Ironically, read the Qur’an and the Bible (the novel), if you’re feeling adventurous educate yourself on Buddhism.

The only book I ever needed to read to become an atheist was The Holy Bible.

You seem to think atheism is some alternative belief you need to study. it’s not, It’s just no longer believing in the idea of God and instead just focusing on living your life the best you can. Just ask questions, be curious and don’t take anything at face value.

The best thing about being free of religion, is being free of religion.

Go pick up a book on microprocessor architecture, that is neat stuff.

**Ishmael by Daniel Quinn ** Not exactly about religion but a turning point for me.

Ishmael is a half ton silverback gorilla. He is a student of ecology, life, freedom, and the human condition. He is also a teacher. He teaches that which all humans need to learn — must learn — if our species, and the rest of life on Earth as we know it, is to survive.

The book opens with a deceptively ordinary personals ad: “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world.” Seeking a direction for his life, a young man answers the ad and is startled to find that the teacher is a lowland gorilla named Ishmael, a creature uniquely placed to vision anew the human story.

While others are right that there are no must-read books, deprogramming yourself from religion would be worth while, and reading atheist recommended books will help you do that.

• the demon haunted world
• the god delusion
• waking up: a guide to spirituality without religion
• letter to a Christian nation

Lord of the rings is a great book series.

I’m very fond of scifi, the old man war series is a very fun and smooth series to read. I like to recommend it to ppl that want to read a longer, but easy to digest series.

If you like scifi in general, you can’t go wrong by picking any random nebula award winner. It’s what I’ve done these past few years. Can’t say I’ve regretted it this far.

You’ll have plenty time to read amazing books now that you don’t have to waste your time in church, reading the Bible and thinking about skydaddy. Welcome to freedom!

From what I hear, reading The Bible is a lot of people’s first steps towards atheism.

Atheism isn’t a religion, so there isn’t “must read books” nor mandatory workshops. Do what you please.

Come to think of it, I wouldn’t really recommend any books on atheism. Atheism is not really its own thing, it’s just the result of not being persuaded by the claims of theism.

For me personally, I actually became an atheist via reading various religious texts, as well as various acclaimed spiritual novels. So sort of the opposite of what you’re asking for haha.

Recommendations based on science and humanism are okay, since that gives you a place to start looking through the secular stance on the mysteries religions claim to have all the answers for. But that also isn’t quite what you’re asking for. Many scientists and philosophers are religious themselves, after all.

Yet a third thing you aren’t asking for: I would check out Matt Dillahunty. He used to do a call-in show in Austin. Mostly just regular religious people calling in, going through their thought process on why they believed, then getting an atheist’s perspective in response. Looks like he’s still very active on youtube these days

I haven’t listened in years, and if I recall some of the most viewed clips were basically just angry arguments lol. But sitting and listening through full episodes is about as down-to-earth of atheist content as I can think of. Just addressing religious claims one at a time

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Just read r/atheism if you want to become the final atheist form!

Small Gods is indeed a great choice. I never thought of it as a “book for atheists” and it’s quite unlikely to turn someone religious into a non-believer - but it’s clever, funny and one of my personal favorite Terry Patches books. So, worst case scenario: you’ve read a highly entertaining book.

“The Bible” is the book that ultimately turned me into a convinced atheist. If you actually read it, without having it filtered and read to you by religious people with agendas, it’s hard to continue believing in any of its insane ramblings. But it’s a really tough, slow and often immoral and revolting read. Mostly, it’s just really stupid.

“The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster” is the opposite. It’s a funny, light and often silly read. It’s not exactly deep, but neither are the books it’s parodizing. As a satire of other religious text it works reasonably well in putting the finger in the wound.

“The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever” is just that: a collection of texts and letters on the subject by some brilliant minds: Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Lucrecius, Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins and many more … collected and edited by Christopher Hitchens. As an anthology it allows you to dip your toes in and read the texts you are interested in. Maybe my first choice as serious “atheism for beginners” literature.

Not really approaching the topic of religion in any way (as far as I recall), but Bill Bryson - “A Short History of Nearly Everything” is a neat book, especially if your knowledge about the world is grounded in religious teachings.

Basically it goes through a lot of the scientific knowledge we have today and tells the story of how it was discovered, focusing on giving answers to “how we know what you know”. It’s a bit oversimplified in many areas, but it’s still pretty educational, entertaining, and at times pretty funny. The part about Henry Cavendish (18th century chemist) is hilarious.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett is a fun and thought-provoking fantasy, focused on religion and it’s social effects. It also has a pretty funny take on atheism.

Some of his other books makes some really great points about belief in general, particularly The Hogfather, the witches books, and Feet Of Clay.