God Is Not Great

How Religion Poisons Everything

By: Christopher Hitchens

Narrated by: Christopher Hitchens

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris' recent best-seller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty of the double helix.

©2007 Christopher Hitchens (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The best of the recent rash of atheist manifestos." (Publishers Weekly)
"Effortlessly witty and entertaining as well as utterly rational." (Booklist)

Better read than heard

An excellent book that convincingly proves there is no god. More importantly it shows why religion is at the root of much of the world's problems.

It is a shame that the author chose to read the book. He does not hold his volume constant making it extremely difficult to hear many of the words, especially at the end of sentences.

A lesson for humanity

The late, great Christopher Hitchens’ message will resonate into eternity. His unwavering logic, and love for the natural human drive for knowledge is captured beautifully in this book. I hope that 1000 years from now people will read this and see that free thinkers of our generation laid the foundation for humanity’s emancipation from superstition and fear.

Brilliant logic and atheist umanism

Would you listen to God Is Not Great again? Why?

I would listen it again for the great reasoning of Cristopher Hitchens and for the deep emotions carried by his narration.
The book dismantles the so called humanism of the religion showing that the Gods of various religions are not good and not just and, happily they do not exist.
Hitchens shows that our morality does not come from religion, but it precedes religions, that are man made creations.

What was one of the most memorable moments of God Is Not Great?

I like that parts where he dismantles the goodness of the religions exposing them as cruel and imoral.

Which character – as performed by Christopher Hitchens – was your favorite?

Hitch is reading his own creation and he compensates the voice of a narrator with the emotion and conviction carried by his voice.

If you could give God Is Not Great a new subtitle, what would it be?

God is not great, but Hitch was!

Thought provoking but hard to hear at times

As other reviewers have already stated, Hitchens' narration is at times a bit mumbled. His is not a terrible performance, but Hitchens is no orator. I don't know about other Audible users but I suspect that I am not the only one who enjoys audiobooks in the car. Hitchens' tendency to let his voice trail off at the end of a sentence and otherwise mumble a bit makes it difficult at times to hear everything he says over the road noise. What I ended up doing was cranking up the volume to hear the quieter bits, at the expense of occasionally getting blown away when Hitchens decided to project his voice more powerfully.

That said, I recommend the book heartily! It's definitely worth the effort. I don't agree with everything Hitchens asserts but his book is very intelligent and thought-provoking on the whole. A credit well spent, in my opinion.

Great information, but you can't hear it.

Would you consider the audio edition of God Is Not Great to be better than the print version?

No. Only because you can not hear or understand Christopher half the time.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It's not that kind of book

Would you be willing to try another one of Christopher Hitchens’s performances?

Nope

If you could give God Is Not Great a new subtitle, what would it be?

God is Not Great and Christopher is not a vocal professional.

Any additional comments?

Listen to the reading and you decide for yourself. Then offer the book with another person reading it and I'll buy that book.

Stunning Clarity and a Challenge to the Dishonest

Some reviewers have chosen to critique Mr Hitchins style in reading his own book. I found it absolutely delightful and refreshing. Further, his own voice adds to the clarity of his open challenges to those chosing to believe in the irrational. This will take several "listens" to absorb all the nuances of his ideas and I hope to begin afresh my search for enlightenment. While the book may be a repeat of prior arguments it is an excellent starting point for those who would like some help crystalizing their own exploration of truth and morality. I found it inspirational and offers additional help to those wanting to take on the horrors of religion and go beyond the quiet Atheist to become the noisy Anti-Theist. The world needs more of this kind of excellent work.

Great Book read by Author

This book really opened my eyes to the reality of sectarian violence in places and involving religions I had always thought as peaceful. To me it now seems blatantly obvious that religion does in fact poison everything.

An exhaustive and entertaining evisceration

Ironically my takeaway from this audio book was not that Religion poisons everything (it does, but that's besides the point) but that I now want Hitchens to read every audio book I listen to.
More seriously, the I imagine only the most anti-religious among us would listen to this 15 hour exercise in eloquence.
If you're on the fence, instead of taking faith in an invisible monster in the sky, take faith that you'll enjoy listening to this.

My preferred title the Need for New Enlightenment

many stories that supported his points. However, I approached the book as an atheist sympathizer. Anecdotes are not proof of an argument on the non existence of God

Great book if you are a thinker

Awsome style and thruthfull in every way, a perspective Fresh in the point of view a master peace for atheism