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51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A profound lightness of seasonal being, October 8, 2009
You wait years for a funny contribution to the culture wars and then 42 turn up at once. Honestly...
Why 42? Well, as the introduction says, this is the answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything as calculated by one deserving contributor who sadly died some years too early to see this come to fruition. Luckily, a friend of his, Richard Dawkins, was around to add his own first, witty foray into fiction writing. And a friend of Dawkins, the adorable Ariane Sherine, organised and edited it all. It is, of course, the Atheist Bus Campaign reified in book form. And very lighthearted it is, too.
This is not a "serious" piece of work. It is some serious Xmas fun for those who wish to reclaim the midwinter festival and restore its true, pagan message of lots of food and drink with your community at the darkest part of the year. Now, you might think that this does not need reclaiming as it is what people are already doing. Believe it or not, though, there are persistent efforts by one of the later-arriving, monotheistic faiths to annexe this festival for their own aggrandisement. Just as aggressive and terrifying proselytising on buses by such a religious group provoked the light and cheerful message of the Atheist Bus Campaign, now aggressive and moralising annexation of Xmas by the same religious group has provoked this light-hearted staking-out of this common territory for the rest of us.
It is a collection of 42 short pastiches and thoughtful essays on the subject of the Xmas period and what it means to us atheists and humanists. It is too common knowledge to be clever these days that Xmas is originally a pagan celebration, like Easter. Be that as it may, one is occasionally confronted by theists demanding to know why one celebrates Xmas if one does not believe in the Christian God, in whose own Book flying reindeer, bearded men in red-and-white pyjamas, totemic trees and egg-nog obviously feature most prominently. Read this book and you'll have some answers lined up.
The contributors range from professional scientists and philosophers to comedians and pop stars. What they all have in common is that they are atheists and/or humanists. As a movement we are finally starting to come together in small ways like this and express our aspiration to recognition on an equal basis with supernaturalist belief groups. Not before time. In addition, the proceeds from the book go to the Terence Higgins Trust, a charity helping AIDS victims. There is no downside to this book and it is a pleasant, light read. None of the contributors threaten you with being burned alive for all eternity, they just tell you how to have some fun at Xmas without feeling incongruous. It is a great read and would make a fitting present for a humanist, or tolerant theist, friend or relative.
I am not a contributor, by the way!
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42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nick Doody has written a masterpiece!, October 7, 2009
I want to begin by admitting that I am one of the 42 contributors to this book. When Matt Kirshen asked me to forward Ariane Sherine's email on to fellow Atheists who might want to submit stories for consideration, I knew I wanted to toss my proverbial hat in the ring. I was after-all, born on Christmas. So I forwarded the request to many atheists I knew, some well known and others, not so much. Then I set out to write the truth about being born on Christmas. After sending a first draft to Ariane I got a response that sent me through the roof. I was giddy with excitement because I knew I was going to have my scratching publish within the same pages as; Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker, Ben Goldacre, Phil Plait, AC Grayling, Richard Herring, Simon Le Bon and my friend, Matt Kirshen. And while all of these people of note have written wonderful stories, filled with amazing anecdotes, sound advice and absolutely wonderful and well spirited humor, I was thoroughly stunned after opening my personal copy to page 91 where I found Nick Doody's offering. Nick is a wonderfully funny stand up comedian and writer. He is very close friends with Matt Kirshen and I am proud to say that I have, on a number of occasions, had the chance to hang out with him. He's charming, extremely original in his comedic style and always spot on with perfectly structured stories and ideally placed punchlines. How To Understand Christmas: A Scientific Overview by Nick Doody is a work of pure genius. His laser guided satire has it's way with not just the idea of Christmas, the word itself and rituals surrounding it, he takes the art of written word and annihilates the very medium as well. As he pulls you along through a scientific mindset, analyzing Christmassiness while citing studies that are duly footnoted and clearly documented and confirmed, Doody never lets on that anything he is saying might be anything but pure fact with peer review backing and published in the highest order of scientific journal. He begins with an apology to the purists who will be disappointed that he does not have enough space for an in-depth explanation of Barsky's Chimney Hypothesis but he promises an overview of the scientific history of Christmasology that will be accessible to the layman. I found myself harassing my wife as I held back howls and laughter and read passages aloud through tears. We were simply giddy with how Doody had managed to make fun of not only the absurdities in the holiday, but the age old dialogue between Atheists and the religious. His piece is a perfect satire of how utterly masturbatory any discussion is when one side has it's beliefs in faith and the other, science. Nick Doody, shows no respect for either argument and simply drives a stake through all our hearts and offers us each up like a pig on a skewer. If you take yourself remotely serious, Nick Doody will happily show you how silly you are for doing so. I am very proud to have been published alongside so many atheistic luminaries and I am quite pleased with my own offering. It's nice to be translated into another accent. But I felt compelled to compliment Nick Doody specifically in a public forum because this little book that is meant to bring humor and joy and to raise money for the Higgins Trust Foundation to battle HIV and AIDS, may come and go and that's fine: but when someone writes something that is as complex and original as Nick Doody has, It should not be overlooked or downplayed. Thank you Nick, for writing the most important and the most funny story in the entire book. You are a brilliant writer and a legendary comedic mind.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perspectives to really enjoy Christmas with, December 4, 2009
This is a great collection of opinion pieces about the meaning of Christmas from an atheists point of view. Essentially starting from the point of - What really is the meaning of christmas. They are divided into categories such as science and philosophy and while some of the pieces are patchy I think there is a lot in here for everyone.
Some of the more famous - such as Richard Dawkins, are along side less than well known (well form most people anyway) the novelist Kapka Kabossova (sp). What I really appreciated was the variety of perspectives on a subject which is, of course, pertinent. Why do atheists celebrate Christmas?
The first section on science I found the most interesting. The Jewish astronomer (I've forgotten his name off hand) was wonderful. His early years discussing the lack of Christmas celebrations in his family, and his own fascination with the sky and the supposed phenomena of a super-star at the time of Christ's birth was beautiful.
The rise of the pagan and pre-christian celebrations of a mid-winter festival and the forms it took - including all the mythical links to Christian and Christmas celebrations offer a much deeper perspective into the human psyche.
After about 30 of these peices I started to lose interest, I found that they were a lot of the same kind of thing. One man who was a bit of a christmas hater, who went to the Middle east one year for teh festive season to escape it.
The essential message is that the Christmas spirit is there, and it is not about the birth of Christ and 3 wise men. The humanity of the midwinter festivals is about hope, eating, giving gifts, sharing time together, laughter, revelry, and new dawns. Pretty much what our festival is about these days. And if anyone complains that it is called Christmas so has to be about Christ, tell 'em that Easter is about the Scandanavian Goddess Oester and is a fertility festival, not about Christ's resurrection at all.
Merry Christmas!
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