Paul Fidalgo

This is the last of the Four Horsemen's books that I have read (and I heartily recommend all of them), and I was putting this one off because I assumed it might be something of a retread – choir-preaching, if you will. Indeed, if you have seen Hitchens debate or appear on television, you've come across a lot of what is in this book. What in one unified tome, God is Not Great is an excellent and quick read, at that (though perhaps more like a series of related essays than a single narrative, particularly in the second to last section which is something of a truncation of Jennifer Hecht's “Doubt: A History”). Happily, I can also say that even though it is Hitchens it, like the books of Dawkins, Harris, and Dennett, is not arrogant, it is not mean-spirited. Hitchens takes this subject very seriously, sees real consequences to superstition and theism, and makes a hard-nosed, unapologetic case. Confidence is not arrogance, telling hard truths is not mean. You may find more to disagree with in the more nuanced political positions he takes, but his case against religion is compelling.

I've had this sitting in my collection unfinished for years now. Once so excited about it (I'm a huge fan of Gore on the whole), it's essentially a book-length indictment of Bush rather than a real defense of reason-based policy. That's fine, but now it's 2010, the damage of the Bush administration is not news, and though it must never be forgotten, I'm full for now. Shelving this about 2/3 of the way through.

Yes, I loved this book, and the irony is that had it not been offered free for the Kindle, I never would have read it. Let me be more blunt, actually. Not only would I not have read it, but I would have scoffed at it.

“His Majesty's Dragon”?? Come on. At best I would have read the title aloud in a mocking tone and escaped the fantasy/sci-fi section with haste. See the cover art? Just like every other magic-y, Lord-of-the-Rings-y, fantasy book you see piling up in bookstores. What's to differentiate one from another? They all blend together into a haze of something that might as well be labeled “for fans of this genre only.”

But it was free for the Kindle. So I took a look. I checked up on some reviews, and the Washington Post was very favorable. What the hell, I need metro train reading, let's try the first few pages.

Hooked. Schooled.

It's smart, it's charming, it's subtle. It respects the reader, the characters are fully realized, complete with quirks that are just visible enough to fool you into thinking these people (and dragons) are real.

So smart business model. I'll be buying all the rest in the series forthwith. Stupid-sounding titles or no.

Oh, and having read the book, the title's not actually stupid. Hmph.

A good read, but more importantly, a really solid education; Not simply in terms of the history of doubters, but the history of, well, thought. Of philosophy. For someone who didn't quite get the education he might have liked, this book is a great tour through different ways of thinking about the world, freed from the gauze and blur of supernaturalism.