The Freethinker's Bookshelf

The most widely read freethought text of the 18th century, written in a French prison and smuggled out — Paine's systematic, accessible critique of revealed religion.

Hitchens' anthology of freethought writing from Lucretius to Salman Rushdie — the best single-volume tour of the tradition.

The collection that made Russell the most famous atheist of the 20th century — essays combining rigorous argument with elegant wit.

One of the strangest and most rewarding books ever written — an exploration of self-reference, consciousness, and the nature of mind structured as a fugue.

Russell's brilliant, opinionated, and frequently wrong survey of Western philosophy — the best single-volume introduction ever written for the intelligent non-specialist.

Durant's warm, biographical approach to the history of philosophy — less rigorous than Russell but more humane, and still the most readable introduction to the great thinkers.

A comprehensive empirical defense of the Enlightenment project and its achievements — ambitious, data-driven, and more contested than it lets on.

A provocative revisionist history of humankind that makes you reconsider nearly every assumption about how human civilization came to be — including religion's role in it.

Sagan's definitive argument for scientific thinking as the best tool humanity has against the dark.

The most commercially successful atheist argument of the 21st century — polemical, exhilarating, and often philosophically underdeveloped.

The most important popular science book about the systematic ways human reasoning fails — required reading for anyone who claims to be a freethinker.