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Best starting point for Christopher Hitchens?

Humes fork

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Humes fork
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I'm thinking about reading some Hitchens. What's the best starting point? I have watched some Youtibe clips, but not much more of him. I think an obvious difference between him and Dawkins is that the latter is a scientist asking for evidence for the truth of religious claims, the former is a journalist mostly concerned about consequences of religions. I'm well familiar with the scientific take, a bit more ignorant about the journalistic/Hitchensian take. I'm also well familiar with Dawkins' "worldview" if you like, not much so with Hitchens' ditto.
 
Don't have any of his books, but yes, YouTube is your friend -- there's tons of stuff there.


 
To be honest, you may find that he's a better speaker than a writer.

:duck:

Yes, I know that is supposed to be blasphemy* or something.

* :duck:

Many of his books are slim, with no footnotes, a bunch of factual errors and a lot of clunky sentences which would have made George Orwell hurl them out the window.

But if you are interested in the atheism stuff then obviously read God is not Great which argues that religions are man-made and therefore obviously not divine and does so through looking at how obviously cobbled together the main religious texts are.

Then there's his Mother Teresa book which I haven't read but probably has some interest to some atheists. It's only about 4 pages long or something though and might be in big letters so I have no excuse except the price tag.
 
theprestige said:
I should think the best starting point for Christopher Hitchens would be, "don't get cancer."






What? Too soon?
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest "put down the bottle" before it struck me what killed him.

Anyway, I've read god Is Not Great. A pretty decent book, with Hitchens' vivid language. Hitch-22 is also extremely interesting to read, just for his look at society and institutions in the time he grew up (also language). Missionary Position is a 100-page pamphlet, and very informative.
 
My suggestion is Letters to a Young Contrarian.

This book shows Hitchen's general outlook and attitude rather than being concerned with a specific subject like Mother Theresa, the Iraq War, or anti-theism.
 
I'm about half way through Hitch-22.

1) The guy can really write.

2) if you read it on an iPad or similar device, it makes it easier to look up words - "It Pays To Increase Your Word Power".

3) He and I were born in the same year. I'm quite literally in awe of how much more he accomplished in his "parallel life".
 
I've only read God is not Great, and I'll definitely read Hitch-22. Probably some others some time down the line.

I found God is not Great to be a more enjoyable read than The God Delusion, mainly because I didn't learn anything new by reading the Dawkins book, while I certainly did reading Hitch. Warning -- there are factual errors, but nothing consequential.
 
I'm about 1/3rd of the way into "Why Orwell Matters". First book of Hitchens' I've read, and really enjoying it. For better or worse some of the writing seems like a transcript of him talking. He's a great speaker, but in print it stands out as unusual, maybe even awkward at times.
 
Well, the best starting point for Christopher Hitchens is a set of gametes from his parents. This being unavailable, some genetic material from Christopher himself will suffice, although the retrieval will be complicated. After one of the above is obtained, a secret laboratory will be required. This lab may or may not be located in a volcano. . . No, the lab must be located inside a volcano.
 
Humes fork said:
I'm thinking about reading some Hitchens. What's the best starting point? I have watched some Youtibe clips, but not much more of him. I think an obvious difference between him and Dawkins is that the latter is a scientist asking for evidence for the truth of religious claims, the former is a journalist mostly concerned about consequences of religions. I'm well familiar with the scientific take, a bit more ignorant about the journalistic/Hitchensian take. I'm also well familiar with Dawkins' "worldview" if you like, not much so with Hitchens' ditto.
Click to expand...

His Marxist writings.
 
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