Book Recommendations

One of the things that separates humans from other animals is our ability to accumulate and perpetuate knowledge over time. The written word is a the major vehicle for this phenomenon. Carl Sagan went so far as to argue that this ability is a kind of extra-corporeal form of evolution.

Humanists are, as a group, avid readers.

The Board is compiling a recommended reading list for those interested in studying humanism. Come back to this page from time to time because titles will be added. Please note that reviewed on this site are linked to the article. Click on the title to read the review.

If you have a title that belongs on the list please send it to the webmaster. Or better yet, write a review and send it to the webmaster.

Humanism, the Next Step
Lloyd & Mary Morain

Philosophy of Humanism
Corliss Lamont

Road to Reason
Pat Duffy Hutcheon

Humanism, Beliefs and Practices
Jeaneane Fowler

Humanist Anthology
Margaret Knight

Humanism with a Human Face
Howard B. Radest

Humanism
Barbara Smoker

Humanist Alternative
Eupraxophy: Living Without Religion
Paul Kurtz

Freethought Across the Centuries
Gerald Larue

Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality
More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality
Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking
Steve Allen

I, Asimov: A Memoir
The Roving Mind
66 Essays on the Past, Present & Future
The Foundation Series
Isaac Asimov

The Ascent of Man
Origins of Knowledge and Imagination
Jacob Bronowski

Connections
James Burke

The Skeptic's Dictionary
Robert Todd Carroll

Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! Collected Essays 1934-1998
Arthur C. Clarke

Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays
Clarence Darrow

Origin of Species
Charles Darwin

The Blind Watchmaker
The God Delusion
Unweaving the Rainbow
Ancestor's Tale
Richard Dawkins

Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative
Christian de Duve

The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism
Niles Eldredge

What Do You Care What Other People Think?
The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist
Richard P. Feynman

Earth: An Intimate History
Richard Fortey

Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?
Martin Gardner

Scientists Confront Creationism
Edited by Laurie R. Godfrey

Rock Of Ages
Stephen Jay Gould

The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll In Twelve Volumes

The Best of Robert Ingersoll
The Best of Humanism
Edited by Roger E. Greeley

The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology
Horace Freeland Judson

Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials
Wendy Kaminer

The Nature of Reality
Richard Morris

The Living US Constitution
Saul K. Padover

Rights of Man
Common Sense
Age of Reason
Thomas Paine

Einstein Lived Here
Abraham Pais

Why I Am Not a Christian
Bertrand Russell

Dragons of Eden
Cosmos
Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Pale Blue Dot
Broca's Brain
Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors: The Search for Who We Are
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
Carl Sagan

Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History
Richard Shenkman

Why People Believe Weird Things
How We Believe
Michael Shermer

Ustinov: Still at Large
Peter Ustinov

Creation Stories of the Middle East
Ewa Wasilewska

Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
Robert L. Park

Welcome to the Monkey House
Player Piano
Sirens of Titan
Mother Night
Cat's Cradle
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater; or Pearls Before Swine
Slaughter House Five; or The Children's Crusade, A Duty Dance with Death
Breakfast of Champions
Slapstick; or Lonesome no More
Jailbird
Deadeye Dick
Galapagos
Bluebeard
Hocus Pocus
Timequake
God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian
Kurt Vonnegut

Consilience
Edward O. Wilson

Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience
William F. Williams

Politics of Enlightenment
Darren Staloff

The World is Flat
Thomas Friedman

Think
Michael R. LeGault

1 % Doctrine
Ron Suskind

Reason and Reverence
William Murry

Doubt, a History
Michael Hecht

The Assault on Reason
Al Gore

The Falls
Joyce Carol Oates