Best products from r/humanism

The Good Book: A Humanist Bible by A.C. Grayling. Using the same techniques of editing, redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religions. The Good Book consciously takes its design and presentation from the Bible, in its beauty of language and arrangement into short chapters and verses for ease of reading and quotability, offering to the non-religious seeker all the wisdom, insight, solace, inspiration, and perspective of secular humanist traditions that are older, far richer and more various than Christianity.
http://www.amazon.ca/Good-Book-C-Grayling/dp/0802717373/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369102513&sr=8-1&keywords=the+good+book

Sounds like a decent start. If you haven't already read Peter Singer's Practical Ethics, I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy. Based on the road you've set for yourself, I think you would really, really like to hear the philosophy of a guy who's spent his entire life thinking about this.

If anyone prefers the physical edition. And, if you would like an explanation on why there is such a price difference, I explain in my blog.

Update: Due to popular feedback, I decided to make split versions of the ebook edition for anyone who found 2554 pages too daunting but are still interested in reading my book. In case any of you are still interested.

Part I Only.

Part II Only.

Explanation on pricing can be read here.

I would have to recommend some of Robert Anton Wilson's works for some interesting insight into human experience outside any particular framework. Check out Prometheus Rising.


The Holographic Universe by Grant Talbot tries to explain paranormal and religious phenomena through science, with a foot in quantum theory and the meta-physical. There are probably more recent works along these lines but this was a great introduction when quantum theory was less well known.


Also, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes makes a compelling read. In short, the human brain only recently (within 10,000 years) developed a concept of "I" and otherwise heard an internal voice, the voice of this or that god, guiding them.
Here is a wikipedia outlining the concept


Then there is always Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth with very frank discussions of common archetypes across cultures and how stories become elevated to mythic status.

Good without God is a pretty good introduction to humanism. Good opener. If you want to branch out further you might also want to look into Stoicism ("All men are made one for another") and Epicurean philosophy as these are ancient versions of humanism.

It was the late Christopher Hitchens who first taught me about the inhumanity of Mother Teresa, though I'd watched a lot of clips of his I haven't read his book, The Missionary Position.

What does it mean to be a wretched person? Maybe it means to be someone who feels no greater joy than watching another suffer unto death, just to feel the satisfaction of being there, when in all their desperation and without basic respite, accepting your religion on their deathbed.

By her own accounts she watched nearly 30,000 people come through her doors, and with broken empathy managed to convince them that their suffering only brought them closer to god. I'd like to know how anyone came to the conclusion that this woman was worthy more than anybody else of earning a Nobel peace prize.

Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg Epstein https://www.amazon.com/dp/006167012X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6DybBb0ZVMVM3

Philosopher-turned-crumudgeon John Gray has entered the point of his career where he sees the flaws in just about to everything, and writes a book about it. His attack on humanism is called [Straw Dogs] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0374270937?qid=1425697191&sr=8-1&vs=1) .

People being critical of our ideas is never fun, but it can be valuable. He's not everyone's cup of tea, but it fits the bill of what you're asking for.

Indian thinker Vishal Mangalwadi takes this one step further and proposes in his book The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization that the Bible had the biggest influence on the formation of the Western culture and civilization in general as we know it today. There's a short Video summary on YouTube and some relating articles on his website.

https://www.amazon.com/Humanist-Anthology-Confucius-David-Attenborough/dp/0301940010

My favourite is On Humanism by Richard Norman.

Non-mobile: Straw Dogs

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Book-Humanist-Bible/dp/0802778372

"The God Argument: The Case against Religion and for Humanism"
By: A.C. Grayling

Amazon

The Demon Haunted World, by Carl Sagan