Philosophical Vegan Forum

So I don't read much nonfiction but really want to start doing so. I thought I'd start off with some iconic books in the New Atheism movement;
Christopher Hitchens - God is not Great
Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
Sam Harris - The End of Faith

Also I thought Peter Singer's Animal Liberation might be a good book to pick up.

What would you guys recommend?

miniboes wrote:Also I thought Peter Singer's Animal Liberation might be a good book to pick up.

I'm currently going through this on. The philosophical ideas are a pleasure to read, but the descriptions of the situations animal are in can get pretty dull and long-winded. I'm thinking about summing up all the points that makes the animal industry immoral; it's always useful to have these in your head for discussions you might have in the future.

miniboes wrote:I thought I'd start off with some iconic books in the New Atheism movement;
Christopher Hitchens - God is not Great
Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
Sam Harris - The End of Faith

Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation is also great, and an easy read.
Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell is also worth mentioning. He's a great story teller.

There are some great books already mentioned here: http://theveganatheist.com/forum/viewto ... ?f=15&t=64

On the topic, do any of you have tips to get through books more easily? I often get kinda bored.

Of the three books you mentioned I have only read "The God Delusion", and I think it is quite good.
"The Selfish Gene" also by Richard Dawkin, is one of the best non-fiction books that I have read. It is very informative and you will gain a new perspective on life after reading it. After completing it you could read "The Extended Phenotype" .
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond, although not pertaining to either animal rights or atheism, brilliantly explains why the industrial revolution took place in Europe rather than Africa or Asia.

miniboes wrote:On the topic, do any of you have tips to get through books more easily? I often get kinda bored.

I love to read books in parallel, so I can switch when I get bored. And it's mostly concentration problems that makes me bored, so try to set aside everything else in my head for the moment and concentrate on the work.

@preet
Great recommendations. The Selfish Gene was probably the best book I've ever read. I always thought The Extended Phenotype was written on an academic level, but it turns out to be pretty readable, right? I'll pick it up in the near future. (I'm slowly going to all Dawkins books, because they are always great reads)

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I wish I could recommend some books, but most of them are the more essential books for atheists. I didn't have enough time yet to read much other books.

A book that maybe not all of you have read in the fictional work The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Great recommendations

Thanks.

The Extended Phenotype was written on an academic level, but it turns out to be pretty readable, right? I'll pick it up in the near future. (I'm slowly going to all Dawkins books, because they are always great reads)

I wouldn't call it "pretty readable", the book requires considerably more effort to understand properly, than any of Dawkin's other books. I had to read some passages multiple times to understand properly and some I couldn't even understand, but this doesn't compromise the overall understanding of the chapters. Richard Dawkins considers it to be his best book.

miniboes wrote:So I don't read much nonfiction but really want to start doing so. I thought I'd start off with some iconic books in the New Atheism movement;
Christopher Hitchens - God is not Great
Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
Sam Harris - The End of Faith

Also I thought Peter Singer's Animal Liberation might be a good book to pick up.

What would you guys recommend?

I am now reading The God Delusion. Nice.

Stephen Gould - Time Arrow, Time's Cycle

I just finished listening The Selfish Gene and will do a coin toss contest for the next book out of your recommendations. The Selfish Gene was great, I feel very smart now. Thanks for the recommendations!

miniboes wrote:The Selfish Gene was great, I feel very smart now.

I hear people say this a lot about this book, and it's completely true. I had the same feeling.

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I just ordered some books, under which:
Jared Diamond - The Third Chimpanzee
Jean-Paul Sartre - Existentialism Is a Humanism
Edwin A. Abbott - Flatland

Of course I can't really recommend them because I haven't read them yet.