Title: The Atheist's Guide to Christmas
Author: Various Authors
Published by: The Friday Project (Harper Collins)
Year: 2010
First published: The Friday Project (Harper Collins), 2009
Date reviewed: 05.11
ISBN: 978-0-00-738982-7

This is a compilation of short essays by a variety of people – comedians, philosophers, Ben Goldacre – who have one thing in common: they are atheists. That doesn’t mean they don’t like Christmas, just that it means different things to them. Most agree that it should be enjoyed as a celebration of friendship, family and giving, which for some harks back to pre-Christian celebrations of the winter solstice.

Among the authors you will find Ed Byrne, Simon Le Bon, Richard Dawkins, Brian Cox, Ben Goldacre, Mitch Benn, John Holmes and Derren Brown. The best laugh-out-loud joke for me is from Stewart Lee: “When I look at something as intelligent and intricate as Richard Dawkins, I do not believe it could have happened by chance”. I must also mention a particularly gentle and touching contribution by a Romanian writer, Kapka Kassabova.

It’s probably best read around Christmas. (I did, I just didn’t get round to writing this until May!)