Updated 8/19/14NONFICTIONVoodoo Histories (nonfiction)David AaronovitchAn absorbing, probing look at the conspiracy theories that operate on the sidelines of history and the reasons they continue to play such a seditious role, from an award-winning journalist. Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere- from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana.PAGES: 416STARS: 3Cheapest on Amazon: $2.88 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.94 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Infidel (nonfiction)Ayaan Hirsi AliOne of today’s most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following the murder of Theo van Gogh by an Islamist who threatened that she would be next. She made headlines again when she was stripped of her citizenship and resigned from the Dutch Parliament. PAGES: 384STARS: 4.5Cheapest on Amazon: $4.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.58 Kindle/Amazon: $10.37

Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason (nonfiction)Seth AndrewsEvery day, impressionable young minds are conditioned to blindly accept wild biblical tales of floating zoos, talking shrubbery, 900-year-old humans, the undead, curses, levitation, demon/human hybrids and men who obtain super-human strength from the length of their hair. Allegiance to these teachings is expected, often demanded. Curiosity is muted. Doubt is frowned upon as a sin. And for those who dare to raise a dissenting hand, the threat of Hell looms ominously. A former religious radio host raised in the cradle of Christianity, Seth Andrews battled his own doubts for many years. His attempts to reconcile faith and the facts led him to a conclusion previously unthinkable, and this once-true believer ultimately became the founder of one of the most popular atheist communities on the internet.PAGES: 196STARS: 4.7Cheapest on Amazon: $11.84 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.84 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (nonfiction)Dan ArielyIn this newly revised and expanded edition of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.PAGES: 384STARS: 4

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A History of God (nonfiction)Karen ArmstrongIn this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present. From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the modern age of skepticism, Karen Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual history of monotheism into one superbly readable volume, destined to take its place as a classic.PAGES: 496STARS: 3.9Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.58 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

The Bible (nonfiction)Karen ArmstrongThe Bible has been transformed by translation and, through interpretation, has developed manifold meanings to various religions, denominations, and sects. In this seminal account, acclaimed historian Karen Armstrong discusses the conception, gestation, and life of history’s most powerful book. Armstrong analyzes the social and political situation in which oral history turned into written scripture, how this all-pervasive scripture was collected into one work, and how it became accepted as Christianity’s sacred text.PAGES: 176STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $6.84 Kindle/Amazon: $8.00

Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles) [Paperback] Karen Armstrong (nonfiction)No religion in the modern world is as feared and misunderstood as Islam. It haunts the popular imagination as an extreme faith that promotes terrorism, authoritarian government, female oppression, and civil war. In a vital revision of this narrow view of Islam and a distillation of years of thinking and writing about the subject, Karen Armstrong’s short history demonstrates that the world’s fastest-growing faith is a much more complex phenomenon than its modern fundamentalist strain might suggest.PAGES: 272STARS: 3.5Cheapest on Amazon: $1.75 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.85 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (nonfiction)Reza Aslanfascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was captured, tortured, and executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God. Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told

even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus of Nazareth’s life and mission. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a fast-paced novel: a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and the birth of a religion.PAGES: 336STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $15.20 Asking Price on Amazon: $17.01 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Jihad vs McWorld (nonfiction)Benjamin BarberJihad vs. McWorld is a groundbreaking work, an elegant and illuminating analysis of the central conflict of our times: consumerist capitalism versus religious and tribal fundamentalism. These diametrically opposed but strangely intertwined forces are tearing apart--and bringing together--the world as we know it, undermining democracy and the nation-state on which it dependsPAGES: 432STARS: 3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.88 Kindle/Amazon: $13.99

Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist (nonfiction)Stephen BatchelorWritten with the same brilliance and boldness that made Buddhism Without Beliefs a classic in its field, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist is Stephen Batchelor’s account of his journey through Buddhism, which culminates in a groundbreaking new portrait of the historical Buddha. PAGES: 320STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $5.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.91 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

The Belief Instinct (nonfiction)Jesse BeringJesse Bering unveils the psychological underpinnings of why we believe. Combining lucid accounts of surprising new studies with insights into literature, philosophy, and even pop culture, Bering gives us a narrative that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. He sheds light on such topics as our search for a predestined life purpose, our desire to read divine messages into natural disasters and other random occurrences, our visions of the afterlife, and our curiosity about how moral and immoral behavior are rewarded or punished in this life.PAGES: 252STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $5.81 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.78 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Fundamentals of Extremism (nonfiction)Kimberly BlakerThe politics, educational policies, and social values perpetuated by Christian fundamentalists are exposed in this critical perspective on the religious right's role in American society. Statistics and studies of the movement are offered that provide insight into the causes and characteristics of fundamentalism and its effects on minority groups including women, children, African Americans, gays, and lesbians. PAGES: 288STARS: 4

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The God Problem: How A Godless Cosmos Creates (nonfiction) Howard BloomGod's war crimes, Aristotle's sneaky tricks, Galileos creationism, Newton's intelligent design, entropys errors, Einstein's pajamas, John Conway's game of loneliness, Information Theory's blind spot, Stephen Wolfram's New Kind Of Science, and six monkeys at six typewriters getting it wrong. What do these have to do with the birth of a universe and with your need for meaning? Everything, as you're about to see. PAGES: 575STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $11.99 Asking Price on Amazon: $17.07 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

Hitler’s Pope (nonfiction)John CornwallWhen Hitler ?s Pope , the shocking story of Pope Pius XII that ?redefined the history of the twentieth century? (The Washington Post ) was originally published, it sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Now, award-winning journalist John Cornwell has revisited this seminal work of history with a new introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII, now scheduled to be canonized by the Vatican, weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe. PAGES: 464STARS: 3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.41 Kindle/Amazon: $13.99

The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True (nonfiction)Richard Dawkins & Dave McKeanFilled with clever thought experiments and jaw-dropping facts, The Magic of Reality explains a stunningly wide range of natural phenomena: How old is the universe? Why do the continents look like disconnected pieces of a jigsaw puzzle? What causes tsunamis? Why are there so many kinds of plants and animals? Who was the first man, or woman? Starting with the magical, mythical explanations for the wonders of nature, Dawkins reveals the exhilarating scientific truths behind these occurrences. This is a page-turning detective story that not only mines all the sciences for its clues but primes the reader to think like a scientist as well.PAGES: 272STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $6.40 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.65 Kindle/Amazon: $7.99God Delusion (nonfiction)Richard DawkinsWith rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. PAGES: 464STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $1.95 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.44 Kindle/Amazon: $6.29

Religion for Atheists (nonfiction)Alain De BottonAlain de Botton’s bold and provocative book argues that we can benefit from the wisdom and power of religion—without having to believe in any of it. He suggests that rather than mocking religion, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from it—because the world’s religions are packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. De Botton looks to religion for insights into how to build a sense of community, make relationships last, overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy, inspire travel, get more out of art, and reconnect with the natural world. PAGES: 320STARS: 3.7Cheapest on Amazon: $7.50 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.91 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates (nonfiction)Frans de WaalIn this lively and illuminating discussion of his landmark research, esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal argues that human morality is not imposed from above but instead comes from within. Moral behavior does not begin and end with religion but is in fact a product of evolution. He delivers fascinating fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies that further cements the case for the biological origins of human fairness. Whatever the role of religious moral imperatives, he sees it as a role that emerged only as an addition to our natural instincts for cooperation and empathy.PAGES: 304STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $17.97 Asking Price on Amazon: $20.15 Kindle/Amazon: $14.99

Hope After Faith: An Ex-Pastor’s Journey from Belief to Atheism (nonfiction)Jerry DeWittJerry DeWitt was born and bred into the church and was in fact a Pentecostal preacher before arriving at atheism through an extraordinary dialogue with faith that spanned more than a quarter of a century. Hope After Faith is his account of that journey. He found that the faith which once had formed the cornerstone of his life had finally crumbled to dust. When it became public knowledge that DeWitt was now an atheist, he found himself shunned by much of DeRidder’s highly religious community, losing nearly everything he’d known.PAGES: 288STARS: 4.1Cheapest on Amazon: $2.35 Asking Price on Amazon: $16.64 Kindle/Amazon: $14.49

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition (nonfiction)Jared DiamondEnvironmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted. As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe, and weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. PAGES: 608STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $1.80 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.24 Kindle/Amazon: $14.99

How to Become a Really Good Pain in the Ass: A Critical Thinker's Guide to Asking the Right Questions (nonfiction)Christopher DiCarloIn this witty, incisive guide to critical thinking DiCarlo provides you with the tools to allow you to question beliefs and assumptions held by those who claim to know what they're talking about. These days there are many people whom we need to question: politicians, lawyers, doctors, teachers, clergy members, bankers, car salesmen, and your boss. This book will empower you with the ability to spot faulty reasoning and, by asking the right sorts of questions, hold people accountable not only for what they believe but how they behave. PAGES: 398STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $6.63 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.18 Kindle/Amazon: $10.19

Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don’t Know About Them) (nonfiction)Bart EhrmanThe problems with the Bible that New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman discussed in his bestseller Misquoting Jesus—and on The Daily Show with John Stewart, NPR, and Dateline NBC, among others—are expanded upon exponentially in his latest book: Jesus, Interrupted. This New York Times bestseller reveals how books in the Bible were actually forged by later authors, and that the New Testament itself is riddled with contradictory claims about Jesus—information that scholars know… but the general public does not.PAGES: 304STARS: 3.9Cheapest on Amazon: $4.98 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.92 Kindle/Amazon: $9.78

Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty (nonfiction)Nancy EtcoffEtcoff puts forth that beauty is neither a cultural construction, an invention of the fashion industry, nor a backlash against feminism, but instead is in our biology. It's an essential and ineradicable part of human nature that is revered and ferociously pursued in nearly every civilization--and for good reason. Those features to which we are most attracted are often signals of fertility and fecundity. When seen in the context of a Darwinian struggle for survival, our sometimes extreme attempts to attain beauty--both to become beautiful ourselves and to acquire an attractive partner--become understandable. PAGES: 336STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $1.14 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.88 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

Clarence Darrow – Attorney for the Damned (nonfiction)John FarrellDrawing on untapped archives and full of fresh revelations, here is the definitive biography of America’s legendary defense attorney and progressive hero. Clarence Darrow is the lawyer every law school student dreams of being: on the side of right, loved by many women, played by Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind . His days-long closing arguments delivered without notes won miraculous reprieves for men doomed to hang.

PAGES: 592STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $5.13 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.21 Kindle/Amazon: $13.99

The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion Book One: The Mormons (nonfiction)David FitzgeraldHistorian and award-winning atheist author Dave Fitzgerald takes us behind the Salt Lake Curtain for a glimpse at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and answers your questions: Where did this multi-billion dollar tax-exempt corporation come from? Did Joseph Smith really sleep with all those women? Are the Mormons going to take over the whole world, and if so, is there any way to stop them?PAGES: 336STARS: 4.9Cheapest on Amazon: $11.82 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.66 Kindle/Amazon: $6.66

Horseshoe Crabs & Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind (nonfiction)Richard ForteyFrom one of the world’s leading natural scientists and the acclaimed author of Trilobite!, Life: A Natural History of Four Billion Years of Life on Earth and Dry Storeroom No. 1 comes a fascinating chronicle of life’s history told not through the fossil record but through the stories of organisms that have survived, almost unchanged, throughout time. Evolution, it seems, has not completely obliterated its tracks as more advanced organisms have evolved; the history of life on earth is far older—and odder—than many of us realize. PAGES: 384STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $11.53 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.53 Kindle/Amazon: $14.99

Human (nonfiction)Michael GazzanigaOne of the world's leading neuroscientists explores how best to understand the human condition by examining the biological, psychological, and highly social nature of our species within the social context of our lives. What happened along the evolutionary trail that made humans so unique? In his widely accessible style, Michael Gazzaniga looks to a broad range of studies to pinpoint the change that made us thinking, sentient humans, different from our predecessors. PAGES: 464STARS: 3.2Cheapest on Amazon: $3.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.25 Kindle/Amazon: $8.89

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (nonfiction) Michelle GoldbergIn Kingdom Coming, Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military retirees pledging to seize the nation in Christ's name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country's social problems.

PAGES: 272STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $5.98 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism (nonfiction)Phyllis Goldstein A Convenient Hatred chronicles a very particular hatred through powerful stories that allow readers to see themselves in the tarnished mirror of history. It raises important questions about the consequences of our assumptions and beliefs and the ways we, as individuals and as members of a society, make distinctions between "us" and "them," right and wrong, good and evil. These questions are both universal and particular. PAGES: 432STARS: 4.1Cheapest on Amazon: $5.95 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.81 Kindle/Amazon: $8.77

Angels and Ages (nonfiction)Adam GopnikOn a memorable day in human history, 1809, two babies were born an ocean apart: Abraham Lincoln in a one-room Kentucky log cabin; Charles Darwin on an English country estate. It was a time of backward-seeming notions, when almost everyone still accepted the biblical account of creation as the literal truth and authoritarianism as the most natural and viable social order. But by the time both men died, the world had changed: ordinary people understood that life on earth was a story of continuous evolution, and the Civil War had proved that a democracy could fight for principles and endure. PAGES: 256STARS: 3Cheapest on Amazon: $1.64 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.25 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism (nonfiction)A.C. GraylingWhat are the arguments for and against religion and religious belief--all of them--right across the range of reasons and motives that people have for being religious, and do they stand up to scrutiny? Can there be a clear, full statement of these arguments that once and for all will show what is at stake in this debate? Equally important: what is the alternative to religion as a view of the world and a foundation for morality? Is there a worldview and a code of life for thoughtful people--those who wish to live with intellectual integrity, based on reason, evidence, and a desire to do and be good--that does not interfere with people's right to their own beliefs and freedom of expression? PAGES: 288STARS: 3.7Cheapest on Amazon: $13.50 Asking Price on Amazon: $15.99 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

God vs the Gavel (nonfiction)Marci HamiltonGod vs. the Gavel challenges the pervasive assumption that all religious conduct deserves constitutional protection. While religious conduct provides many benefits to society, it is not always benign. The thesis of the book is that anyone who harms another person should be governed by the laws that govern everyone else - and truth be told, religion is capable of great harm.

PAGES: 430STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $2.45 Asking Price on Amazon: $7.20 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Dear Adam: Discussions with a Budding Atheist (nonfiction)Jeffrey J. HardyDogma: It’s not just for religion anymore ... There is no organization or semblance of men that is not due for a bit of criticism. It is the atheist’s turn. In engaging and easy-to-read prose, Jeffrey J. Hardy re-opens the books to expose the unsubstantiated rumors, opinions, and outright fabrications that have become the foundational dogma of neo-atheistic thought ... and rattles the ignorance and biases of a few believers as well. PAGES: 176STARS: n/aCheapest on Amazon: $8.99 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.99 Kindle/Amazon: $5.99

Letter to a Christian Nation (nonfiction)Sam Harris“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own.” PAGES: 144STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.82 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.36 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Free Will (nonfiction)Samuel HarrisA BELIEF IN FREE WILL touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion. In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life. PAGES: 96STARS: 3.2Cheapest on Amazon: $5.06 Asking Price on Amazon: $9.99 Kindle/Amazon: $3.99

Jezebel (nonfiction)Lesley HazletonThere is no woman with a worse reputation than Jezebel, the ancient queen who corrupted a nation and met one of the most gruesome fates in the Bible. Her name alone speaks of sexual decadence and promiscuity. But what if this version of her story, handed down to us through the ages, is merely the one her enemies wanted us to believe? What if Jezebel was, in fact, framed? PAGES: 272STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.66 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

American Fascists (nonfiction)Chris HedgesTwenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists first spoke of the United States becoming a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedom and our way of life. PAGES: 274STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $1.17 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.20 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

The Portable Atheist (nonfiction)Christopher HitchensFrom the #1 New York Times best-selling author of God Is Not Great, a provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages — with never-before-published pieces by Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices — past and present — that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. PAGES: 528STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $6.78 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.86 Kindle/Amazon: $8.92

The Age of Wonder (nonfiction)Richard HolmesA riveting history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end of the eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science. When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. PAGES: 576STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.50 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.21 Kindle/Amazon: $13.99

How to Build a Dinosaur (nonfiction) John R. Horner & James GormanA world-renowned paleontologist takes readers all over the globe to reveal a new science that trumps science fiction: how humans can re-create a dinosaur. In movies, in novels, in comic strips, and on television, we’ve all seen dinosaurs—or at least somebody’s educated guess of what they would look like. But what if it were possible to build, or grow, a real dinosaur, without finding ancient DNA? PAGES: 256STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.38 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

The Age of American Unreason (nonfiction)Susan JacobyA cultural history of the last forty years, The Age of American Unreason focuses on the convergence of social forces-usually treated as separate entities-that has created a perfect storm of anti-rationalism.

These include the upsurge of religious fundamentalism, with more political power today than ever before; the failure of public education to create an informed citizenry; and the triumph of video over print culture. Sparing neither the right nor the left, Jacoby asserts that Americans today have embraced a universe of “junk thought” that makes almost no effort to separate fact from opinion. PAGES: 384STARS: 3.3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.53 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

God, No! (nonfiction)Penn JilletteFrom the larger, louder half of the world-famous magic duo Penn & Teller comes a scathingly funny reinterpretation of The Ten Commandments. They are The Penn Commandments, and they reveal one outrageous and opinionated atheist's experience in the world. PAGES: 258STARS: 3.3Cheapest on Amazon: $2.35 Asking Price on Amazon: $9.99 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Baubles of Blasphemy (nonfiction)Edwin KaginUnfailing humor, zany logic ... irreverent humor and a doggerel you can dance to ... fiery combination of a backwoods manner, feral urbanity, and an absolutely ruthless search for truth ... will win Edwin Kagin a first-class ticket to hell...Clamors for a place on the bookshelf of any thoughtful person, believer or infidel. Poetry and essays, satirical and serious, humorous and profane. PAGES: 304STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $14.59 Asking Price on Amazon: $18.68 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

Thinking, Fast and Slow (nonfiction) Daniel KahnemanIn the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. PAGES: 512STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $11.56 Asking Price on Amazon: $18.00 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Among the Truthers (nonfiction)Jonathan KayFrom left-wing 9/11 conspiracy theorists to right-wing Obama-hating "birthers"—a sobering, eyewitness look at how America's marketplace of ideas is fracturing into a multitude of tiny, radicalized boutiques—each peddling its own brand of paranoia. Throughout most of our nation's history, the United States has been bound together by a shared worldview. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks opened a rift in the collective national psyche: Increasingly, Americans are abandoning reality and retreating to Internet-based fantasy worlds conjured into existence out of our own fears and prejudices.

PAGES: 368STARS: 2.2Cheapest on Amazon: $13.39 Asking Price on Amazon: $17.38 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Under the Banner of Heaven (nonfiction)Jon KrakauerBrothers Ron and Dan Lafferty insist they were commanded to kill by God. Krakauer's investigation is a meticulously researched, bone-chilling narrative of polygamy, savage violence and unyielding faith: an incisive, gripping work of non-fiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior. PAGES: 432STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.88 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death (nonfiction)Jill LeporeHow does life begin? What does it mean? What happens when we die? “All anyone can do is ask,” Lepore writes. Lepore starts that history with the story of a seventeenth-century Englishman who had the idea that all life begins with an egg and ends it with an American who, in the 1970s, began freezing the dead. In between, life got longer, the stages of life multiplied, and matters of life and death moved from the library to the laboratory, from the humanities to the sciences. Lately, debates about life and death have determined the course of American politics. PAGES: 320STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $10.88 Asking Price on Amazon: $16.63 Kindle/Amazon: $13.99

When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God (nonfiction)T.M. LuhrmannThrough a series of intimate, illuminating interviews with various members of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Tanya Luhrmann leaps into the heart of evangelical faith. Combined with scientific research that studies the effect that intensely practiced prayer can have on the mind, When God Talks Back examines how normal, sensible people—from college students to accountants to housewives, all functioning perfectly well within our society—can attest to having the signs and wonders of the supernatural become as quotidian and as ordinary as laundry. Astute, sensitive, and extraordinarily measured in its approach to the interface between science and religion, Luhrmann's book is sure to generate as much conversation as it will praise.PAGES: 464STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $6.22 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.33 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

When Sex Goes to School (nonfiction)Kristin LukerThere's a sexual revolution coming to a schoolroom near you, but it's not the one you remember. When Sex Goes to School explores the ideas and values behind the fight over sex education through the lives of parents, its most passionate participants. Distinguished sociologist Kristin Luker spent over twenty years talking to people in ordinary communities about sex and how, if at all, it should be taught.

PAGES: 384STARS: 3.3Cheapest on Amazon: $2.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.64 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Piety and Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom (nonfiction)Barry W. LynnThe Reverend Barry Lynn explains why the Religious Right has it all wrong. In the wake of the 2004 presidential election, the Religious Right insisted that George Bush had been handed a mandate for an ideology-based social agenda, including the passage of a “marriage amendment” to ban same-sex unions, diversion of tax money to religious groups through “faith-based initiatives,” the teaching of creationism in public schools, and restrictions on abortion. PAGES: 288STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: n/a Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

Atheism and the Case Against Christ (nonfiction)Matthew McCormickHundreds of millions of people believe that Jesus came back from the dead. Philosopher Matthew S. McCormick presents a decidedly unpopular view in this cogent, forcefully argued book—namely, that the central tenet of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus, is false. Atheism and the Case against Christ undermines Christianity and theism at their foundations; it gives us a powerful model for better critical reasoning; and it builds a compelling case for atheism. Without stooping to condescension or arrogance, McCormick offers persuasive arguments that are accessible, thoughtful, and new.PAGES: 330STARS: 4.7Cheapest on Amazon: $7.60 Asking Price on Amazon: 11.67 Kindle/Amazon: $8.69

You Are Not So Smart(nonfiction) David McRaneyYou believe you are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is, but journalist David McRaney is here to tell you that you're as deluded as the rest of us. But that's OK- delusions keep us sane. You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of self-delusion. It's like a psychology class, with all the boring parts taken out, and with no homework. PAGES: 320STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $9.92 Asking Price on Amazon: $15.30 Kindle/Amazon: $10.99

Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism (nonfiction)David MillsI came across "The Atheist Universe" completely by accident and it turned out to be one of the best books on the subject of Atheism I've ever read. What sets it apart from the others is the accessibility of David Mills' writing style. While other books such as George Smith's "Atheism: The Case Against God" are informative and thought-provoking, they aren't exactly too much fun to read, the tone often being dry and sterile. They come across more as a lecture rather than a discussion. But "The Atheist Universe" is a refreshing change. This is a book you can enjoy reading.PAGES: 272

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The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science- and Reality (nonfiction)Chris MooneyFrom climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing, as is the denial of expert consensus on the economy, American history, foreign policy and much more. Science writer Chris Mooney explores brain scans, polls, and psychology experiments to explain why conservatives today believe more wrong things; appear more likely than Democrats to oppose new ideas and less likely to change their beliefs in the face of new facts; and sometimes respond to compelling evidence by doubling down on their current beliefs. PAGES: 336STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $13.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $15.26 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future (nonfiction)Chris MooneyClimate change, the energy crisis, nuclear proliferation—many of the most urgent problems of the twenty-first century require scientific solutions, yet America is paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than one minute is devoted to science, and the number of newspapers with science sections has shrunk from ninety-five to thirty-three in the last twenty years. In Unscientific America, Chris Mooney and irshenbaum explain this dangerous state of affairs, proposing a broad array of initiatives that could reverse the current trend. PAGES: 240STARS: 3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.10 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.67 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Physics for Future Presidents (nonfiction)Richard MullerLearn the science behind the headlines—the tools of terrorists, the dangers of nuclear power, and the reality of global warming. We live in complicated, dangerous times. They are also hyper-technical times. As citizens who will elect future presidents of the most powerful and influential country in the world, we need to know—truly understand, not just rely on television's talking heads—if Iran's nascent nuclear capability is a genuine threat to the West, if biochemical weapons are likely to be developed by terrorists, if there are viable alternatives to fossil fuels that should be nurtured and supported by the government, if nuclear power should be encouraged, and if global warming is actually happening. PAGES: 384STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $4.07 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.53 Kindle/Amazon: $10.95

Making an Exit (nonfiction)Sarah MurrayThis is a journey into the astonishingly diverse ways in which we send off our dead Journalist Sarah Murray never gave much thought to what might ultimately happen to her remains—until her father died. Now, puzzled by the choices he made about the disposal of his “organic matter,” she embarks on a series of voyages to discover how death is commemorated in different cultures.

PAGES: 320STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $3.21 Asking Price on Amazon: $19.75 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

The Happy Atheist (nonfiction)P.Z. MyersIn this funny and fearless book, Myers takes on the religious fanaticism of our times with the gleeful disrespect it deserves, skewering the apocalyptic fantasies, magical thinking, hypocrisies, and pseudoscientific theories advanced by religious fundamentalists of all stripes. With a healthy appreciation of the absurd, Myers not only pokes fun at the ridiculous tenets of popular religions but also highlights how the persistence of Stone Age superstitions can have dark consequences: interfering with our politics, slowing our scientific progress, and limiting freedom in our culture.PAGES: 208STARS: 3.1Cheapest on Amazon: $16.29 Asking Price on Amazon: $16.29 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Absolute Monarchs (nonfiction)John Julius NorwichWith the papacy embattled in recent years, it is essential to have the perspective of one of the world’s most accomplished historians. In Absolute Monarchs, John Julius Norwich captures nearly two thousand years of inspiration and devotion, intrigue and scandal. The men (and maybe one woman) who have held this position of infallible power over millions have ranged from heroes to rogues, admirably wise to utterly decadent. PAGES: 528STARS: 3.3Cheapest on Amazon: $5.78 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.60 Kindle/Amazon: $15.99

Scientists Confront Creationism (nonfiction)Andrew J. PettoIn a time when creationist textbooks continue to appear in classrooms and the president of the United States encourages educators to “teach both sides” of the argument, Scientists Confront Creationism presents an accessible defense of evolution and a blueprint to save public education in this country from the dangers of pseudoscience. Scientists Confront Creationism reveals the persuasive evidence for evolution and the bankruptcy of the creationists’ claims. While telling the history of creationism in America, this powerful collection eviscerates “intelligent design” and reveals the newest tactics taken by antievolutionist proponents. PAGES: 354STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $22.95 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

Idiot America (nonfiction)Charles P. PierceIn the midst of a career-long quest to separate the smart from the pap, Charles Pierce had a defining moment at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where he observed a dinosaur. Wearing a saddle.... But worse than this was when the proprietor exclaimed to a cheering crowd, “We are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists!” He knew then and there it was time to try and salvage the Land of the

Enlightened, buried somewhere in this new Home of the Uninformed. PAGES: 320STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $4.11 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.85 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World (nonfiction)Stephen ProtheroStephen Prothero, the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy, makes a fresh and provocative argument that, contrary to popular understanding, all religions are not simply different paths to the same end… and why this matters greatly for us. Readers of Huston Smith and Karen Armstrong will find much to ponder in God Is Not One.PAGES: 400STARS: 3.5Cheapest on Amazon: $2.70 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.57 Kindle/Amazon: $10.67

Rapture Ready! (nonfiction)Daniel RadoshWhat does it mean when a band is judged by how hard they pray rather than how hard they rock? Would Jesus buy "Jesus junk" or wear "witness wear"? What do Christian skate parks, raves, and romance novels say about evangelicalism -- and America? Daniel Radosh went searching for the answers and reached some surprising conclusions. Written with the perfect blend of amusement and respect, Rapture Ready! is an insightful, entertaining, and deeply weird journey through the often hidden world of Christian pop culture. PAGES: 320STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.65 Kindle/Amazon: $16.99

The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn (nonfiction)Diane RavitchTextbook publishers and state education agencies have sought to root out racist, sexist, and elitist language in classroom and library materials. But according to Diane Ravitch, a leading historian of education, what began with the best of intentions has veered toward bizarre extremes. At a time when we celebrate and encourage diversity, young readers are fed bowdlerized texts, devoid of the references that give these works their meaning and vitality. PAGES: 288STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $1.21 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.88 Kindle/Amazon: $13.99

The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture (nonfiction)Darrel W. RayWhat makes religion so powerful? How does it weave its way into our political system? Why do people believe and follow obvious religious charlatans? What makes people profess deep faith even as they act in ways that betray that faith? What makes people blind to the irrationalities of their religion yet clearly see those of others? If these questions interest you, this book will give you the tools to understand religion and its power in you, your family and your culture.PAGES: 241

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Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion (nonfiction)Janet ReitmanJanet Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, in an evenhanded account that at last establishes the astonishing truth about the controversial religion. She traces Scientology’s development from the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a pseudoscientific self-help group to a worldwide spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and even ex-followers. Based on five years of research, unprecedented access to Church officials, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is the defining book about a little-known world.PAGES: 464STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $2.83 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.11 Kindle/Amazon: $14.99

Genome (nonfiction)Matt RidleyThe genome's been mapped. But what does it mean? Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will, questions that will affect your life. PAGES: 368STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $2.63 Asking Price on Amazon: $9.18 Kindle/Amazon: $9.78

Generation Atheist (nonfiction)Dan RileyThere's a changing zeitgeist in America and the world: a growing number of people are finding truth and meaning from the opposite perspective. Through 25 personal narratives, Generation Atheist tells their stories. The people in this book come from different religious upbringings, races, sexual orientations, and genders. Many have gone through very emotional journeys in coming to a sustained, open atheistic worldview. Most were quite religious at one point in their lives. Through the internet, humanity is engaged in a global conversation unlike any before in history -- about who we are, why we are here, and how we should live -- and these individuals have an important perspective to share. PAGES: 294STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $12.95 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.95 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

‘Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America (nonfiction)Naomi Shaefer RileyIn the last decade, 45% of all marriages in the U.S. were between people of different faiths. The rapidly growing number of mixed-faith families has become a source of hope, encouraging openness and tolerance among religious communities that historically have been insular and suspicious of other faiths. Yet as what is good for society as a whole often proves difficult for individual families: interfaith couples, Riley shows, are less happy than others and certain combinations of religions are more likely to lead to

divorce. This is a fascinating exploration of the promise and peril of interfaith marriage today. PAGES: 256STARS: 4.0Cheapest on Amazon: $11.99 Asking Price on Amazon: $15.19 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself (nonfiction)Adam RutherfordScience writer Rutherford explains how we are now radically exceeding the boundaries of evolution and engineering entirely novel creatures. This new, synthetic biology is helping scientists develop radical solutions to some of the world’s most pressing crises and is paving the way for inventions once relegated to science fiction. Meanwhile, these advances are shedding new light on the biggest mystery of all—how did life begin? We know that every creature on Earth came from a single cell, sparked into existence four billion years ago. And as we come closer and closer to understanding the ancient root that connects all living things, we may finally be able to achieve a second genesis—the creation of new life where none existed before.PAGES: 288STARS: 4.7Cheapest on Amazon: $10.92 Asking Price on Amazon: $19.59 Kindle/Amazon: $12.74

Sorcerer's Apprentice: An Incredible Journey into the World of India's Godmen (nonfiction)Tahir ShahSorcerer’s Apprentice is the amazing story of Shah’s apprenticeship to one of India’s master conjurers, Hakim Feroze, and his initiation into the brotherhood of Indian godmen. Told with self-deprecating wit, panache, and an eye for the outlandish, it is an account of a magical journey across India. Feroze teaches the author the basics of his craft, such as sleights of hand, immersing his hands in boiling oil and lead, and—Aaron’s old trick from the Bible—turning a rod into a serpent.PAGES: 323STARS: 4.5Cheapest on Amazon: $2.52 Asking Price on Amazon: $2.96 Kindle/Amazon: $2.99

Why People Believe Weird Things (nonfiction)Michael ShermerThis work presents a down-to-earth and sometimes funny survey of a range of contemporary irrationalisms, and explains their empirical and logical flaws. It tackles a variety of topics including creationism, Holocaust denial, race and IQ, cults and alien abductions, and the author looks at the research behind the claims and discredits the pseudoscience involved. PAGES: 384STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.24 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Your Inner Fish (nonfiction)Neil ShubinNeil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik —the "missing link" that made headlines around the world in April 2006—tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. PAGES: 256

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Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious (nonfiction)Chris StedmanIn Faitheist, Stedman draws on his work organizing interfaith and secular communities, his academic study of religion, and his own experiences to argue for the necessity of bridging the growing chasm between atheists and the religious. As someone who has stood on both sides of the divide, Stedman is uniquely positioned to present a way for atheists and the religious to find common ground and work together to make this world—the one world we can all agree on—a better place.PAGES: 208STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $10.99 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.99 Kindle/Amazon: $12.62

The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: Why the Universe Is Not Designed for Us (nonfiction)Victor J. StengerA number of authors have noted that if some physical parameters were slightly changed, the universe could no longer support life, as we know it. In this in-depth, lucid discussion of this fascinating and controversial topic, physicist Victor J. Stenger looks at the same evidence and comes to the opposite conclusion. He states at the outset that as a physicist he will go wherever the data takes him, even if it leads him to God. But after many years of research in particle physics and thinking about its implications, he finds that the observations of science and our naked senses not only show no evidence for God, they provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that God does not exist. PAGES: 345STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $10.78 Asking Price on Amazon: $15.90 Kindle/Amazon: $10.19

God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion (nonfiction)Victor J. StengerIt has become the prevalent view among sociologists, historians, and some theistic scientists that religion and science have never been in serious conflict. Some even claim that Christianity was responsible for the development of science. In God and the Folly of Faith, physicist Victor J. Stenger shows that this conclusion flies in the face of the historical facts. In a sweeping historical survey that begins with ancient Greek science and proceeds through the Renaissance and Enlightenment to contemporary advances in physics and cosmology, Stenger makes a convincing case that Christianity held back the progress of science for one thousand years. It is significant, he notes, that the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century occurred only after the revolts against established ecclesiastic authorities in the Renaissance and Reformation opened up new avenues of thought.PAGES: 408STARS: 4.1Cheapest on Amazon: $5.88 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.66 Kindle/Amazon: $8.69

The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason (nonfiction)Victor J. Stenger In this new book, Victor J. Stenger, whose God: The Failed Hypothesis was on the New York Times bestseller list in 2007, reviews and expands upon the principles of New Atheism and answers many of its critics. He demonstrates in detail that naturalism--the view that all of reality is reducible to matter and

nothing else--is sufficient to explain everything we observe in the universe, from the most distant galaxies to the inner workings of the brain that result in the phenomenon of mind. PAGES: 282STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $3.53 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.75 Kindle/Amazon: $9.59

The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children (nonfiction)Katherine StewartIn 2009, the Good News Club came to the public elementary school where journalist Katherine Stewart sent her children. The Club, which is sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, bills itself as an after-school program of “Bible study.” But Stewart soon discovered that the Club’s real mission is to convert children to fundamentalist Christianity and encourage them to proselytize to their “unchurched” peers, all the while promoting the natural but false impression among the children that its activities are endorsed by the school. Astonished to discover that the U.S. Supreme Court has deemed this—and other forms of religious activity in public schools—legal, Stewart set off on an investigative journey to dozens of cities and towns across the nation to document the impact. PAGES: 304STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $5.21 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.40 Kindle/Amazon: $14.29

Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness (nonfiction)Ian TattersallNoted anthropologist and renaissance man Ian Tattersall explores what makes us uniquely human, the qualities that set us apart from our ancestors, and the significance of our knowledge. A worldwide tour of discovery, Tattersall takes the reader from 30,000-year-old cave paintings in France and anthropological digs in Africa, to examining human behavior in a New York restaurant. And by offering wisdom gleaned from fossil remains, primate behavior, prehistoric art, and archaeology, Tattersall presents a stunning picture of where humankind evolved, how Darwin's theories have changed, and what we reliably know about modern-day human's capacity for love, language, and thought.PAGES: 272STARS: 3.5Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.01 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

The Bonehunters’ Revenge (nonfiction)David Rains WallaceWhen dinosaur fossils were first discovered in the Wild West, they sparked one of the greatest scientific battles in American history. Over the past century it has been known by many names -- the Bone War, the Fossil Feud -- but the tragic story of the competition for fame and natural treasure between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two leading paleontologists of the Gilded Age, remains prophetic of the conquest of the West as well as a watershed event in science. PAGES: 384STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $20.95 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

Why I Am Not a Muslim ( nonfiction)Ibn Warraq

This critical examination reveals an unflattering picture of the faith and its practitioners. Nevertheless, it is the truth, something that has either been deliberately concealed by modern scholars or buried in obscure journals accessible only to a select few. "My favorite book on Islam is the rationalist critique Why I Am Not a Muslim." - Christopher Hitchens in The Atlantic Monthly.PAGES: 428STARS: 3.5Cheapest on Amazon: $3.46 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.58 Kindle/Amazon: $8.69

A Fish Caught in Time (nonfiction)Samantha WeinbergThe coelacanth (see-la-canth) is no ordinary fish. Five feet long, with luminescent eyes and limb-like fins, this bizarre creature, presumed to be extinct, was discovered in 1938 by an amateur ichthyologist who recognized it from fossils dating back 400 million years. The discovery was immediately dubbed the "greatest scientific find of the century," but the excitement that ensued was even more incredible. PAGES: 220STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.92 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.20 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

Leaving the Fold (nonfiction)Marlene WinellThis book by psychologist Marlene Winell provides valuable insights into the dangers of religious indoctrination and outlines what therapists and victims can do to reclaim a healthier human spirit.... Both former believers searching for a new beginning and those just starting to subject their faith to the requirements of simple common sense, if not analytical reason, may find valuable assistance in these pages. PAGES: 316STARS: 5Cheapest on Amazon: $15.26 Asking Price on Amazon: $20.95 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief (nonfiction)Lawrence WrightA clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—both famous and less well known—and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.PAGES: 448STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $12.98 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.98 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Society Without God (nonfiction)Phil ZuckermanBefore he began his recent travels, it seemed to Phil Zuckerman as if humans all over the globe were “getting religion”—praising deities, performing holy rites, and soberly defending the world from sin. But most residents of Denmark and Sweden, he found, don’t worship any god at all, don’t pray, and don’t give much credence to religious dogma of any kind.

PAGES: 248STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $13.12 Asking Price on Amazon: $18.01 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

FICTIONThe 19th Wife (fiction)David EbershoffThe 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense. It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. PAGES: 544STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.20 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

Our Lady of the Forest (fiction)David GutersonAn emotionally charged, provocative new novel about a teenage girl who claims to see the Virgin Mary. On a November afternoon, in the foggy woods of North Fork, Washington, the Virgin comes to her, clear as day. Father Collins—a young priest new to North Fork—finds Ann disturbingly alluring. But it is up to him to evaluate—impartially—the veracity of Ann’s sightings: Are they delusions, or a true calling to God? PAGES: 336STARS: 2.3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.00 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Reason’s Fifth Dawning (fiction)Alan JeskinA single event set the lives of four very different people on intersecting trajectories that changed the world forever. A fighter pilot in California, a hedge fund CEO in New York, a televangelist in Texas, and an immigrant Pakistani student in Michigan had very little in common. That changed dramatically when an act of terror forced their lives to converge in violence, tragedy, common purpose, perseverance and triumph. Over the course of fifteen years, the actions and interactions of these four disparate people led to the beginning of a new age of enlightenment and the dismantling of one of humanity’s oldest and most resilient institutions.PAGES: 452STARS: 5Cheapest on Amazon: $12.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.00 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Sandman Slim (fiction)Richard KadreyJames Stark spent 11 years killing monsters in Lucifer's arena for the entertainment of fallen angels, but now he's back in seedy, magic-riddled L.A., trying to avenge his girlfriend's murder and hunt down Mason Faim, the black magician responsible for getting him sent downtown. He meets with some initial success, beheading second-rate magician Kasabian (whose head becomes Stark's smart-mouthed sidekick), but he can't find Faim. Instead he encounters Homeland Security agents, a near-psychotic

angel and some odd nonhuman, nonangelic beings called the kissi. Darkly atmospheric settings bring this violent fantasy into sharp, compelling focus.PAGES: 388STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $5.58 Asking Price on Amazon: $7.23 Kindle/Amazon: $6.87

The Dispossessed (fiction)Ursula K Le GuinShevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. he will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Anarres, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change. PAGES: 400STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $0.68 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.87 Kindle/Amazon: $6.99

Solaris (fiction)Stanislaw LemWhen Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others examining the planet, Kelvin learns, are plagued with their own repressed and newly corporeal memories. The Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates these incarnate memories, though its purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts. PAGES: 224STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $1.94 Asking Price on Amazon: $9.55 Kindle/Amazon: $4.61

Elders (fiction)Ryan McIlvainElder McLeod—outspoken, surly, a brash American—is nearing the end of his mission in Brazil. For nearly two years he has spent his days studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon, knocking on doors, teaching missionary lessons—“experimenting on the word.” His new partner is Elder Passos, a devout, ambitious Brazilian who found salvation and solace in the church after his mother’s early death. The two men are at first suspicious of each other, and their work together is frustrating, fruitless. That changes when a beautiful woman and her husband offer the missionaries a chance to be heard, to put all of their practice to good use, to test the mettle of their faith. But before they can bring the couple to baptism, they must confront their own long-held beliefs and doubts, and the simmering tensions at the heart of their friendship.PAGES: 304STARS: 3.8Cheapest on Amazon: $10.08 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.28 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

Damned (fiction)Chuck Palahniuk

“Are you there, Satan? It’s me, Madison,” declares the whip-tongued thirteen-year-old narrator of Damned, Chuck Palahniuk’s subversive new work of fiction. The daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire, Madison is abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas, while her parents are off touting their new projects and adopting more orphans. She dies over the holiday of a marijuana overdose—and the next thing she knows, she’s in Hell. Madison shares her cell with a motley crew of young sinners that is almost too good to be true: a cheerleader, a jock, a nerd, and a punk rocker, united by fate to form the six-feet-under version of everyone’s favorite detention movie. Madison and her pals trek across the Dandruff Desert and climb the treacherous Mountain of Toenail Clippings to confront Satan in his citadel PAGES: 256STARS: 3.4Cheapest on Amazon: $9.42 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.17 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

Up Jumps the Devil (fiction)Michael PooreJohn Scratch, the Devil himself, is the protagonist in this stunningly imaginative, sharp, funny, and tender novel, as he tricks, teases, and prods America to greatness in the hope of luring his lost love back down to Earth from Heaven. Up Pops the Devil is fiction with humor and heart, the kind of hilarious, off-beat, and original reading experience that fans of Chris Moore, Joe Hill, Chuck Palahniuk, and Jim Shepard would sell their souls for—a brilliant blending of the occult and the outrageous starring the anti-hero of anti-heroes, the one and only Prince of Darkness.PAGES: 368STARS: 4.1Cheapest on Amazon: $5.23 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.59 Kindle/Amazon: $7.99

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (fiction)Philip PullmanThis gospel retelling is relatively faithful in style, time line, and events to the four canonical gospels-though Pullman injects a very Pullman-like spin on it by splitting Jesus Christ into two men, among other creative twists. Twin babies are born of the virgin Mary, one called Jesus, the other Christ. After a childhood in which Christ is a goody-goody and Jesus the popular one, Jesus and Christ continue down separate but intertwined paths, with Christ sneaking around, spying on Jesus's ministry and writing down his every word and deed. Jesus becomes a philosopher-revolutionary and Christ is the politically savvy brother, who ultimately proves naïve. Pullman's gospel version reveals how the politics and structure of the institutional church were plotted by power-hungry men, who used the renown of Jesus and his well-meaning, devoted brother Christ as pawns in their corrupt game-a critique that will be familiar to readers of His Dark Materials.PAGES: 272STARS: 3.5Cheapest on Amazon: $2.42 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.68 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

Christian Nation (fiction)Frederic C. RichWhen President McCain dies and Sarah Palin becomes president, the reader, along with the nation, stumbles down a terrifyingly credible path toward theocracy, realizing too late that the Christian right meant precisely what it said. One of America’s foremost lawyers lays out in chilling detail what such a

future might look like: constitutional protections dismantled; all aspects of life dominated by an authoritarian law called “The Blessing,” enforced by a totally integrated digital world known as the "Purity Web."PAGES: 352STARS: 3.7Cheapest on Amazon: $13.04 Asking Price on Amazon: $18.73 Kindle/Amazon: $10.99

What in God's Name: A Novel (fiction)Simon Rich Welcome to Heaven, Inc., the grossly mismanaged corporation in the sky. For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as "God") has been phoning it in. Lately, he's been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it's not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him. When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs - uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks - and they refuse to accept that earth is going under. PAGES: 240STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $11.39 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.91 Kindle/Amazon: $10.99

Factoring Humanity (fiction)Robert J. SawyerIn the near future, a signal is detected coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Mysterious, unintelligible data streams in for ten years. Heather Davis, a professor in the University of Toronto psychology department, has devoted her career to deciphering the message. Her estranged husband, Kyle, is working on the development of artificial intelligence systems and new computer technology utilizing quantum effects to produce a near-infinite number of calculations simultaneously. PAGES: 336STARS: 3.3Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $13.13 Kindle/Amazon: n/a

RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEWRashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved: A Novel of Love and the Talmud in Medieval France (fiction/Judaism)Maggie AntonIn 1068, the scholar Salomon ben Isaac returns home to Troyes, France, to take over the family winemaking business and embark on a path that will indelibly influence the Jewish world—writing the first Talmud commentary, and secretly teaching Talmud to his daughters. Joheved, the eldest of his three girls, finds her mind and spirit awakened by religious study, but, knowing the risk, she must keep her passion for learning and prayer hidden. When she becomes betrothed to Meir ben Samuel, she is forced to choose between marital happiness and being true to her love of the Talmud. PAGES: 384STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.88 Kindle/Amazon: $12.99

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (nonfiction/Islam)Reza AslanIn No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islam—the origins and evolution of the faith—in all its beauty and complexity. This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzing how they have influenced Islam’s position in modern culture. Aslan explores what the popular demonstrations pushing for democracy in the Middle East mean for the future of Islam in the region, how the Internet and social media have affected Islam’s evolution, and how the war on terror has altered the geopolitical balance of power in the Middle East. He also provides an update on the contemporary Muslim women’s movement, a discussion of the controversy over veiling in Europe, an in-depth history of Jihadism, and a look at how Muslims living in North America and Europe are changing the face of Islam. Timely and persuasive, No god but God is an elegantly written account that explains this magnificent yet misunderstood faith. PAGES: 384STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $9.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $11.56 Kindle/Amazon: $11.99

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back (nonfiction/Christian)Todd BurpoWhen Colton Burpo made it through an emergency appendectomy, his family was overjoyed at his miraculous survival. What they weren’t expecting, though, was the story that emerged in the months that followed—a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy’s trip to heaven and back. With disarming innocence and the plainspoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members. He describes Jesus, the angels, how “really, really big” God is, and how much God loves us. Retold by his father, but using Colton’s uniquely simple words, Heaven Is for Real offers a glimpse of the world that awaits us. PAGES: 163STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $2.25 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.19 Kindle/Amazon: $8.99

The Red Tent: A Novel (fiction/Judaism) Anita DiamantHer name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons. Told in Dinah's voice, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of the mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. PAGES: 321STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: n/a Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

A Year of Biblical Womanhood (nonfiction/Christian)Rachel Held EvansIntrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans decides to try it for herself, vowing to take all of the

Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible for a year. With just the right mixture of humor and insight, compassion and incredulity, A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation. What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor. PAGES: 352STARS: 4.5Cheapest on Amazon: $6.62 Asking Price on Amazon: $12.38 Kindle/Amazon: $8.63

The Lie: Evolution (nonfiction/Christian)Ken HamToday we have Christians not only confused when it comes to Genesis and age of the earth, but even the reality of Hell, Adam as a real person, and Christ’s own words about creation, marriage and more are being debated in the pulpits across the world. In this special revised and updated edition, Ken Ham again takes the lead in pointing out the looming precipice the Church is rushing towards, how evolution and/or millions of years, is driving away young people of the faith, and the biblical solution that can change it!PAGES: 220STARS: 4.4Cheapest on Amazon: $5.35 Asking Price on Amazon: 12.08 Kindle/Amazon: $7.99

Redeeming Love (fiction/Christian) Francine RiversAngel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father’s heart in everything. Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. But with her unexpected softening comes overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does…the One who will never let her go. Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love. PAGES: 479STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $2.30 Asking Price on Amazon: $10.19 Kindle/Amazon: $9.99

A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood (nonfiction/Judaism) Raymond P. ScheindlinThis sweeping and highly informative work presents the major geographical, cultural, and political forces that have determined the course of Jewish history, introducing the many individuals, both religious and secular, who have shaped the character, mindset, and prospects of the Jewish people. Organized chronologically, the narrative follows the Jewish experience from legendary times to the peace agreements currently being negotiated in the Middle East. PAGES: 288STARS: 4.3Cheapest on Amazon: $7.00 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.07 Kindle/Amazon: $7.52

The Shack (fiction/Christian) Wm. Paul Young

Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever. PAGES: 304STARS: 4Cheapest on Amazon: $0.01 Asking Price on Amazon: $7.99 Kindle/Amazon: $4.99

If I Should Speak (fiction/Islam)Umm ZakiyyahThe author promises to revolutionize story telling in this powerful story about three college students, one Christian and the others Muslim, who find themselves unlikely roommates at a small, private American university. Tamika, the main character of this novel, is a sophomore in college who dreams of becoming a famous singer. After a fight with her roommate, she is forced to move out of her room and ends up living with two Muslims, one who is religious, while the other is becoming discontented with the religion. PAGES: 200STARS: 4.2Cheapest on Amazon: $8.95 Asking Price on Amazon: $14.99 Kindle/Amazon: $10.00

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