Friday, April 13, 2007

Dawkins wins Author of the Year at the British Book Awards

Not sure how new or old this is, but not only am I delighted to see such a prominent atheist writer receive this kind of accolade, I'm doubly impressed that over in England they actually have book awards shows that appear to be televised just like the Golden Globes! Here in the middlebrow U.S. of A., if it ain't goofy teenagers trying to win a bad-singing contest, or C-list celebrities doing ballroom dancing, it ain't gettin' on television. As an avid reader, I feel very much apart from the American mainstream, I can tell you.

Anyway, congrats to the good professor! No, The God Delusion isn't quite the best atheism book ever published. But it certainly is the most accessible, giving readers who've never been exposed to the views of nonbelief a decent "Atheism 101" overview. And its prominence as a major worldwide bestseller means that Dawkins' goal of "consciousness raising" was a roaring success. Now I'm ready for the next wave of atheist books to flood the bestseller lists in its wake.

3 comments:

  1. This was from a couple of weeks back, although I didn't see the broadcast, just a clip.

    You might also be interested to know (if you didn't already) that we (a bunch of Brit atheists) have sent a copy of TGD to each MP (member of Parliament, 645 of 'em) after we made a pledge.

    While we're pretty secular over here, we could always do with a little bit more awareness of reality in those that vote on our behalf.

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  2. >sent a copy of TGD to each MP (member of Parliament, 645 of 'em)

    What a great idea!

    Just had to applaud that. Very creative.

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  3. My mistake. 646 MPs. 645 was the "if other people" number.

    What a great idea!

    I did suggest to the organiser of our pledge that he might want to share the technique with, say, citizens of the USA with, say, Letter To A Christian Nation... ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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