I’ve got this book off at my publisher, and we’re still arguing over the title. Everything else looks good, but we can’t agree on this one rather big thing: my editor definitely wants it to be something personal and about me, of all people. So I have an exercise for everyone. Imagine an infidel like me with a book that skewers religion and triumphantly praises the godless way of life. Imagine the cover. There, in big bold print it says…
The __________ Atheist
Fill in the blank. Remember, it’s got to be provocative but positive, catchy and descriptive. I know you’re all thinking “Poopyhead”, but I’m gonna squelch that one right now. No scatology or obscenity, ’cause while it would be fine to be banned for the content, it’s so petty and superficial to be banned for the cover. It should be something that makes you want to reach out and buy it, too.
Oh, and no, you don’t get a cut for suggesting one adjective.
Still kind of cool, but since you’ve only got one term in the bottom multiplied by a zero (for number of gods believed in) your formula is—
The Undefined Atheist!
No, wait, that’s dumb.
When I was five or six, I had a tiny toy horse trailer with two plastic horses. One was white, and the other black. I named them ‘Whitey’ and ‘Blackie’ respectively.
So I’m no help at all in this.
Definitely “+1” for “The Strident Atheist”.
I guess that Dawkins gets referred as such most often, but strident’s definitions of “having or making a loud or harsh sound” and “urgent, clamorous, or vociferous” fit so perfectly!
The Atheist’s Atheist (first thought)
The 42nd Atheist (too obscure?)
But to be honest,
The _______ Atheist is fine, and the idea of adding either the purchasers own comments or some scribbled suggestions is awesome.
The Fair and Balanced Atheist
PZ’s Guide to Atheism.
Count me as another vote for “The _________ Atheist.” Spoken; “The Atheist.”
The Bionic Atheist
The Moral Atheist.
The Average Atheist.
The Real-World Atheist.
I vote for either “The Atheist They Warned You About” or “The Evolving Atheist”. Possibly “The Good Atheist”.
I do like “The _______ Atheist” but I agree with whoever said it above that while it would look good in print it would make the book difficult to talk about.
Actually let me add more into that:
“The Truly Strident Atheist: and theists thought Dawkins was shrill and strident…”
Go for a blank space, indicated by an underline. That exemplifies the most significant thing about atheism as a “dogma”: you are responsible for filling in the blank with your own reason and experience, without the need for some other outside authority figure to tell you what belongs. Atheism is what you make of it, no more and no less.
earlier this year when you were at the Anti-Superstition Party you told some of us the title you wanted. I don’t remember it right now, but it had something to do with Douglas Adams. I think you should go with that one. But if you really need it to be, “The _ Atheist” I have a few suggestions:
The ___ Atheist
The Baby Eating Atheist
The Atheist Who Nailed The Cracker
The Most “Militant” Atheist of Them All
The Atheist Creationists Fear
That’s all I got for now.
-Staks
The Omnivorous Atheist
Everything You Wanted to Know About Godlessness But Were Afraid to Ask
The Truth About Religion They Don’t Want You to Know!
The Laughing Atheist
Gnu
The Courageous Atheist
The Modern Atheist
The Modest Atheist
The Earthly Atheist
The Inevitable Atheist
The Uncalled Atheist
The Essential Atheist
If you want to play around a bit with the word “atheist,” how about “The Scourge of a Theist.”
Actually, Someone suggested one that I really like:
The 42nd Atheist
People will wonder what that is all about. Plus it keeps with the Douglas Adams theme you mentioned.
well-informed
The Vampire and the Atheist
The Engaged Atheist
The Rise of an Affirmative Atheist (Atheism?)
Let’s make it a movement!
The Conscience of a Progressive Atheist
The Guide to Productive Atheism
The Inevitable Atheist
This last one rings well, and is spot on, methinks…
Pharyngula, the Musical!
Tomorrow I gotta stop drinkin’ at work.
The unchained atheist (or the atheist unchained)
The atheist that came out of the pit
The atheist your mother warned you against.
The Fireside Atheist
The Atheist’s Home Companion
Unconsecrated
I quite like The __________ Atheist
r
The Unquiet Atheist
The Frequently Mis-spelled Atheist?
A real Atheist
Gnuest?
Uncreated?
Thesaurus Baffling?
I just wanted to play too.
Alert
Amiable
Authentic
Bad
Bad-ass
Belligerent [not]
Bellicose [not]
Blogging
Chordate
Cuddly
Calm
Convincing
Committed
Daily
Dutiful
Darwinian
Devoted
Engaging
Everyday
Eternal
Elegant
Friendly
Fiendish
Formidable
Gnarly
Gnostic
Human
Hairy [smile]
Holistic [grin]
Inveterate
Immutable
Intelligent
Joyous
Jumping
Kindly
Kraken [sorry — misprounounce it as Crackin’]
Lonely [not]
Long-distance
Lively
Lovely
Lite
Loathsome
Lovable
Last [as in – there should need be no more after this, since everyone will be post-atheist!]
Minnesotan
Male
Modest
Macro-
Manly [yikes]
Nice [c.f. Agnes Nutter!]
Normal
Natural
Native
Open
Overt
Outré
Out
People’s
prolific
Personable
Polite
Personal
Post- [see last]
Quiet
Quick
Quotidian [not – but atheism should be!]
Rude
Right
Riotous
Raving
Sound
Strait-forward
Sensible
Silent [not]
Simple
Strong
Solid
Timely
Towering
Titanic
Timid
Torrid
Unwelcome
Unwashed
Unruly
Uppity
Unrepentant
Vocal
Victorious
Venal [if you were positioning opposites]
Violent [strawmen?]
Working
Wired [on blogging]
Winning
Well
Wanted
Wise
X? [hmmm]
Zeroth
[I seem top have run out of steam]
Given that you clucked disapprovingly at us homeschoolers today, I vote for
The Clucking Atheist
The Furious Atheist
The Angry Atheist
The Shrill Atheist
The Frackin’ Atheist
The Righteous Atheist
“Healthy”.
As in, you’ve lived a full life with no supernatural curses befalling you.
The Frumious Atheist
The Ardent Atheist
The Liberal Atheist
It hits every conservative hot button
Can there be a byline that says, “As seen in the movie Expelled”?
World’s sexiest.
I was considering submitting “abrasive,” but I think just leaving the blank line there is fucking brilliant.
The Frackin’ Athiest
dinosaur-riding
“Irreverent”
Since this will be the winner, I don’t want a cut, just a nice mention. Oh, and maybe some cool bashing from my favorite antagonist concerning a local issue that makes my head explode daily.
You see, I live in Indiana-tucky, and seemingly 80% of the license plates read “In God We Trust.” Whoa is me. I simply can’t stand it.
Just who the fuck are “we” anyway?
“Many-tentacled”
Adding “many” gives it an even cuddlier, “I want to hug the whole world” connotation.
The Avenging Atheist
“Unrepentant” implies there might be something to repent for, which leads me back to the obvious word that everyone is shying away from:
“ANGRY!” – Anger is an appropriate response to most of the things we’re constantly talking about. Embrace the ANGER! :)
I think that “Good” or “Happy” speak to the mis-perception of atheists as evil and depressed. My own contribution to the heap:
The Well-Adjusted Atheist.
–
I like this idea. Why choose only one epithet? Dare to have ’em all!
–
I only read up to the 100 suggestion and like many of them, so this is mine: “The _______ Atheist” + all (or many) of the above as background. I’d add ‘point and laugh’ if nobody did yet.
The %$#& Atheist
The Unholy Atheist
That Damn Atheist
101 Damnations
Is there a one-word adjective that means “smells like formaldehyde”? Probably not. Never mind.
The Atheist PZ
PZ the Atheist
“Remember, it’s got to be provocative but positive”
The Provocative but Positive Atheist?
The Freethinking Atheist with Freethinking crossed out and Freewheeling written in above.
The Open Atheist, if we must have but one adjective.
But bear with me- TAKE THEM ALL.
Have a Big Open area in the middle of the cover between The and Atheist. Enclose it with parenthesis at the outermost edges, and fill it with all the adjectives you want in there. Strident, open, rational, cantankerous, fluffly, etc. etc. etc.
As for the ‘official’ title? That’s where you get clever. The (Adjective) Atheist.
Pegging you down to just one would be doing you a disservice.
The Prolific Atheist
Dan Barker’s recent book is call “The Good Atheist”.
How about a variation on “The ______ Atheist”? Put one of those disks in the cover so the reader can choose from several of the best choices.
The Inerrant Atheist
Obviously it should be titled “Escape from the Planet of the Cursed Undead Heart of the Vengeful Bride of the Son of The Atheist That Will Not Die! (Except for Someday)”.
Or barring that, maybe “Return of the Atheist from the Black Lagoon, Pt. IV: PZ’s Revenge”
or
“Night of the Atheist, A True Tale of Blood-Chilling Infant Barbeque”.
The Reasoned Writings of a Relentless Atheist
I read the first few entries in the thread, then saw it was really long, so if this has been suggested, oh well.
“Uncompromising” lept out at me as a good one, but I humbly suggest a slight modification to the past participle:
“The Uncompromised Atheist.”
Or: The Errant Atheist?
Were you not raised Lutheran?
How about The Confirmed Atheist?
“angry” with quotations.
The Rational Atheist
The Natural Atheist
The Habitual Atheist
The Orthodox Atheist
The Typical Atheist
OK, if we’re going strictly with the “The _ Atheist” format, then here’s some provicative suggestions:
“The Naked Atheist” (as a play on The Naked Ape – in which case “naked” means uncovered / laid bare / unconcealed)
“The catholic Atheist” (catholic purposely with a small ‘c’, meaning ‘open-minded’, ‘comprehensive’, ‘universal’, ‘liberal’, ‘unprejudiced’ etc)
“The Impeccable Atheist” (or “The Consummate Atheist”, in either case taking the meaning ‘absolute’ or ‘total’)
“The Unfinished Atheist” (because you’re not dead yet, and hopefully there’s more to come!)
If you would consider a sub-title, how about:
“I’m a Realist, Get me Out of Here!”
Splodin’
Everything I think of has been said already. Therefore I suggest, The Previously Described Atheist.
The Empirical Atheist.
Either militant, or arrogant would do.
Own the epithets.
Perhaps we should just recycle your blog’s subtitle:
The Randomly Ejaculating Liberal Atheist
As a tribute to (mostly to ride on the gravy train of, hey this is a marketing problem…)
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”
How about:
“Atheism and the Art of Tentacle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Evidence”
The Atheist’s Atheist
Happy
(sorta like the Happy Hooker)
The Genetic Atheist
The Compleat Atheist
It can be fun to play with names from other genre. Like self defence books. Then you get the words like “master of atheism”, “the ultimate atheist”, “definitive atheism”, “essential of atheism”… But they are not piratey enough.
The Trophy Atheist(c)?
The Fuzziest Atheist
“The Atheist They Warned You About” followed closely by “The Atheist”. If you must stay true to the format, “The Unrepentant Atheist”.
My suggestions would be ‘Annoying’ or ‘Dangerous’ (Darwin’s Dangerous idea).
But I like the idea of keeping the blank best.
Mike.
The Empirical Atheist
The A Factor – The Thoughts of an American Atheist
The “A” should be the stylized capital italic red A
“The Unquiet Atheist” struck me as awfully good, regardless of whether that was actually Prof. Dawkins’ suggesting it.
“God-like”
For you smite the “non-believers”, yet want the best for humanity.
The All-Knowing Atheist
The Compleat Atheist?
Eat Reason Love
The Cracker Cracking Atheist. :D
The Evolution of an Atheist
I think you said it best PZ…The Triumphant Atheist!
The Naked Atheist. You are, after all, baring your soul.
The famous atheist …is correct
The infamous atheist …. is obvious but not complementary
the good ones that are not spectacular are:
The renowned atheist ….
The influential atheist
The leading atheist
The well-known atheist
More spectacular:
The applauded atheist
The acclaimed atheist
The behemothic atheist
The widely-lauded atheiest
The dynomite atheist
The formidable atheist
My personal favorites:
The inestimable atheist
The undiscountable atheist
The pharyngulating atheist
(granted, I haven’t read all of the comments, so forgive me if any of these are duplicates)
1. Abominable
2. Hopeful (not as controversial, but definitely positive)
3. Purpose-driven (Take that, Rick Warren!)
4. Transitional (as in transitional form in the evolution of humanity)
5. Irreducible (Eat it, Michael Behe!)
6. Ragamuffin (spoof on Brennan Manning)
7. Insolent
8. Righteous
9. Impertinent (tho this can also mean ‘obsolete’ which you certainly are NOT)
10. Audacious
How about “The Cracker-crumblin’, cyber-pistol-wieldin’, poll-crashing, pharyngulatin’, fund-raisin’, debatin’, tenticle-wavin’ Atheist?
I see Cthulthoid is already out there.
Personally, I prefer Cthulthic. Has a better ring to it.
Otherwise, I have to put a +1 under ‘The Unquiet Atheist’.
My brain was fizzing over with ideas until I read that one… Then it all just died. I’ll never top that one.
Don’t pick anything making you sound faithful or religious. That’ll just give the religious another chance to spout out how it’s atheism is a religion because they don’t believe in God (It’s silly but they do it anyways.)I’d pick something having more to do with your resolve, your logic, your reasoning skills etc. before I’d pick something like “evangelical”.
I’d love to read the book before suggesting a title but here goes:
The Reasonable Atheist
The Unabashed Atheist
A Book for the Thinking Man: The _____ Atheist
The Neighborhood Atheist
The Atheist Next Door
Good luck on the book PZ. Will look forward to reading it.
“the naughty atheist”
The Real World Atheist
The Winner Will Always Be an Atheist
Unrepentant sounds good to me.
I’d suggest Curmudgeonly, but Google informs me that Curmudgeonly Atheist is already taken (by someone with an entirely postless blog).
Irreducible
It might be ’cause it’s rather late here, but I would find The Atheyest funny, as a nod to the frequent renaming PZ as Meyers, not to mention all the bright religionists who can’t spell atheist either.
The Atheist’s Reply
The Mutant Atheist
The Fat Atheist
The Atheist Theory
The Transparent Atheist
The Atheist Family Tree
Eight Legs Good
On Invisible Clothing
Just call it “Crackers”
The Ken Ham is a Dork Book by America’s Premier Atheist
…faith-defying…
…internets best…
…cracker-attacker…
I also like “The ______ Atheist” and one of the suggestions above for cover art having a load of descriptive words about the page.
The Atheist Must Awaken! (thinly veiled Dune reference)
I vote for:
The Cuddly Atheist
or
The I’m Atheir Than You Atheist
or
The Compleat Atheist
The Atheist’s Atheist.
(And curse WordPress for not allowing three-letter usernames.)
RBH
Assuming this is intended for a wide audience;
The Potential Atheist
I can’t keep up with the speed here. My first thought was The Adamant Atheist, as many seem to have suggested. Then, I liked the The _______ Atheist.
I suggest the following: PZ collects the N best suggestions, and have his Publisher randomly pick the adjectives for the title, hiding it behind a scratch-it paint.
This will hugely add value to future-generation second-hand copies of unscratched covers.
Crap. The Ardent Atheist failed the Google test as did eloquent.
I can’t believe that any one would read this far. Try:
“peripatetic”
The Damned Atheist
My first thought was The Loving Atheist .
I figured it would be suggested in the first 20 comments, but it didn’t turn up until Hairhead’s comment.
Nonetheless – it should be obvious, at least in retrospect, why.
The “Dude” Atheist
It will tie the whole book together.
natural
real
authentic
… because you are the real thing, not the kind of person that is carricatured in the minds of some people.
The Irritable Atheist
I wouldn’t go with something too positive… it could quickly be seen as obnoxious on an autobiography cover.
If you often write badly of religion, I think something along the lines of irritable, scruffy, all-in-your-face, no prisoner, pissed off, no more mr. nice guy Atheist… would be more appealing to the atheist public.
Or
The Burning Atheist…. you could interest both the mad atheists AND the religious folk who would want to see you on a stake ;).
The Unhorned Atheist? (Also The Atheist Unhorned sounds better)
They do think we have horns, y’know.
The Practicing Atheist.
The Not Knocking On Your Door and Annoying The Everliving Fuck Out Of You Atheist.
The Step-By-Step Atheist.
The Hopeful Atheist
Can we get the words cyberpistol in there somewhere? Or Goats on Fire?
If this is a book of Fishing tips, perhaps The Weekend Atheist?
If this is aimed at describing not YOU, but more your target audience, there’s The Armchair Atheist.
The Atheist Always Rings Twice.
The Revenge of The Atheist
The Atheist II: Electric Boogaloo.
The Old Atheist and the Sea (Monster)
The Well-Armed Atheist (not a gun reference)
The Atheist Inside You
The Unfallen Atheist
The Inevitable Atheist
The Self-Acknowledged Atheist
The Atheist Your Mother Warned You About
The Attack of the Mutant Atheist
The Born Atheist
The Bourne Atheist
CSI: Atheist
The Atheist Also Rises
The Unleavened Atheist
Wait.
What were we talking about again?
The Atheist: A New Hope
The Cutting Edge Atheist
How about “Living”.
The Living Atheist.
I just read the comment about Loving atheist. I like that one better.
The cuddable atheist.
The Courtier’s Atheist
PZ Myers, Atheist Extraordinaire
The Atheist Extraordinaire
Both shaky on Google
The Atheist. A specified quality seems to imply that we’re generally not ______, be it cuddly, ethical, tentacled, unapologetic, thoughtful, etc.
Just keep it simple – The Atheist. Or – An Atheist.
The iReason App – Perfect for the Ardent Atheist
I like The American Atheist.
In the US we really don’t have an atheist that defines us. You can take that role!
The Internet’s Most Wanted Atheist
One from either side of the spectrum:
The Baby-eating Athiest
The Devout Athiest
The Transitional Atheist
(And then let the creationists bleat!)
The Pocket Atheist
“The Stingy Atheist”.
Just because you don`t give a cut in the price of the book…
Mean PZ!
More seriously:
“The Impolite Athesit”: because you don`t want to be cuddly and atack and demolish the stupidity of the theistic ideas.
You are indeed a person that have the courage to treat theistic ideas has the utter crap they are in a very direct and impolite way.
Good luck with the book PZ.
How about:
Myth Swatting Atheist
I think its sharp, catchy and reflects exactly what you do on your blog.
I like:
The ____ Atheist
The Atheist
Atheist
Atheist!
Deciding on just one adjective is just too daunting.
The Groaning Atheist,
No, no. Don’t thank me. It was the least I could do.
The Zen Atheist
I pooped out after 40 or 50 replies, but did anyone suggest
The Affectionate Atheist
?
We all know how PZ really (in his heart of hearts) loves his fellow man/woman. Else why would he go to such ends to straighten out their (including my) thinking.
*Delurks from a chaotic, increasingly fragmented life*
Two observations from a librarian.
1) What is the book about? I dutifully read all the comments posted here thus far and saw no discussion of the format or intent of the book, so I may be the only person who does not know this…but I’d want to know that before offering a title. All the suggested titles describe Dr Myers, which might be fine, I just don’t know. The rule of thumb for catalogers when assiging subject headings: “What is it ABOUT?”
1-a) Is the book ONLY about atheism? PZ writes and speaks on many topics; of course, atheism, skepticism, and truth inform it all, but is atheism, especially his, the primary topic? If so, then the “atheist” title is appropriate. If not, then will the title deflect some potential readers?
2) I love the IDEA of the blank line, but this will create headaches for librarians, atheists, and general searchers. How will you search for the book if you don’t know the author’s name? Better to give it a memorable, indexable title. And consider the intene discussion that will inevitable flow after publication; leaving a blank will probably prompt some people to speculate that he was unable to come up with a good title. Don’t leave anything open to criticism.
—
Of the suggestions offered thus far, and assuming this is a collection of essays by Dr Myers, I like
Compleat
Irreducibly Complex
Unabashed
Good
Unfinished
Evolving [“evolved” implies that evolution has an end point]
And I would offer, if they have not been offered already:
Self-Sufficient
Moral
Eyes-Wide-Open
I would skip the in-jokes, as well as anything self-laudatory or self-congratulatory, which will be fodder for enemies.
——–
*rushes back to chaotic, fragmented life, already regretting not being able to follow the rest of this thread*</i)
The Infallible Atheist
The Not-Your-Father’s Atheist
or
The Raging Atheist
or literally (as already suggested)
The {you fill the blank) Atheist
How about sticking it to the horsemen and going with The Old Atheist? :)
Or may be just:
The Myth Swatter
Or
Myth Swatting Myers (MSM)
I like the title, “The ____________ Atheist” best.
-or-
All your online polls are belong to us
The Non-denominational Atheist
Atheist-in-the-Raw
The Endless-Thread Atheist
The A**hole Atheist
if we can’t have “the fucking atheist”, maybe we can have “the cock-sure atheist” …
callipygous
How about,….
The Damned Dirty Atheist?
Or just
The Damned Athiest?
how about devout, slides off the tongue..
… Inspiring …….
I also like the blank space. For two reasons:
1. It engages the reader and invites them directly, right there in the title, to think about what they think about atheists, and to use the book to reevaluate and maybe modify their opinion.
2. The blank space in the title also plays into the way people perceive the world. I mean, there’s the world as it is, and we have to put value in it, adjectives like ‘evolved’, ‘natural’, ‘physical’ or ‘created’, ‘divine’ etc.
The blank space, in my view, would make up a more meaningful title than any witty, provocative, funny, … word you/publisher could choose to put there.
Also, maybe as a 3rd point: No one would really expect that, especially not on the theistic side. It would, maybe, startle some people there, that you refuse to put a defining adjective in the title, and that you let that opportunity pass, to profile yourself by a little play on words.
After looking over the long list, all my ideas are already represented, and my favorite is #56: The Roaring Atheist
600 comments that I haven’t read… What are the chances I’m the first to suggest “Sniny”?
You know those hologramish things you used to get in Cracker Jack boxes where the picture changed depending on the angle you looked at it? How about using that type of thing and The Soft/Out spoken Atheist?
The Unaccommodating Atheist
The Unrepentant Atheist
The Engaging Atheist (ooh, yeah… see what I did there?)
The Small Town Atheist
The Atheist that’s not Christopher Hitchens or that British Guy
The Atheist
Everything You Always Wanted To Know about Atheism* (*but were afraid to ask)
The Atheist’s Guide to the Galaxy
Atheism Episode IV: A New Hope
The Atheist with the Cuttlefish Tattoo
Hairy Professor and the Deity Hollow
Really, there should be a book about the pharyngula community titled: The evolution and development of an Atheist community.
Moist
PZ Myers, the Fullmetal Athiest
(No particular reason, other than the irony made me chuckle.)
One vote for “tentacled”.
1) The Gnu Atheist
2) The Messianic Atheist
3) The Moral, Librul, Evolution-lovin’, Accommodationist-hatin’, Unapologetic Gnu Atheist
4) God Isn’t Real, now Move On
OK, we have a winner:
The Understandable Atheist
The Delusional Zombies Verses An American Atheist
Subtitle: An Epic Love Story
Is this a biography? I think that is a terrible title but how about
The Chitinous Atheist
The Untamed Atheist
@654
I really like The Engaging Atheist
The Ugly Atheist.
If it hasn’t been suggested yet … which it probably has:
FREE
On the grounds that you are free of the shackles of religious dogma and associated bullshit, and cynically because the eye is caught by anything with “free” on it.
Read through 641, and I noticed one was missing
The Mocking Atheist.
Has anyone said “Brave”?
Some above, like “honest” seem bad to me because it implies that mainly atheists are not honest, but here is one that is.
Changing the form slightly and keeping with irreverent tone:
“That Bastard Atheist”?
How about:
The Scruffy Maned Atheist
The Joy of Atheism
The Fulfilled Atheist
The Perfected Atheist (may be seen as a dig at Ann Coulter)
Actually I like ‘The Intellectually Fulfilled Athiest’, but you should probably get Dawkins’ nod, since he may have coined the phrase.
I vote for The Evolved Atheist as well. But this was a fun thread to read.
The 21st-Century Atheist
Many Tentacled
The Unclosed Italics Tag Atheist.
I’ve got it: Audacious!
I like “ardent,” too, but it’s kinda taken already.
The Born Again Atheist.
The First Reformed Atheist.
The Evangelical Atheist.
The Just Like You Atheist.
The [Irreducibly] Complex Atheist
Props to Tony, I like two of his:
The Irreducible Atheist
The Purpose-Driven Atheist
Uh oh— I could have sworn I closed the italics tag back there?
Rampant
The enlightened atheist
The uncivil atheist
The American atheist
I wasn’t going to contribute since “the fucking atheist” is out, but since everyone is throwing in their ideas, how about:
The American Atheist
The Small Town Atheist
The Irascible Atheist
???
The AVENGING Atheist
(Living a purpose-driven life in a post-Enlightenment world)
Cephalopodiphilic?
The Savage Atheist
The Feirce Atheist
The Defiant Atheist
The Flaming Atheist
The Fiery Atheist
The Spunky Atheist
Atheism Without Accommodationism
*drags self in to correct self at #641*
should be
Typing fingers outpaced my tired brain.
*slinks away, noticing with interest that this post is in italics where it ought not to be and vice versa due to the unclosed italics tag somewhere above, which has left us in a slanty world*
The Righteous Atheist
Daily. The Daily Atheist.
(I am not the first to suggest this though)
The “millionth who writes a useless self-absorbed book with no other intention to rip off some fanboys, as those silly people buy everything, they are almost as dumb as religious people just that they don’t believe in god” Atheist
The “I would like to make money like so many other people by selling a book with rants that pick on stupid people” Atheist
The “I would like to see myself in a line with Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris, yes I’m at least as good as Harris, this guy was just lucky in timing” Atheist.
The “damn it is boring, shallow and repetetive to write how ridiculous religion is, but in this dark times this is still an issue for the plebs so why should I write a decent book about difficult, controversial and less obvious things or concentrate on my scientific career” Atheist.
I think I’m getting the hang of it, hold on.
The Intelligently Designed Atheist.
Fiat Atheist.
I didn’t read through all the suggestions, but I did see one that would make me want to buy the book: The Good Atheist. For the reasons given, but also because one would have to do a double take, was that The God Atheist? No, no, it’s the *Good* Atheist.
Good luck.
If you want a break from the endless suggestions, check out this link:
http://uofisocialcognitionlab.x10.mx/Papers/Ritter_Preston(inpress).pdf
It is a psychology study that attempts to measure disgust related to contact with rejected religious beliefs. Participants were asked to taste and rate a drink before and after copying a passage from either the Koran, The God Delusion or the Bible.
We have a scientific method to see if PZ’s forthcoming book will be regarded as more disgusting to Christians than the Koran or Dawkin’s The God Delusion. Now we can quantify who is the most atheist of atheists.
The Mounted Atheist (referring to a certain Triceratops)
What I would call you? I would… call you names. Gnihihi pffft…
(Again sorry for spam. The thesis I’m writing distracts me from posting coherent and useful comments.)
I’m with Ophelia Benson. I like vertebrate. The biological definition fits. It also fits if we use vertebrate to mean backbone as in someone who exhibits bravery and good moral character.
Slanted?
the uncloseted atheist
the moral atheist
the clockwork atheist (don’t know why)
the avid/vicious atheist
The PZ Myers Cambrian Explosion
Bet your ethernity
The Myers’ razor
Blog your faith away
The Teapot party
The satanic posts
Anyway, I’d go with “the devoted” or “the atheist they warned you about”
Forward
Kareth @16 beat me to my first choice: unapologetic.
Glen Davidson @26 did likewise for my second: scientific.
Randomfactor @48 pre-empted my third: gnu.
The ______ Atheist: A ______ ______ Autobiography.
I was born in a ______ ______ neighborhood of ______ , a ______ ______ , to parents of a ______ ______ persuasion.
My parents were ______ and ______, who taught me ______ , ______ , and ______ .
As I grew ______ , I began to ______ ______ , which caused my parents to react with ______ and ______ . This led me to ______ ______ in search of ______ .
After many years of extensive ______ and deep ______ , I discovered the writings of ______ , ______ , ______ , and ______ . ______ taught me ______ ______ ______ , and from ______ I learned ______ . These ______ considerations provoked within me a sense of ______ and ______ .
Further study of ______ and ______ convinced me that many definitions of ______ were ______ , while others were ______ ______, and the remainder were at best ______ .
Nonetheless, for many years I was content to call myself ______ , thinking to avoid ______ people, or ______ to have ______ I did not in all surety have. To me this was an important strategy of ______ and ______.
But despite my best efforts to be ______ , I found many people were nonetheless ______ ; it was not ______ , but ______ which provoked their ______ ______.
These experiences taught me that ______ is not a successful way of avoiding ______ ; it merely allows ______ people to act as if atheists either do not ______ or at the very least will not ______ and therefor require no consideration. ______, or, as it might better be called, ______ atheism, seems encourage ______ people to believe that ______ quietly accept their dominance.
(To be completed by the reader …)
The Morning-After Atheist.
How about coopting a word from the Christian vocabulary?
The Reverend Atheist
Provocative and positive. It also has a non-religious meaning that in title case is ambiguous.
Being a wad?
The Turtling Atheist
Ippy @691
Finally!
690 posts before the first troll!
Same as for @577 lordshipmayhem and @588 Ronald Kephart
:
you can’t go by
:
The Compleat Atheist
or
Fishing For Truth
:
(graphic of PZ pulling in a jesusfish)
I agree with Glen “Undesigned” sums it up.
Adjective Defying
Have to rework the whole thing to: The Atheist Shrugged
The Unknown Atheist (have to wear bag on head though)
Midwestern
Rootinest Tootinest Orneriest Atheist in the West
Moron Baiting
I am convinced it should be The HONEST Atheist.
It encapsulates many of the other suggestions. Someone suggested that “honest” suggests that there are “dishonest” atheists – and there are! They are the apologists or the “spiritual-but-not-religious” or the “let’s sugar-coat it for the common people” types. You might not call them “dishonest” but I bet PZ would.
All that makes “The Honest Atheist” an even more appropriate title.
Cordial.
Compleat.
My first thoughts were too derivative: brokenSoldier’s suggestion…
…made me think of The Partly Cloudy Atheist, but that’s been done.
And somebody mentioned Minnesota, which got me thinking of a certain avuncular radio monologist, which led me to The Above-Average Atheist.
But my real suggestion is one of SC’s:
The Public Atheist (but if you go with that one, proof the final cover copy very carefully! ;^> )
I vote for “The Gnu Atheist”. You could be the one to take the term mainstream.
The Baby-eating Atheist?
I like “The ——– Atheist” but also would suggest atheist as an adjective in, say, “Obviously Atheist” or “Why Aren’t You Atheist?”
Whatever happens, good luck !
Middle-class, American
BTW, who do I have to sleep with to get a </i> tag around here?
I like “strident”, or preferably some derivation of it.
What about:
“The Stridiligent athest”?
The Weapons-Grade Atheist
The Mo-Better Atheist
The ‘Bout-Time Atheist
The Prime Atheist
The Unassuming Atheist
The Ruggedly Handsome Atheist
I also like the idea of just retaining the blank, and I like the title “The Good Atheist.”
And, yes, I did think “Poopyhead” first. When I buy the book, I will make a custom cover denoting it properly as “The Poopyhead Atheist.”
I would vote for “impertinent” or “upright” from the adjectives already mentioned.
But did no one suggest “The Impudent Atheist”?
I think that’s pretty good as well.
I adore Unapologetic, Bearded, Vertebrate, Scruffy, Inveterate, Furious, and Roaring.
I’ll throw in Eldritch. Cos I like it.
What about spelling it Poopey?
Eldritch.
The french title should be: The Post-structuralist Atheist
It’ll sell like hotcakes.
Nooo, the page done broke! Feels like I’m reading the old Slactivist. :)
Italics begone?
Italics begone?
I never did figure out how people wished the slants away.
The Terrible, Horrible, No-good Very Bad Atheist.
Thanks! Interestingly, Ippy started trolling early in the comments at B&W, saying how tacky it was for PZ to ask people for suggestions. I see this completely differently – PZ’s asking for suggestions on this is so characteristic of him, and in such a good way. It made me think that something like my earlier suggestion of “Public” makes sense, in that a distinguishing feature of PZ’s (and one that probably played a role in developing the book) is his fostering of, communication with, and connection to a community. More so, in my view, than any individual trait.* I’m not sure if “Public” is best (though I still like it). Not “Community.” Certainly not “People’s.” But something along these lines…
*Hm. It is an individual trait, but one that by its nature involves others.
I suggest “The Crackpot Atheist”. It sounds nice.
The Righteous Atheist
To me, a reader of your blog, perfect
The infidel Athiest
The Complete Atheist
The Everyday Atheist
The Goddamned Atheist
The Flaming Atheist
The Amazing Atheist
Observant?
I agree with Lynna in #720:
The Unassuming Atheist
The Brazen Atheist
chigau () @ 707.
I’m not a troll. I just think this kind of atheism for atheists circlejerking is as superfluous as a goiter. Buy this kind of discursive junk if you want and wonder where your money goes when you are told the obvious for the thousandth time. There are never enough good books about biology though. Why not hitting on Stephen J. Gould instead and having some reasonable arguments? In a smart way? His publishers are probably afraid nobody buys intelligently designed books anymore instead of junk that panders to some crowd.
The Atheist from Hell
Unsinkable,
Unrepentant,
Unfrazzled,
Unmistaken,
Un-allsorts of other options…
the beer-reviewed atheist
the ordained atheist
the freewheeling atheist
the preaching atheist
the last days atheist
the merry atheist
the cult of PZ
God hates facts
Amazing how Ippy knows enough about the content of PZ’s book to characterize and pass judgment on it well before it’s released.
Thanks, ‘Tis Himself. Of my suggestions, I like that one best.
It’s also a nice double entendre.
Th Italicized Atheist.
I’m literally *horrified* that no one has suggested…
“Squidgy”
In its favour:
a) it shows off PZ’s cuddly side
b) it’s a terrible, terrible, pun.
What more could you ask for?
remorseless
I would like to second: The Atheist They Warned You About
Listen! I think you should call your book: “The Atheist Teddy Bear.” Or: “The Teddy Bear Atheist, ” – if your married to the word order…
@salty current 728
I’m not trolling, I’m simply having another opinion and voice it in the comment section. Your reaction shows however how intellectually incestous the “atheist community” around here has become. Enjoy your exchange of meaningless platitutes, hivemind and celebrity worship.
The Unapologetic Atheist
I second that.
If anyone is still reading this far in,
– The Dinosaur-Riding Atheist (favourite so far, and makes for a interesting book title)
– The Gnu Atheist
– The Militant Atheist [Guide?] (though irony will definitely be lost on some)
– The Uncompromising Atheist
– The Vulgar Atheist
Most of my ideas have already been taken, so here are the ones that haven’t been yet:
– The Pharyngula Atheist
– The Meaner, Angrier, Louder, Fiercer Atheist
cephalophile
Ippy,
Your concern is noted. Now please fuck off.
I can’t belive nobody’s suggested “The supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Atheist”.
To go with ‘Rootinest Tootinest Orneriest Atheist in the West” I was picturing the movie version:
PZ played by Bugs Bunny (This means WAR)
Ken Ham by Porky Pig? no, Yosemite Sam
Porky Pig will be some kind of accommodationist
All those people from Discovery Institute by Daffy Duck (I can’t tell them apart)
Richard Dawkins by Marvin the Martian (those zingers need some kind of accent)
Narrated by Tom Hanks
Trophy Wife by Christina Hendricks (hubba hubba)
It’ll be bigger than Ishtar I tells ya.
“Swashbuckling”
Ippy says: no more joshing around this biology is SRS BiZNeS!!!
Already been mentioned, but if it has to be that prescribed format, then:
The Naked Atheist
has a very nice ring to it, reminiscent of The Naked Ape. OTOH, if the title format is not set in stone, then I’m kind of partial to:
Godforsaken
though according to dictionary.com, that comes with a lot of negative connotations :-\ Aside from ‘wicked’, which describes you perfectly :-)
– The Atheist They Warned You About
Also good.
Hm. Difficult question, actually.
Disclaimer: I’ve only caught up till comment 656. I submit in the desperate hope of getting in before the 800-comment limit.
I’m against “scientific”. It immediately reminds me of “Scientific Socialism”, which is how Eastern Bloc communists called their religion.
How about “Gnu”? Is that too much of an inside joke (I bet you already explain it inside the book)?
“The Nāsti Atheist”? Naaah, definitely too much of an inside joke, even though it would really drive the points home that 1) there’s nothing new about “New Atheism” and 2) Vedic creationists aren’t any less silly than Christian ones, there are just fewer of them in positions of power.
Good!
Oh yes, but it makes PZ look like a contrarian who is uppity just for fun or just to get attention – a classroom clown.
Why not!
I like that one. :-)
That’s great!
:-)
I hate that one. It confuses evolution with progress, and it’s boasting (see “Brights”), and it assumes that individuals evolve like Pokémon.
PZ isn’t only an atheist, he’s an adiabolist as well…
I like that a lot, but that’s probably just because I associate it with Godzilla Vs Cthulhu…
Good!
Wonderful.
Not bad…
That’s actually great. “I’m mad as nonexistent hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
Seconded!
Why actually not.
The Way of the Atheist
If you like the blank idea (I don’t) but underscores pose a problem then what about The Blankety-Blank Atheist
YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE PUBLISHER!!!
I LOVE “The Fucking Atheist” (so does my wife)
Be ahead of the times!!
I also like “The Cuddly Atheist”
And my wife also liked “The Unrepentant Atheist”
pragmatic
apathetic
The Truimphant Atheist
The Jubilant Atheist
The Exultant Atheist
The __Hudsucker__ Atheist: A _Coen_ _Brothers_ Autobiography.
I was born in a small, tree-lined neighborhood of __Muncie__, __Indiana__, to parents of a __gold__ __and_blue__ persuasion.
My parents were _Wilbur__ and _Flo__, who taught me __speed_chess__ , __full-contact_origami__, and __the importance of delivering blue envelopes__.
As I grew __into a board-nominated patsy__ , I began to _dream of _hula hoops_ , which caused my parents to react with __bewilderment__ and __stock, repeated lines__ . This led me to __sketch__ __more circles__ in search of __a ready-made Coen fans in-joke___ .
After many years of extensive __study__ and deep ___dives off the clock tower__ , I discovered the writings of __Jennifer Jason Leigh__ . __Offering her a cigarette__ taught me __martinis__ __are__ __for squares__ , and from __the elevator guy__ I learned __humanity__ . These __startling___ considerations provoked within me a sense of __deep gratitude___ and __especially to Moses the clock guy___ …
Unexploded…
You may be unaware of a new rule on the Internet, Ippy, but it goes like this:
If you’re going to criticise some group for having ‘groupthink’, being a ‘hivemind’ or an ‘echo chamber’, you can’t use the same overworn words every fucking fourteen-year-old who types with one hand on his cock uses, and those include ‘groupthink’, ‘hivemind’, and ‘echo chamber’.
Also, you have to list at least one patent or novel thought attributable to you and you alone.
I like “The GNU Atheist”
or…
“The SHRILLIGENT Atheist”
The Resolute Atheist
Agh. Looks like in #664, there was an open <i> tag. Hate that. Let’s see if we can stop the rot.
(probably not :-)
Was he bitten by a radioactive infidel?
Obstreperous? Recalcitrant? Curmudgeonly?
The “Deep-Fried” Atheist. Anything deep-fried seems to be popular these days.
Strident!
I suppose for completeness I should include “unsaved” and “unredeemed.” It would depend on what angle is being pushed, naturally.
Do ANYTHING but “The Atheist”. It’s so…tacky! To be honest, your tagline from the old pharyngula would be great. Although I’m sure the word “ejaculations” would never fly with any publisher. Why not something like, “There’s more to Atheism than just eating babies.” How could anyone resist picking that book up!?
Happy.
that was supposed to read, “The adjective Atheist”
The Mettlesome Atheist
If it’s a boy: Ulysses David. If it’s a girl: Ulyssia Davida.
bionic
We broke the software! After comment 664 (not 800!), the numbering restarts at 1, and the entire rest of the page (except blockquotes in comments) is in italics! Help!
Nah. What’s not to understand about The God Delusion?
the pharyngulated athiest
The UnComfortable Atheist
@Ippy, PZ Myers helped me see that I need not be shy about being an atheist. That was not easy for a former minister. Just by writing honestly he helped me get honest with myself. So fuck off.
I like “Tentacled” or “Biological” Atheist but “Sniny” would be my vote. I see 6 other people have suggested that but it may be a bit of an in-joke.
I also vote for “Strident”.
Devoit
I think my comment may have gotten lost – wondering if the platform could be groaning under a Pharyngulated strain. Let’s see; I told Ippy to fuck off, liked “Tentacled” and “Small-Town” but cast the 7th vote for “Sniny” while expressing doubts because it might be an in-joke.
Let’s see if this comment makes it.
Another vote for “The Natural Atheist”.
Natural should be understood in at least three senses. First, atheism is natural; gods are artificial.
Second, PZ is a naturalist.
Third, we atheists don’t strain to maintain the faith, or quiver in fear of imaginary ghosts. We live comfortably in a universe without ghost stories, and behave morally without a supernatural Law Giver.
Still, I don’t like the template of “The Atheist”. The title should be a pithy summary of the book’s central theme or argument, not merely a cutesy marketing hook. I like titles with active verbs (especially if PZ’s book calls the reader to social action). Absent knowledge of the content, it seems to me rather pointless to suggest titles. Nonetheless, we can offer ideas to prime the pump. Here are two:
“Atheism Comes Naturally”
“God FAIL”
What you is:
The best Atheist
Or, going low-key:
The ordinary Atheist
Or, going meta:
The underscore underscore Atheist
Or, to be smarmy:
The miraculous Atheist
All in all, my favourite Atheist!
the APPROPRIATE atheist
Untamed.
(My earlier comment got lost too.)
I rather like “The ___ Atheist” myself; however I can see why that probably shouldn’t be the final title.
“Gnu” was the first thing that popped into my head.
ooh, or how about Nu(ν)? nice little math reference there…
/off topic, but why is everything in italics? /off topic
The Athiest of the atheist. I’ve always found you to be more athy that than the others.
trying to time this right:
The Last Atheist
articulate?
Hm, I like leaving the blank in there, too. Leaves a little to the imagination. :)
Also, everything on my end is showing up in italics. Please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this.
+1 for “The Compleat Atheist” if we have to stick to the rules.
Othewise, can I suggest “A is for Atheist”?
Both resonate with well known titles.
Please don’t go for any of the in-jokes. No-one outside the community will connect with crackers or cephalopods (unfortunately).
Sorry, I’ve not read all the suggestions. 787 comments when the thread came up, 794 when the comments loaded. I bet mine will be over 800.
So, just to throw in a few I’m sure everyone else already thought of:
“Octopodal”
“American”
“Patriotic American” (That’ll get to the TeaBaggers!)
“Unapologetic”
“Gnu” (Of course)
The Bemused Atheist, since that’s what you seem to be a lot of the time, or
The Minnesota Nice Atheist
unquiet
The Unadulterated Atheist.
The Unruly Atheist.
The Willful Atheist.
The Absolute Atheist.
The Intrepid Atheist.
The Implacable Atheist.
The Indomitable Atheist.
The Almighty Atheist.
Oh. Note to self: read the entire thread first.
Aww, only 798. I wonder if I can turn the italics off?
Testing, testing…
Nope!
Another thought: The Outright Atheist.
-Rusty
The Parlay Hung Atheist!
Well, that’s interesting. At 800, the count seems to have rolled over and italics disappeared!
Ippy restated: I’m not trolling, but PZ is a sellout hivemind wanker and his book is a poopyhead. I’m being a boorish ass without providing any content whatsoever, but I swear I’m not trolling! Really! I’m just an additional voice.
As for titles, The _____ Atheist seems like the default. I myself prefer The Unleavened Atheist, as a few others suggest, or perhaps “PZ Myers: Impaler of Crackers and Destroyer of Lies”. I always had an excessive taste for the overwrought, though.
unapologetic
unabashed
Drat. It took too long for me to get home and comment, my best ideas have been supplanted!
The Strident Atheist
The _______ Atheist
The Courtier’s Atheist
I also like The Atheist’s Atheist.
I’m not going to go through all 700+ comments (though I could search, but I’m tired and don’t want to), so don’t know if these are out there yet…
The Squidly Atheist
The Atheistest Atheist
The Visible Atheist
The Unrelenting Atheist
The Tenacious Atheist
Also, 800 comments per page? Seems excessive.
New title suggestion: “The Most Commented Atheist in America”
The A to PZ Atheist
My vote
My first thought was ‘Bearded’
And I do like ‘Pharyngulated’ and ‘Other’ (“you mean there’s more then one?”)
But I got to say. “The ________ Atheist”. Is the best choice.
Don’t worry about the layout. That’s the designers job and if, as a designer, you can’t make such a strong leading title work then you don’t deserve to be in work…
I like it because it could be anything and with atheism it frequently is.
Let’s face it the only thing guaranteed to unite and two atheists is the lack of belief in deities. It is the ‘atheist’ part that defines us as such not what ever we could choose to fill in the blanks. After all I’m sure the creotards would have a different set of words to use, for any of us.
It doesn’t matter what that word is, because it’s not the important word and is guaranteed to not come close to encompassing who PZ is. After all is ‘bearded’ the single all encompassing descriptor? Dennett also has a beard. ‘Angry’? I’ve spoken with PZ and he certainly wasn’t angry. Drunk and confused and wearing a delightful knitted rainbow coloured hat on loan from an AWOL scottish lass, but not angry. (there is the cover shot :). )
If you do have a list of possible words on the cover then you should include some that would be from the other camp too.
The Blogging Atheist
The Blogger Atheist
The Ardent Atheist
The Vocal Atheist
The Atheist Blogger (I do get a cut for suggesting 1 adjective AND transposing two words!)
The No Bullshit Atheist
“The Angry Atheist”
Why not? It’s true, and it might even trick some people into reading it that otherwise wouldn’t. It’s simple and provocative, what more could you want in a title?
Just please don’t call it:
X
How X is Changing the Face of X
or something. I’m so tired of that kind of book title. One word, then description of book. Ugh, just rubs me the wrong way.
The Untouchable Atheist
Any way to get to the first 800? In case I get bored this evening and decide to read them all?
I second “The Purpose-Driven Atheist”. I don’t like the idea of leaving the blank though..there’s a chance of it mistakenly being printed as just “The Atheist”
The Irreverent Atheist
I’m liking:
The ______ Atheist
The Atheist’s Atheist
The Blogging Atheist
Can this thread be considered a poll? =P
I like The Living Atheist. The sequel could be Night of the Living Atheist.
My suggestion is Planet of the Atheist. Yes, one day we will take over and we do need to take over from the theists. All sorts of sequel title possibilities.
The Rambunctious Atheist?
Agree with, “The ______ Atheist”
So many possibilities; so many atheists.
I still like your first thought, PZ, so i designed a cover for you an’ everything! Even The Times won’t have a problem with it.
skmarshall.com/atheist_bookcover.jpg
skm
Persistant
I like Chainborne’s The Almighty Atheist.
Just leave it blank. To fill in. And have the background of the book cover be all the suggestions above in lighter text…
second the A to PZ Atheist
The Affable Atheist
The Trustworthy atheist
The Magnificent Atheist
The Plucky Atheist ****
The Zany Atheist
The Truculent Atheist
The “Danger is my middle name” Atheist
The Faithful Atheist
The Testy Atheist
The Mature Atheist
The Proud Atheist
The Cuddly Atheist
… though I’m not sure why.
The Lucid Atheist
The Natural Atheist
The Persuasive Atheist
The Positive Atheist (double meaning)
The Enlightened Atheist
The Eloquent Atheist
Audible.
The Audible Atheist.
It works for me.
I quite like The ___ Atheist (with perhaps a greyed out list such as at comment 533 in the background. (sorry, someone else also proposed this, but I have no idea where).
But, since I do agree that that would be difficult to 1) say and 2) catalog, I like the same idea for a cover, with “Angry” lining up on the ________. Thus, the best of two worlds! :)
Rational
I like “The Athiest Atheist.”
The Bootylicious Atheist and slap a pair of boobs on the cover for great sales numbers.
senticous : adj. prickly, thorny.
got it from here
Since everybody is calling you names but nobody has called you this:
The Rogue Atheist
I don’t like this but nobody has suggested it:
The Calamari Atheist
Perhaps we could substitute the Scampi for the Calamari on a squid pro quo basis.
I like ‘Unabashed’ or ‘Unrepentant’.
And just for fun–
The Teddy-Bear Atheist
The Tentacular Atheist
The Cromulent Atheist
Just above “Leave a Reply” and the comment box there’s a link to “Older Comments.”
The Divine Atheist
Note to self: when you want a long, fast comment thread, just ask for one adjective.
Wait! Must experiment. What if I asked for an adverb?
The Undead Atheist
The Divine Atheist
The Holy Atheist
The Transcendent Atheist
The Righteous Atheist
The Heavenly Atheist
I’ve been calling myself “The Atheist Atheist” for awhile now but it probably fits PZ more anyway.
This is easy…
The Fearless Atheist
The internets seem to have awallowed a bunch of posts, apologies if this is doubled:
I still like your first thought, PZ, so i designed a cover for you an’ everything! Even The Times won’t have a problem with it.
skmarshall.com/atheist_bookcover.jpg
skm
“The Froody Atheist”
The Uunrepentant Atheist
Flaming
Are these any use?
Cephlapod’s Atheist
Cephlapodist’s Atheist
Tentacled Atheist
The Zealous Atheist.
Points for the religious connotations making it slightly ironic? I think the adjective is fitting though if you disregard the religious regard. I also like how it goes from Z then to A.
The Sour Grapes Atheist.
The Happy Atheist. That seems like an oxymoron to some folk.
Someone already suggested “raving”, but:
“The Ranting Atheist”
What, nobody with the with obvious?
The Complete Atheist
The Unabridged Atheist
The Essential Atheist
Or, if you want to get silly:
The Energizer Atheist
The Deliberate Atheist
The Gnu Atheist
The _Unapologetically Beardy_ Atheist.
or
The Gnu Atheist – to officially own it.
The Pollcrushing Atheist – to much of an in-joke?
The Cyber-pistol-wielding Atheist – too unwieldy…
The Grumpypants Atheist.
The Bitches At Jerry Lewis Because He Doesn’t Raise Huge Sums Of Money For Sick Kids Correctly Atheist.
Too wordy…how about…
The Sour Grapes Atheist.
The Skeptical Atheist
Drop “The” and that could work.
Gloriously Atheist
Proudly Atheist
Infallibly Atheist
Incorruptibly Atheist
Very Atheist
Etc. That works with a lot of previous suggestions.
Silly Answer: The Bearded Atheist
Serious Answer: The Written Atheist
The Outspoken Atheist
How about The Judicious Atheist or The Scrupulous Atheist ?
Snarky
Truthful
the “avatar” atheist
the witty atheist
The Discombobulated Atheist. I know this absolutely sucks as a title, I just like the word discombobulated.
speaking as someone who sold books for 20 years:
People who don’t like “Gnu” and “Sniny” because they are in-jokes are missing the point of a book title, or one of the points at least. The title should give you some idea about the content but also make you go “Huh?” and pick it up to see what it’s about. This is especially true of subjects like atheism where a large segment of the population aren’t interested in the subject. If the title was instantly understandable those folk will just pass it by but a confounding title will get at least some of them to take a look.
Also for those worried that The________Atheist would be unworkable on a cover that just ain’t so. All you have to do is run it vertically in a banner by the spine. Plenty of books do just that and it adds another level of visual interest to the cover. The worry about how people will refer to it isn’t much of one either. It will simply become “The Atheist” in spoken conversation, with the occasional “The Blank Atheist” thrown in. I can assure you that booksellers will figure out what folks are talking about in short order. Also minor disagreements about how to say the title is just another thing that people can talk about, and you want them talking about your book as much as possible.
An extreme example of this sort of eye catching title is Stephen Fry’s autobiography “Moab is my Washpot”. It got serious WTF attention from customers.
TL;DR: Gnu, Sniny and The______Atheist are the best because they will get folks to pick it up just to see what it’s about.
I’ve only had the chance to skim the thread, but so far I like these:
The Devout Atheist
The Dangerous Atheist
(Or what about A Devout and Dangerous Atheist?)
I also like The A to PZ Atheist. (Or how about Atheism, From A to PZ Meyers?)
Sushi
Tag line – Eating the heart out of belief.
The Atheists’ Atheist
Then you’d want to remove the definite article:
– Resolutely Atheist
– Unapologetically Atheist
I’m not sold on the “The ____ Atheist” pattern, but I like the adverb idea. It’s more concise.
The Enlightened Atheist
The Little Bearded Atheist.
Ahem, I apologize but…
The Cocked Atheist
or maybe
The Fully Cocked Atheist
I’m sorry. I’ll leave now.
I see I’m way behind, but I was also going to suggest “cuddly” for the blank. Whenever I’ve seen you in person, you’re quite gentle despite your quote-unquote reputation. Although, it helps that you’re usually debating some clueless guy claiming only quarks are irreducibly complex…
How about an all white cover with a scarlet embossed “Atheist” on it? Maybe the period could be a zebra fish…
The Awesome Atheist.
Because alliteration is cool.
Evangelical Atheist
Just leave it blank.
I think The Loquacious Atheist has a nice ring to it.
Wholly Atheist
The Developmental Atheist.
Cover art like an embryo staging series.
Maybe using text, going from amorphous and blobby to well-formed and maybe spiky, spelling out “Atheist”.
Hm. Has anyone suggested “The Spiky Atheist”? “Prickly”, I see, has been done. Sort of double-entendre-y.
The True Atheist, or Truly Atheist
Referencing multiple meaning of “true”, truth being a guiding principle of atheism:- honest; loyal (to a cause); a straight-edge you can measure from; along with a sideways reference to “No true Scotsman”.
hoe about The Athiest From Pharangula
The GOD-DAMNED Atheist
The Galloping Atheist
Sorry – a little drunk tonight ….The Atheist From Pharyngula
[meta]
PZ,
Really?
“The Pugnacious Atheist” – It rolls right off the tongue.
Maybe you could just have an illustration of a hydrogen atom smack in the center of the cover.
Verily.
I side with the plurality: “The __________ Atheist”
(except that I prefer “*” to “_”)
I see Gnu has been taken, good – wasn’t sure how to spin that as an adjective.
I am surprised that no-one has suggested “popeyhead” (definition 3).
“Not the Dictionary Atheist” (nor the comfy chair).
The Accepting Atheist
Ragutis, indeed.
Invincible.
Unbeatable.
Funny.
Hilarious.
Adorable.
Compleat.
Take-no-prisoners.
Fool’s Worst News
The Cheeky Atheist
i was going to say Swarthy, which i thought was similar in a debonare, playful, yet logical with a rapier wit kind of way. But then i looked it up. Seems ive been using that word wrong for a long long time.
Already been said, but I wanna say it too…
CUDDLY!!!
Actually I’m going to one-up that advice: drop the definite article even if you use an adjective. My new favorite is Scientific Atheist.
I at first thought hungry.. but then i realized tha didnt make sense.. so then I thought “cat loving” :D fits you perfectly doesn’t it?
A Lap Hungry Atheist
There is actual meaning to this if you can figure it out.
The Barbarian Atheist
The Damn Dirty Atheist
The Full Time Atheist
The Sexy Atheist
The Literate Atheist
The Approachable Atheist
Something that expresses the way all learning makes me feel, and is especially true when I check in with what you have to share, PZ,
The Expanding Atheist
If people like The ______ Atheist maybe above the underscore the cover could be a chalkboard finish. That way you could just write in whatever you felt like and change it as often as you like.
Unapologetic Atheist (Said before I know, but I like it)
Not sure you need the “the” either.
The idea of just leaving “The ______ Atheist” with an greyed out list behind is not bad, though will make librarians and bookstores hate you a little.
The Pirate Atheist
The Holier-than-thou Atheist
@PZ
FossilFishy is right, but I would take it one step further: I would put a controversial statement as the title. The God Delusion says it all for Dawkins’ book–I suggest coming up with something for your book that will make everyone grab it off the shelf and investigate further (even raging theists).
Note: my brain is dead at the moment (I’m tired, and besides, I work in sales and marketing for an academic publishing house, so I’ve been doing this all day), so forgive the very weak examples!
Title: How Religion is Destroying The World
Subtitle: Unrepentant Atheist PZ Meyers Explains How
Title: Religion Makes You Stupid
Subtitle: Atheism, from A to PZ Meyers
Title: God Does Not Exist
Subtitle: PZ Meyers and the New Atheism
Once again, I apologize for these very bad examples. I have total faith that Pharyngulites will come up with more brilliant ones. PZ, for realz, give your book a controversial, grabby title–we all want your book to sell! Not only that, but we want the religious to be incensed and to react–that kind of publicity would do wonders for getting your message across!
OK, off to bed…
I like Bearded and Cuddly.
How about:
Squidly
Biological
Joyful
The Atheist with a Heart of Gold.
The Blog-o-licious Atheist.
Pharyngula’s Atheist.
Grand-Dragon of the Pharynguloid Atheist Horde.
Holy shit! Ninety bazillion comments posted.
Too long;can’t read.
“I Am An Atheist.’
The Unashamed Atheist.
The Gleeful Atheist (full of high-spirited delight)
The Jubilant Atheist (already suggested)
The Pope of All Atheists
The Atheist’s Pope
The Howling Atheist
The Frothing Atheist ;^)
The Atheist Under Your Bed
Straight-Up Atheist
No Quarter Atheist
Full Metal Atheist
Atheist Unbound
(BTW, leave out the definite article at the beginning. Unnecessary clutter.)
“The Unapologetic Atheist.”
palfreyed
(on the dinosaur, (saddled triceratops))
“The Unrepentant Atheist”.
I thought someone else would have suggested this (or maybe I just missed it):
“The Belligerent Atheist”
I like “unruly” and “forthright.”
Outright Atheist
The Adamant Atheist
Why not just “The Atheist.” ?
Nice and clean and simple.
@PX
Re #108
Sorry for spelling your last name wrong! Duh! (I told you I was braindead this evening…)
@PZ
Re #122
@PZ
Arghhhhh!
Hello, I am new to the comments but not to the blog.
I couldn’t resist contributing my suggestion for the title:
The Natural Born Atheist
The Good News Without God
Purpose without God
Atheism: Living the Life Driven Purpose.
———————–
The Atheist
A Life with Purpose
———————
The Inconvenient Atheist
The Intransigent Atheist hasn’t been proposed yet, and it is quite appropriate.
The Crotchedy Atheist
I think “The ____________ Atheist” is perfect, actually…
Leave it to the reader to interpret or call it what they want. After they read it, they will name it with the adjective they want.
“The ____________ Atheist”… Perfect.
How about:
The Groin-Grabbingly Transcendent Atheist :P
(from The Simpsons)
or
The Acerbic Atheist
(from The Angry Beavers)
I also like “The Ornery Atheist”. Isn’t there some word that means “cheerfully bellicose”, suggesting the Happy Warrior?
How about “The god Damned Atheist”. Lower caps on god is intentional :)
This one’s based on your avatar and oh, also because you’re such an angel…
The Winged Atheist
The Well-Tempered Atheist
Or perhaps,
The Ill-Tempered Atheist
I’m quite persuaded by the arguments in favor of “The _____ Atheist”, but if an adjective is required, I think it should be a superlative (actually, that’s not bad, “The Superlative Atheist”). But I was really thinking:
Happiest
Jolliest
Angriest
Ultimate
Whatever the title, congratulations on the book!
The evolving atheist
or
The evolved atheist
or
The fully evolved atheist
How about
The Strident Atheist? :D
That could actually work, couldn’t it? Reverse Psychology, anyone?
Why don’t you use the name you created? The Gnu Atheist?
de-lurk/
The cupcake-devouring Athiest?
I missed the first 800, but has anyone suggested The PolariZing Atheist? I like the potential for the play on your name, and it captures a bit of the effect that you sometimes have (for better or worse).
The surprisingly gentle, yet stringently logical atheist.
Oh, oh, oh… how about “The Way of the Master Atheist”
Cheers & Happy Monkey,
Ray, rude-ass yankee
Has “The Suckered Atheist” been suggested yet?
Notorious nullotheist
The Saint Paul of Atheists, Primate of the Holy Church of Nullotheism, on the Road to Pus, er, Octopus, er, against Pus,
er, he’s the Antibiotic for Mental Pus
The Antibiotic Atheist: for all the mental pus that ails you
“The Atheist Who Wouldn’t Shut Up”
(along the lines of “The Unaccommodating Atheist”).
Josh’s suggestion, “The Terrible, Horrible, No-good Very Bad Atheist”, is my favorite.
The Blasphemous Atheist
The Scientific Atheist
The Unassuming Atheist
The Cephelophilic Athiest Manifesto
The Teddybear Atheist
;()
What about: Professor Atheist!
Because you know, he’s a professor and an atheist.
The Enamored Atheist.
The Fightin’ Atheist
The Ragin’ Atheist
The Tentacular Atheist
The testicular atheist?
He does have balls after all…
You know, “The Suckered Atheist: Because Reality is Fast Talking and Convincing”.
I’d go with Gnu. All of the descriptive suggestions (like unrepentant or unapologetic or irascible) are okay, but utterly boring (how many Friendly and Amazing and on and on are out there online?) and not very memorable. Same with “The _____ Atheist” –it’s kind of a 5 second gimmick. “Gnu” is intriguing and provides a good jumping off point for interviewers. You can then explain how New Atheism isn’t really new at all, thus the coinage of the term. Plus you can talk about how dictionary atheism just doesn’t cut it. Gnu Atheism as a progressive, godless, liberal, feminist, humanitarian movement/mentality etc.
The Biggest Small-town Atheist in America
The Unabashed Atheist
The Unaccommodating Atheist, for obvious reasons.
Don’t know if this was suggested before, but who has time to read all of these comments?
The eukaryotic atheist.
Definitely. For some reason I’m almost certain this book will contain biology (perhaps even that thing you once said about the evolutionary history of cooperation [I really liked that] and the eukaryotic revolution) and I think the title should reflect that.
The Common Atheist
No fill-in. No Blank. Just “The Atheist”.
The obvious title that represents everyone in the “movement” is:
The __________ Atheist
Clearly, you’re the Indescribable Atheist.
Another vote for Skeptical. It works on a number of levels.
The Gentleman Atheist
That would be “Easy”. It’s not hard. Everyone can at least understand it, and must admit it makes sense. (Or they’re being willfully contrary).
Since I’ve been reading PZ from his earliest incarnation of Pharyngula, the one thing I’ve admired is how EASY he makes it.
Pull up a comfortable chair, grab your favorite beverage, and read…
“The Easy Atheist”
unconditional
Hardcore
Actually, I can see a cover with a large selection of positive and negative adjectives as background with The ______ Atheist bold and big in black. Anyone want to mock up something like that? Gray text on white background with title in black, or maybe gray or white on black with red or yellow title.
Also kind of liked “Atheism: from A to PZ Myers” that someone suggested.
Out
Loud & Proud
I feel like I should say something totally original… but I’m really just here to give my thumbs-up to The Irreverent Atheist. I like the play on the words “reverent” and “reverend.” I like that it implies both an irreverence towards religion and an irreverence towards atheism. And it says up front that the book will be funny, which will make it more appealing and marketable.
The Pharyngulated Atheist would be instantly recognizable
I’ve just realized we’ve spent damn near 1,000 comments kicking around the wrong question: Who cares what the title is? What I want to know is when the audiobook version will be available, and who’s gonna read it. (And if nobody’s signed up yet, well… I’ve been thinking about a career change!)
The Atheist Overlord of course!
Blancmange.
I like unabashed; The Unabashed Atheist.
The Whole Atheist. Or just “Wholly Atheist!”
A Reasonable Atheist
The Wuthering Atheist? Oblique!
The Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z Atheist? Wordy, pop-culture ref.
The Thinking Primates’ Atheist
Keep the underscore!
“The _____ Atheist” is all of those things you wanted. Readers can fill in what they want. Most will already have personal adjectives in mind for you anyway. They can fill it in, and the rest can wait and ponder further.
The Unassimilated Atheist
The Uncompromised Atheist
The Natural Atheist
Two I haven’t seen:
“The Worn Atheist”
(Suggests a kind of hardened persona from battling theists, but also reminiscent of a worn book. It might also bring to mind clothing–the opposite of the Emperor’s New Clothes.)
“The Bare Atheist”
(Kind of the opposite of above. Like someone else suggested, it would work for atheism laid bare and if the book is rather personal, and it also suggests the Emperor’s New Clothes.)
Have to say that I like “The Sniny Atheist”, “The Irreducible Atheist” and “The Forthright Atheist” though. Sniny would definitely fit if the book is humorous, and I imagine it would get people to look at it a little longer when browsing titles.
OK, I’m getting paranoid.
I responded hours ago, it was there, now it’s not.
WTF?
“Straight-Up”
“Deliberate”
“Unrepentant”
“Undeterred”
“Courageous”
Or, my favourite:
“Fuck the sanctimonious idiotic religionists”
Or, how about, the entire title of the book is: “PZ” in big bold capital red letters? That might get even the religionists curious to read the first few pages, who might not otherwise touch the book with “Atheist” in the title.
VINDICATED,
hopefully sooner than later
“Frumpy”
Jafafa Hots # 177, look just above the “Leave a Reply” for “Older Comments”.
Has to be Skeptical.
Pulls in us scientific skeptics and maybe some who think it’s skeptical about atheism. Then we’ve got ’em…
How about
An Atheist.
The irascible Atheist.
The quietly loud atheist.
I just Pfftt’d “goiter”.
I don’t think “superfluous” is the best adjective to describe it.
(see comment 737 on page 1 of this thread)
and neither work with “Atheist” in this context.
Jerry Coyn might not like the idea, but I like the idea of “Why Religion Is False” :P
I don’t know if it has been mentioned already:
The Positive Atheist.
It describes PZ as the positive individual that he is, while at the same time making a “positive” statement about being an atheist. I am putting in my order for The Positive Atheist.
The Uppity Atheist, of course
The Sacrilegious Atheist
and I would add a vote to:
The Irreverent Atheist
But I do like the ring of “Sacrilegious”. And it harkens back to “Cracker-gate” better.
My 2 cents/suggestions:
The Uncompromising Atheist
The gNu(with a funny accent on the u) Atheist
or there’s always
The Tentacular Atheist
The Sexy Atheist
The FLAMING Atheist.
Variation on a theme. “The Suckered Atheist: Reality is a Persistent Devil.”
The Blogging Atheist seems strangely appropriate.
Cheerfully Grumpy
The Skeptical Atheist
The Evolved Atheist
The God-Fearing Atheist (not exactly positive)
The Incomparable Atheist
Thirty minutes to a tithe free life
The Expelled Atheist
The You’ve Got To Be Kidding Atheist
The You Don’t Actually Believe That? Atheist
The 6000 year old Atheist
The You May Think That’s Right, But You’re Wrong Atheist
The You May Want to Rethink That Atheist
The That Train of Thought Has Expired Atheist
The 21st Century Atheist
The Where’s your Deity Now? Atheist
The DNA Was Here Before “God” Atheist
The Truculent Atheist
The Alarmed Atheist
The Follow the DNA Atheist
The Après-le-Déluge Atheist
The In Medias Res Atheist
The Jouissant Atheist
The Tendentious Atheist
The WTF? Atheist
The God: Awful Atheist
The Your-Intelligent-Design-Argument-Is-So-Bad-That-It’s-Not-Even-Wrong, There Is-no-God-So-Your-Arguments-Are-Invalid-and-Your-Disavowal-of-Evolutionary-Theory-Perpetuates-Ignorance Atheist
I can’t believe no one has thought of this:
The Erect Atheist
A guy named PZ wrote this in an blog a few months ago:
The Affirmative Atheist.
I really hope you’ve directed your publisher to this thread.