The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas, edited by Ariane Sherine, is not a recent collection, such as a fairly dated but amusing essay on James Randi as a Santa Claus figure, but it’s still got some valuable contributions on the topic of celebrating the season from non-faith perspectives. There’s 42 essays included, to honour the memory of Douglas Adams, in categories like stories, how-to, philosophy and science.

Many of the contributors touch upon their loss of faith and how they then view Christmas, there’s views on the celebrations of the season and even a few short stories and movie reviews and literature. Some of the names like Dawkins are well-known but I think I enjoyed the views on science of “Christmastology” and the collective values that we can all hold regardless of religion. If you can still find a copy, or the audio version by the contributors, it’s an enjoyable seasonal read.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.