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)

A Long Hitchslap to Religion

I love Hitchens for his courage and his intelligence and vast knowledge. This book was a pleasure to read and a real treat to listen to again from Hitchens himself.

May nothing bless Hitch.

The product of a well-organized mind. Nice to hear his voice as well, although occasionally I had to be listened to catch a word.

Great book!

This is a thorough evaluation of religion and he damage it has done to the world at large. I think this is a good read for both believers as well as non believers and will need to listen a few more times to more fully understand all that Hitchens included. I did find Hitchens hard to listen to as he is fairly monotone and I often had to rewind and listen again as my thoughts would drift when I got bored of his voice. The information was thoroughly engaging enough to make up for this however.

Exquisite

Where does God Is Not Great rank among all the audiobooks you've listened to so far?

To say that this book is a literary treasure impossible to rival is an understatement.

What other book might you compare God Is Not Great to and why?

I am reminded of a George Santayana quote: "Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited". In a first world absent of truth, civility, respect and common sense, for those of us who seek them, Hitchens provides so much of all four to feel mentally clean, morally invigorated and hopeful that the humanist within will keep us from self-annihilation.

Which scene was your favorite?

Hitchens command of the english language is complete. His delivery is simply poetic. One may not agree with his views, any of them, but his statements are factual and where not, compelling.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

In everyday English: this is the tortilla chip of all books, you just can't read it or listen to it only once.

Unrelenting, graceful, and poetic

listening to it was all the nostalgia I could handle having first read the hardcover at a time when I was questioning the very foundations of my existence.

Awesome! Great book! It is very eye opening!

Christie Hitchens Magnum Opus! I love this book and it's great to hear Christopher read it.

A study on the barbarism keeping our species in darkness

Hitchens, as always a master of words, poignantly describes why & how institutionalized religion is a fabricated system perpetually used to retard humanity - whether it’s the Mayan & Aztecs of South America, Confucianism in the east, or the barbaric Abrahamic religions of the Middle East.

He should let someone else read the book for him.

Too hard to understand the authors speech. He is clearly not into speaking clearly. Awesome content!

incredibly analytical

Christopher Hitchens laid out the case against God and religion in precise detail. Drawing on concrete evidence as well as historical references to support the point. I wish Hitch we're still here today, we need him more than ever.

Excellent

I had left Mormonism a few years before reading this book. After my dad died, I went on a spiritual journey through liberal Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and neopaganism. None of it really made any rational sense, but they helped me cope with my loss. Reading this book provided the rational argument against so much superstitious piffle. I became an instant fan of Hitch, and read every work of his I could get my hands on. The section about Mormons is spot on.