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Update: Physical edition is finally out.I've been following the popularly named "New Atheism" since 2007 out of high school, I really enjoyed their works and critiques. I had a slightly different intention when first beginning this project, hoping to demarcate positive aspects of religion from negative ones, but the more I looked into it . . . the more I recognized that Christopher Hitchens was right about religion poisoning everything. I think the Eastern religions can still reform (perhaps its my own bias due to my religious background), but I don't believe Islam or Christianity can reform at all. I explain why in the book. Judaism . . . I'd like to believe can reform, but the evidence isn't pretty and I don't mince words.

I'm not sure how well this'll be received. I still consider myself Hindu, albeit a Hindu Anti-Theist, if such a thing is possible and I explain my thoughts in the section on Sanatana Dharma (the real name for all Indian religions). But, if they can't reform, then Hitchens was completely correct and they should be obliterated like the Abrahamic faiths. I've really changed my views in these 4-years with emphasizing more of an anti-theistic perspective and I think Hitchens was right about a great many issues that people are still uncomfortable with acknowledging. So, this is my own small contribution. I had hoped to do a double-release with a digital and physical copy, but the physical edition is still in Amazon's review process and could take up to 72 hours. It's also going to be a lot more expensive than the digital edition because Amazon takes a cut from royalties for every page count used. It's still more money than traditional publishing though. Anyway, if any of you are interested, then I hope you enjoy. I don't mince words for any of the major religions, including my own religious background of Sanatana Dharma.

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.

On death (from Hitch-22):

"The clear awareness of having been born into a losing struggle need not lead one into despair. I do not especially like the idea that one day I shall be tapped on the shoulder and informed, not that the party is over but that it is most assuredly going on—only henceforth in my absence. (It's the second of those thoughts: the edition of the newspaper that will come out on the day after I have gone, that is the more distressing.) Much more horrible, though, would be the announcement that the party was continuing forever, and that I was forbidden to leave. Whether it was a hellishly bad party or a party that was perfectly heavenly in every respect, the moment that it became eternal and compulsory would be the precise moment that it began to pall."

I also have to throw in a plug for The Quotable Hitchens.

He's actually a serious and very talented Youtuber. He's also a deconstructionist and contrarian. He recommends Terry Eagleton and Phil Zuckerman in this vid; it's a fair debate, Hitch would have welcomed it, obviously.

He called himself a Socialist until the 2000s, joined the British Labour party in 1965 and was part of a "Rosa Luxemburgist-Trotskyist sect" as he called the IS (International Socialists) until the early 70s. He said of himself he was a "Marxist by training" and in 2006 "I am no longer a socialist, but I still am a Marxist" as socialism had stopped to be a viable alternative and a global movement as it was in his youth, and degenerated to corrupt populism a la Hugo Chavez. In god is not great, Hitchens called Marxism his "own secular faith" that "has been shaken and discarded, not without pain." He referred to his period of Marxist faith as "when I was a Marxist."

After reading Hitch 22 though I think that he at least at that time was no kind of Marxist in the conventional sense. He did not believe in the tenets of Marxism (proletarian revolution, the inevitability of capitalisms downfall etc., those things that Marx actually believed in). He was in my opinion rather a post-Marxist intellectual who was still influenced by Marxist discourse, meaning training in dialectical and historical materialism and referring to inner-Marxist arguments, especially those by dissidents, renegades and ex-communists, but also only in very general and undogmatic ways. Maybe you should read "Letters to a Young Contrarian" to get the idea of what he wanted young people to learn from his political development.

Interesting is also what he wrote about Leszek Kolakowski, whom he knew and with whom you should be familiar with if you call yourself a communist. My tip: read Main Currents of Marxism and see if you still want to call yourself that.

I haven't read enough of the guy to compare their writing; you should probably link to some pieces he's done that you think are Hitchens-caliber.

I've seen enough of the guy speak and debate to say that I doubt he's produced anything of Christopher Hitchens' level, early or late.

I also find it hard to imagine a person with Hitchens' disposition, even if conservative, pulling a stunt like Yiannopolous did during his talk at UW-Milwaukee, nor offering such a half-baked follow-up to that incident.

If I want a right-wing Hitchens, I'll go read Peter who, while I disagree with him on practically everything, I've never seen have to couch his actions or comments in the context of "trolling."

Anyway, I look forward to pieces of reading you suggest, and hope they are worth the read.

(Sightly related, I'd suggest picking up a copy of Left Hooks, Right Crosses, the collection of essays collected and edited by the Christophers Hitchens and Caldwell, who were on opposite sides of the political spectrum and chose their favorite essays from the opposing side.)

That was Part 1 of 8.


Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Enjoy!

Also, you can buy the transcript from Amazon.

thanks for the amazon link, looks like it is priced relatively low according to camelcamelcamel.com so I might just get one for myself!

CCC: http://camelcamelcamel.com/SEI-Metal-Spine-Style-Book-Tower/product/B001QOGKSA

Great read. I purchased this after reading the conversation: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060738170

Hitch could have even thrown in the incompatibility of Jesus' teachings and capitalism.

On Hitches points in that video, heres a good read:

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Apocalyptic-Prophet-New-Millennium/dp/019512474X

The Dark Side Of Christian History

The Dark Side of Christian History https://www.amazon.com/dp/0964487349/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_UW1nyb9Z8X97T

I highly suggest the book this discussion is promoting, Among the Dead Cities by A.C. Grayling

You can look at all his articles on Slate (starting here) where he argues for the Iraq war. They are the same articles that he put into A Long Short War his book justifying his stance on the Iraq war.