Description

A wise and witty collection of quips, quotes, and musings from the world’s greatest geniuses and jokers, proving once again that “all thinking men are atheists” (Ernest Hemingway)

“The world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue, are complete skeptics in religion.”—John Stewart Mill

A counterweight to the profusion of pious collections, The Atheist’s Bible brings together the best of these “brightest ornaments”: great scientists, writers, philosophers, and comedians throughout history who have questioned the wisdom (and sanity) of organized religion. Far from a cynical polemic, this “bible” shares the same joy, love of beauty, and human wonder that religious books of quotations provide, but with a healthy dose of independent thought and without dogma.

From Sophocles to Homer Simpson, from Einstein to the Marquis de Sade, these geniuses and jokers provide an incisive, witty perspective on the eternal questions of God and Truth.

About the Author

Joan Konner is a veteran, award-winning journalist in television and print. She served for nine years as Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she introduced and taught a course in "Covering Ideas," and was publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review from 1988 to 1999. Her most recent television production was "The Mystery of Love," a 2-hour documentary special broadcast on public television in December 2006. She has produced more than 50 documentaries for public and commercial television, including the legendary six part television documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. She also founded Public Affairs Television in partnership with Bill Moyers, and served as President of the company and Executive Producer of such series as God and Politics, In Search of the Constitution, and The World of Ideas. Her work has been widely honored: in addition to 16 Emmys, she has won the Peabody Award; Alfred. I. duPont Award; three American Bar Association Awards; the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s Alumni Award; and the New Jersey Press Women’s Association Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. She has also been a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board. She is now Professor Emerita and Dean Emerita of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and lives with her husband in New York City.

Praise For…

“This slim, attractive volume will amuse nonbelievers -- and, ironically, cause them to spend hours reading about God and religion.” — Boston Globe

“If atheism’s going mass you need not just a sacred text but an easily portable one...” — Philadelphia Inquirer

“A witty compendium...With wisdom, wit, intelligence and probing queries, it bears snippets from a hugely diverse range of characters.” — Sunday Telegraph