I used to be an atheist, and was a real jerk about it, to be honest.

Unfortunately, I fit the pattern of what this book clearly describes as “the atheist syndrome” - a mental illnesses characterized by difficulty with our fathers, and deep depression.

I cannot say that this syndrome, as described, applies to every atheist, but the author did a very good job at applying it to the detailed life history of several prominent historical atheists.

Having read a lot on the atheist side of things, I’m very surprised that I did not know or did not think about most of what was in this book - it is over 30 years old but it seems to have been completely overlooked.

Though I very much enjoyed the sections describing the syndrome, and the final section describing the historical consequences of atheism, I did find the beginning a bit trite where it attempted to directly refute Darwinian natural selection - those arguments required much more than this book, and it was quite out of scope.

Since that is at the beginning, just be warned if you do read this, this is a blatantly Christian book that I bought from a Christian book store - so don’t be surprised that it is heavily Christian.

Aside from that, the depth of familiar biographies in a new light will probably be very interesting to anyone familiar with Darwin, T Huxley, Nietzsche, Freud, Hitler and Stalin

I must say that, since I did follow the exact template of the atheist syndrome, once I came to terms with my father, stopped running from problems, and got just a bit out of depression, I immediately began to explore the possibility of God. I am far from religious, but I very much agree with the premise and conclusions of this book, that the atheist syndrome is indeed an illness, and a poison to society.

Very worth reading this book no matter what you believe.