The Young Atheist's Handbook by Alom Shaha

Rarely do I buy a book just on its looks; but the cover of this one (gold embossed art deco font on the most tactile aqua stock) coupled with its intriguing title, winked at me knowingly from the shelves. Buy me, it whispered. So I did, and was very pleased with the results. It starts with the explosive act of the formerly Muslim author eating bacon, and from there breaks down the faith he was brought up with by using science to refute many of its claims. Shaha was born in Bangladesh but raised in London, to a mum with mental illness, a disabled brother and a gambling father on a council estate – not an excellent combination. But he sought refuge in books, got a scholarship to a posh boys school and worked his butt off to make himself an educated man. And it is this sense of mental curiosity and not taking anything for granted that has led him to explore and question the faith bestowed on him. He bucks the notion that because you were born in a certain part of the world, to people of a certain race or nationality, that you then must automatically take on those values blindly and pass them onto your children and their children.

Some will think that the arguments he makes are overly simplistic, but I think he’s cleverly aimed this book at a younger audience (hence the title) so it makes a very complicated point of view more easily digestible. It’s a conversation, rather than a sermon - a possibly very deliberate tone considering the subject matter.