It seems like PZ Myers has been working on his book forever, but it finally has a title and an ISBN number!
The Happy Atheist: Dancing on the Graves of the Gods is scheduled to be released in June of 2012. (Aww, no Easter release?)
Interestingly enough, the word “Atheist” is right in the title. Maybe that doesn’t seem weird to you, but the most popular books in the “New Atheist” movement have avoided it. It’s as if publishers think the word itself will decrease sales despite the content.
Think about the books that defined the genre:
Richard Dawkins‘ biggest contribution was The God Delusion.
Sam Harris started everything with The End of Faith and followed it up with Letter to a Christian Nation. (In fact, the word “atheist” appeared only once — and only in passing — in the original edition of The End of Faith.)
Christopher Hitchens‘ #1 NYT bestseller was called God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything — he followed it up later with The Portable Atheist, but that wasn’t the more popular book.
Daniel Dennett‘s book critiquing religion was Breaking the Spell.
Even Greg Epstein‘s book was Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.
It’s not that “Atheist” is always avoided in book titles. There are several books that use it, but they’re just never as popular as the New Atheists’ books — admittedly, though, that’s a tough peak to reach. Only Dan Barker seems to have bucked the trend with Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists (and even then it’s in the subtitle) and, more recently, The Good Atheist: Living a Purpose-Filled Life Without God. However, neither book was a bestseller.
Anyway, I say all this because I like that the word is right in the title of PZ’s book. It’ll be good to see “Atheist” on the shelves of the three bookstores still left in the country.
You don’t have to be a psychic to know this book’s going to sell remarkably well. PZ has a massive following and (imho) he’s just a better writer than the other major atheist authors. I know I’m excited about this book’s release because I want his thoughts to reach an even broader audience than he does now.
Let’s just hope the eventual cover does him justice…
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
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