The Good Book: A Humanist Bible (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

A. C. Grayling is one of the present day's great philosophers. He is also an atheist. His "Good Book" is the result of 30 years of gathering together from over one thousand texts by several hundred of the great thinkers of the past. From these Grayling has selected, redacted, paraphrased,interpolated and arranged into a book that provides inspiration, wisdom, consolation, good advice and commentary on the human condition in a non-religious way. In a touch of irony, the book is arranged into 14 constituent books divided into numbered verses similar to the structure of that "other" Bible.The titles, content and order of constituent books themselves also reflect that "other" Bible.It begins with Genesis and there follows Wisdom, Lamentations, Sages, Songs, Proverbs, Acts, Epistles etc. The great difference from that "other" Bible is that the resulting distilled wisdom is non- religious. There are no rules commanded by a monarchical, anthropomorphic deity; no promises of heaven, no threats of hell,just the inspiring distillation of wisdom from the sages of past times.The range and diversity of these is staggering. In this morning's portion I detected reflections of Shakespeare, Ecclesiastes and the Omar Khayyam!Grayling's "Secular Bible" (its alternative title) is not a book to attempt to read from page one through to the end. It is a book to refer to and select from when the need is felt for guidance, inspiration, comfort, consolation,commentary on the human condition, etc - in a similar way to the way the religious consult their particular bibles. As such I recommend it wholeheartedly. "The Good Book" is unique - in the true sense of the word. To my knowledge, there is none other like it.

Although I have barely got into this book, I am already very impressed with what it is.
In my opinion it is not a substitute for the traditional King James version of the Bible. It is a unique anthology of a phenomenally large collection of words of wisdom, that give clarity to our lives, our perceptions of the world and the universe around us. It is, in many parts pure poetry, and is written like a Shakespearian Play.
For me its construction to resemble a work of scripture is a mistake. It is not a divinely inspired scripture in the sense that the KJ Bible is purported to be.
It is not an easy book to read and certainly not bedtime reading, but it is inspirational in its descriptive account and gave me the opportunity to stand back and reflect on who or what I am, in relation to what I have seen and experienced.
Each chapter has left me feeling that I want to read-on and absorb more, but at the same time makes me feel I will need to re-read it again to understand it more fully. With reference to the KJ Bible, I have to say that most of what I have managed to read of the KJB was incomprehensible jibberish, in many places horrific, blood curdling and in some downright obscene.
However, this, "The Good Book", has none of that and is much more pleasant to read, easier to follow and leaves you with the feeling of having read and learnt something worthwhile. It is a book that may take me months to read in its entirety, because I have to stop and think about each paragraph to be sure I have understood it. In some respects it is like having a massive directory of quotations that enhance our wisdom.
It must have taken many years to collect and collate the material in this book.

In my opinion it would be very suitable material to use for English Literature classes at high school. In fact, if this had been one of the books that had been presented to me at school for study 50 years ago, I would have found it more pleasurable than what I was forced to study and in which I had, at that time, little interest. I am grateful that I came across this work in my third age and look forward to reading all of it.

I haven't read all of this delicious book yet, but I know I will likely read it many times over. Anthony Grayling has obviously put enormous love, care and learning into this work which is, essentially, a history of thought and understanding of the world, but not one involving omnipotent beings. My only small gripe is the use of the male pronoun, which makes me feel uncomfortable in the same way that the male bias in the Bible does.

That small niggle aside, "dare to know: that is the motto of enlightment", is one of the many phrases in this book which is seared into my memory, along with, "legends and the ignorance that give them birth are a house of limitations and darkness".

You don't have to be a humanist or an athiest to thoroughly enjoy this work, as I do not believe it could give offence to anyone with any particular belief system, but for me, as an athiest, it is joyful to find a book of authoritative wisdom, such as this, which I do not feel is trying to bully, push or shape my thoughts or beliefs. Highly recommended to all.