The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide is Now Available in Paperback!

December 2, 2012 By 16 Comments

Everyone who sent me an email saying you would buy my book except it’s on Kindle and you hate Kindle and [something about DRM] now have an alternative option!

The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide is out in paperback this Monday and you can pre-order a copy now :)

Dead trees FTW!

Just remember: If you don’t buy a copy, my children will starve. (They’re sooooo hungry.)

…

In case you need motivation to buy it, I just did an interview with Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor on Freethought Radio in which I talk about some of the issues discussed in the book:

I also appeared on the UK-based Pod Delusion podcast!… Along with naked scientists. Fun!

Filed Under: General, The Young Atheist's Survival Guide 16 Comments
About Hemant Mehta

Hemant Mehta is the chair of Foundation Beyond Belief and a high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago. He began writing the Friendly Atheist blog in 2006. His latest book is called The Young Atheist's Survival Guide.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Sandy-Kokch/100000074576649 Sandy Kokch

    Well done chief, and all the best for sales. Dosh for you, smarts and support for kids….talk about a real win win.

    As to Kindle….. thbbbbbbbbbbbt!

    Sony Reader rules!

  • Ian Reide

    I don’t “hate Kindle”, but I do hate drm. Good idea with the paperback, thinking about an epub version? 

    • C Peterson

      If it’s a matter of principle with DRM, that’s fine. Everything I read is on a Kindle, but I don’t buy anything that has DRM, simply because I think the message needs to be sent that DRM is unacceptable.

      If it’s a matter of practicality, just remove the DRM after you’ve purchased the book. Files in the Kindle format can be trivially converted to unprotected MOBI or EPUB formats. No court has ruled on the legality of doing that, but since they have previously ruled that removing DRM from music is allowable under Fair Use, I doubt there would ever be a legal issue with doing the same with a book.

      • Ian Reide

        I agree, but I am a man of principle — down with drm!

  • ReadsInTrees

    I have refused to use any sort of eReader.

    • jose

      You prefer to read your stuff printed on the skin of dead trees instead.

      • ReadsInTrees

        Nonsense, I prefer to read my stuff printed on the pulp of dead trees. Paper is not tree skin. Trees are a renewable, green resource. Do you prefer to read your stuff on devices made of plastic, which is made primarily from petroleum, a non-renewable fossil fuel?

        • C Peterson

          I do. Because on my one small plastic device, I can read thousands of books. And every one of those will have avoided the material use, fuel use, and overhead associated with producing and distributing them in paper.

          I don’t think there’s anything wrong with paper books, but I think if you’re anal about everything being “green”, it’s probably hard to beat reading books electronically, even on a dedicated reader.

          • ReadsInTrees

            I’m not anal about everything being “green”. YOU’re the one who brought up the skin of dead trees thing.

            In any case, I still prefer real books. To read new books, I check books out of the library. Most of these are years if not decades old, and have been read by dozens of people. If there is a book I like enough, I will buy a copy for my personal library. Most of these books are printed on recycled paper.  In another couple of decades, these books will still be just as readable then as now. In another of decades, your electronic reader will be obsolete and you’ll probably have bought several to keep up with the rapidly changing technology. I have most of the same books from ten years ago, but I’ve gone through two computers in the same time period, and I imagine this current one will be gone in less than five years.

            Nope, paper books for me.

            • C Peterson

              Sorry, bad wording. I was not implying that YOU were anal about being green, I just meant that if ONE were anal about that, paper books are probably worse than electronic ones.

              I did not bring up anything about the skin of trees!

              FWIW, I have a friend who is a librarian, and the average lifetime of a paper book is six checkouts. The libraries are loving the transition to electronic books, because it dramatically reduces both their acquisition costs as well as their management costs.

              I expect that in just a few years most books won’t be available on paper at all, unless it’s via a custom printing service.

              • ReadsInTrees

                Sorry, the tree skin was the person behind you…I forget to look at the names sometime.

                The six checkouts is interesting. I’ve read library books where they’ve pasted new stamp card thingies (I’m sure is as a real name for those) over the old one because it was full. The two library books with me right now both have 18 checkouts stamped in them. That’s three times the average life span, apparently. One is from 1967, the other is newer.

                I imagine that finding books in print may be harder and harder to do as well, in the coming years. I find this sad, and it’s part of the reason I cling so hard to reading and buying actual books currently. I guess I better buy the rest on my wishlist before it’s too late!

                • C Peterson

                  I think the issue with library books is that the acquisition costs are mainly associated with popular books- bestsellers that everyone wants, so they buy lots of copies. But those are a flash in the pan. They either get trashed, or sold at book sales for pennies on the dollar. You’re reading books that only get checked out once every few years. I’ll bet those books are usually in the hands of people who treat them well.

                  Quite a few electronic books are already printed and bound on demand. New technology makes that very practical. So for the diehard paper book reader, they should always be available. We just won’t see “printings” of new books the way we typically do now.

                • http://www.flickr.com/groups/invisiblepinkunicorn Anna

                  Paperbacks have a short shelf life, but hardcovers are often around for decades. My library system still has books that have been circulating since the 1940s.

                  Hardcover books are sturdy and meant to last for a long time. There’s no shortage of new library books where I live, thank goodness, since I don’t have an eReader and don’t plan on getting one.

  • http://friendlyatheist.com Richard Wade

    I bought a paperback edition so that I can get your autograph in it the next time I see you. Oh and you don’t need to keep going on about “dead trees.” I happen to know that the paper of your book is made only from wood fibers grown from stem cells.

    • amycas

       OMG Dead BABY trees!!!

  • http://twitter.com/rlrose328 Kerri Russ

    Just ordered it yesterday for my son for Christmas… can’t wait to see it!  Grats!