often injects a bit of humor into the biographical notes. Sometimes, those little jokes are more entertaining than the quotes. I think non-believers, atheists, agnostics, and other free thinkers and open-minded people will like this book, and they may want to keep a copy handy. As for the religious, if they happen to be of the liberal stripe, they might appreciate it. The close-minded right wingers probably should skip it. OK, they probably should be reading it to expand their mind, but it is know that they would not like anything that could make them think.

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A very competent collection of the finest atheistic, agnostic and free-thinking quotes. Huberman's commentaries throughout the book are also rather amusing, as are many of his brief biographical summaries (though I was somewhat distressed to learn that Anonymous died in 2006). It is particularly interesting to learn just how many famous atheists/agnostics had a devout religious upbringing or background...

However, The Quotable Atheist lacks an overall argument; like many books on this subject, it does not really know whether it wants to attack the silly idea of the existence of a 'God' or rail against the corruptions and hypocrisies of man-made religion. Consequently, it does both with mixed results. The alphabetical order of the book also contributes to this lack of focus - the reader is, for example, exposed to quotes from Liam Gallagher in between those of the much more attention-worthy Galileo and Gandhi. Furthermore, there is the usual criticism one can lob at atheist literature that it is, if you'll excuse the inappropriateness of the phrase, preaching to the choir. Believers aren't going to be changed by this book; rather, it is a light read for people who already find the ideas contained within to be agreeable.

Do I really believe this book will convert believers and turn them from the path of self-righteousness to the path of righteousness? Yes. A few. Three, I estimate. Two for sure." (pg. vi)."… (meer)