The transcript of the one and only conversation between 'the four horsemen' of New Atheism, with new introductions from Dawkins, Dennett and Harris and a sparkling foreword by Stephen Fry.
Richard Dawkins (Author)
Richard Dawkins is author of The Selfish Gene, voted The Royal
Society's Most Inspiring Science Book of All Time, and also the
bestsellers The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The
Ancestor's Tale, The God Delusion, and two volumes of
autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder and Brief Candle in the Dark.
He is a Fellow of New College, Oxford and both the Royal Society
and the Royal Society of Literature. In 2013, Dawkins was voted the
world's top thinker in Prospect magazine's poll of 10,000 readers
from over 100 countries.
Sam Harris (Author)
Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. His
books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The
Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, and Waking Up. The End of Faith
won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonfiction. His work has
been published in more than twenty languages. Harris has written
for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Economist, The
Times, the Boston Globe, the Atlantic, Annals of Neurology, and
other outlets. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford
University and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. Please visit his
website at SamHarris.org.
Daniel C. Dennett (Author)
Daniel C. Dennett is the University Professor and Austin B.
Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. He is the
author of numerous books including Intuition Pumps and Other Tools
for Thinking, Breaking the Spell, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and
Consciousness Explained.
Christopher Hitchens (Author)
Christopher Hitchens was an English-born American author,
journalist and literary critic. He was a columnist at Vanity Fair,
The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a
variety of other media in a career that spanned more than four
decades and made him a prominent public intellectual, and a staple
of talk shows and lecture circuits. His books include The Monarchy;
Blood, Class, and Nostalgia; No One Left to Lie Toand God Is Not
Great. He died in 2011.
Stephen Fry (Foreword By)
Stephen Fry is an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter and
director. He rose to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and
Laurie (which he co-wrote with Laurie) and Jeeves and Wooster, and
was unforgettable as General Melchett in Blackadder. He has hosted
over 180 episodes of QI, and has narrated all seven of the Harry
Potter novels for the audiobook recordings. He is the bestselling
author of four novels - The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History,
The Hippopotamus and The Liar - as well as three volumes of
autobiography - Moab is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and More
Fool Me. Mythos and Heroes, his retelling of the Greek myths, are
both Sunday Times bestsellers.
This transcript is of historical significance and belongs in the
library of all thinking people. A classic for our time...and all
time.
*Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist
Scientific American, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author
of Heavens on Earth, The Moral Arc, The Believing Brain, and Why
People Believe Weird Things*
I have a short list of intellectual heroes, and Sam Harris,
Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett each have
a place on it—not because I always agree with their views, but
because I'm in awe of the way they form, express, and defend their
views. If thinking were a sport, these four would be national
superstars—and reading The Four Horsemen feels like having a front
row seat at the all-star game. This is more than a book about
atheism and religion—it's a lesson in how to use our intellect to
cut through the haze of delusion and misconception inherent in any
human society.
*Tim Urban, author of the blog 'Wait But Why'*
We are slowly losing the hard-won right, gained by brave heroes of
the enlightenment such as Voltaire and Hume, to be free to
criticise religion without persecution and prosecution; the crime
of blasphemy is creeping back. The words of Hitchens, Dawkins,
Harris and Dennett are needed more than ever. These are the heirs
to Voltaire.
*Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything*
I was gripped. Throughout this erudite conversation the humility
and openness of science shines against religion’s arrogance,
hypocrisy and sheer gall in just ‘making stuff up’. How refreshing
it is.
*Professor Susan Blackmore*
One to watch: electrifying
*The Bookseller*
If you had to pick a place for our pop culture to change, Sun
Records on December 4, 1956 at a jam session with Jerry Lee Lewis,
Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley is a pretty good
symbolic spot. This conversation on September 30th, 2007 with
Daniel, Sam, Richard, and Elvis . . . I mean Hitch at Hitch’s pad
is as good a place as any to mark the start of the Atheist
revolution.
*Penn Jillette, author of God, No!*
What a gift to be able to eavesdrop on this conversation! These
four are the kinds of thinkers we don’t get enough of anymore;
unapologetic, uncompromising, and deeply generous with one another
as well as anyone who happens to be listening in. You needn’t be an
atheist or a horseman to relish every word of this delightful book.
You just need to be hungry for genuine intellectual inquiry and
open debate. And, let’s face it, you’re probably starving.
*Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects Of
Discussion*
Reading this book is like to getting to spend a profound afternoon
with some of our greatest intellectuals. Blasphemous, erudite,
devastatingly truthful, slyly hilarious. I gasped, I laughed, I
nodded, and sometimes had to stop and just think for a moment about
what they'd dared to say.
*Julia Sweeney, author of Letting Go of God*
For people inclined to disbelieve supernatural explanations -- in
America, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers and sisters --
The Four Horsemen is a smart, fun, funny, seriously provocative
primer.
*Kurt Anderson*
Thrilling...Challenging...This bracing exchange of ideas crackles
with energy...an invigorating example of what happens when astute,
inquisitive minds engage together on deep questions.
*Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*
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