Customer Reviews
Thinking book - By: Mr X, 04 Oct 2008 
This book does make you thinkin two sense of that phrase: it makes you consider the big questionsin life & it also makes you concnetrate hard to understand itin places.
I liked the book when considering itin the round. It think that Hitchens is clearly a very clever individual, well-read & who has considered his subject-matterin some detail & is very familiar with it. But this is part of the downside to the bookin that, for someone like me, who is not a philosopher & who does not have a good groundingin the subject matter, it is difficult to followin places (quite a few places).
I have also read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins recently & on balance I prefer Dawkins book. That said, the two books are writtenin different styles (Dawkins adopting more of a step by step guide, whereas Hitchens' approach is more conversational).
These books are very different to the books I would usually read & I think I have benefitted greatly from reading them, but to others who have not read them I would say that you need to be sitting quietly & without distraction to get the most out of the book!
God is not......... - By: C. Franklin, 23 Sep 2008 
Great book. Unfortunately, I suspect the only people who will read it already know that God isn't!
Welcome to celestial North Korea - By: Damian Patrick Kelly, 22 Sep 2008 
Dawkins has God on the floor & the Hitch has jumped into the ring & got a sneaky boot in. Booo, hiss! This book starts from where Dawkins left off i.e. there is no good reason for beliefin anything with no evidence (e.g. the tooth fairy, flying spaghetti monster God etc). All these things might exist but it seems unlikely. Hitchens goes a step further & tries to show that not only does God probably not exist but it would be bad if he did. He describes Heaven as a celestial North Korea.
It seems a strong case but is based entirely around the portrayal of Godin the world's religions. It seems possible to me that God does exist but religions are man made & have got God all wrong. Personally I'm not sure whether it matters whether God exists. I like to hope that we do not cease to exist when we die & I certainly hope we are more than our bodies. But I recognise that this is probably wishful thinking & I am not sure where a God or God's fit into all this.
This is a good read for making you think about such questions. And as always Hitchens writes wonderfully.
Seminal work - By: Tommi, 19 Sep 2008 Christopher Hitchens smashes the walls of untouchability, religion still cherishesin this book.
God is not Great offers the Moral case against God, presented as alwaysin Hitchens gentlemanly inimitable style.
It's hard to fault this work. Well paced & absorbing, blow by blow Christopher knocks down the facade with equisitly placed mighty strikes from his theological fists.
Good book, not a great book - By: J. Duducu, 02 Sep 2008 You cannot come to this book a neutral. You either have faithin which case you may curious to see what the latest atheist thinking is or you are an atheist looking for a book that helps clarify your views. I am the latter but I even I had issues with it.
Firstly while I am worried about the rise of fundamentalismin all religions & can plainly see that religion has caused much unnecessary sufferingin the world, I don't like the fact that this book is so aggressive itself. This book is a rant & while a rant can be fun, over nearly 300 pages it becomes exhausting.
The logic is faultless but the writing is aggressive bordering on arrogant & maybe this style is necessaryin a debate with a fundamentalist Christian on a cable channel butin a book like this surely there's an opportunity to take the higher ground & argue the logic with dignity. Too often there are snide comments which don't add anything to the argument & actually make the author sound petty.
I would like to think that atheists could argue the logic without getting nasty but Hitchens falls at the second point. I can now see why so many of the faithful find atheism so distasteful because while both Hitchens & Dawkins have done their homework & know their stuff & have arguments that can't be denied by anyone with half a brain, it's toldin a rather sanctimonious & aggressive manner which perhaps stops a few people from listening & changing their views.
True the faithful don't use any charm against unbelievers & they rant longer & harder than Hitchens ever could but I think atheists are better than that, & should argue the case with a smile not a sneer. This book actually dents that belief for me.
