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A review by stevereally
The Atheist's Guide to Christmas by Robin Harvie, Stephanie Meyers
3.0
There are definitely some four-star essays in here but also some two-star pieces. I sympathize strongly with their preference for forty-two as the number of contributors, but the collection would be better off without some of the pieces. The good ones were worth finding, though.
The most valuable are by A.C. Grayling and Mitch Benn. Along with those, I also recommend the pieces by Richard Dawkins and Simon Singh. Some bits of the Claire Rayner essay are helpful. The Nick Doody piece is wildly clever and quite funny.
The David Stubbs, Adam Rutherford, and Charlie Brooker pieces are worth reading despite their disappointing pattern ignoring the Christmas angle altogether while they make interesting points about atheism and religion.
The stuff in the first section of the book, "Stories," is the most disappointing. Skip it altogether, or at least until after you've read all the rest of the essays in the book. (Meanwhile, there are some [better] stories in most sections of the book, whether the section is Science, Philosophy, Arts, or Events.)
The most valuable are by A.C. Grayling and Mitch Benn. Along with those, I also recommend the pieces by Richard Dawkins and Simon Singh. Some bits of the Claire Rayner essay are helpful. The Nick Doody piece is wildly clever and quite funny.
The David Stubbs, Adam Rutherford, and Charlie Brooker pieces are worth reading despite their disappointing pattern ignoring the Christmas angle altogether while they make interesting points about atheism and religion.
The stuff in the first section of the book, "Stories," is the most disappointing. Skip it altogether, or at least until after you've read all the rest of the essays in the book. (Meanwhile, there are some [better] stories in most sections of the book, whether the section is Science, Philosophy, Arts, or Events.)