Making Each Day Special

After the success of his earlier book, God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales, magician Penn Jillette has crafted a second volume: Every Day is an Atheist Holiday. If you liked the one, there's no way you won't like the other.

As the title suggests, Jillette has once again put atheism at the core of his book. But once again, it's a subject from which he strays regularly. The book is ultimately a collection of anecdotes from his life, and not all of them relate back to that theme. If you want to read about Jillette's (first) stint on Celebrity Apprentice, he has you covered with some amusing tales. If you want a bit of background on how he first partnered up with Teller to form their famous team, you've got it.

But it's actually when Jillette sticks to the topic of atheism that his book is at its best. A common question that a religious person asks of an atheist is (in some form), "where does your morality come from?" Many theists are so utterly confused by the concept of morals without religion that no amount of reading or discussion could make them understand. But Penn Jillette is on a mission to explain just that, and his simple, down-to-earth manner of writing cuts to the heart of the issue.

Jillette explains how he murders exactly as many people as he wants to: zero. He explains how morality that springs from an external source like a holy book seems less genuine than a moral code that springs from within. And, as his book's title suggests, he explains how someone who doesn't believe in an afterlife will instead look to extract maximum meaning and value from the limited number of days here on Earth that he does have.

Lest you think this is all rather heady stuff for a Las Vegas entertainer, I should clarify that he does all this in a very funny and breezy style. He makes good points, but is just as interested in making good jokes. I found myself laughing out loud at the book far more than I was nodding my head in agreement.

But because this book was more effective than the previous one in those more serious moments, I judge it to be a little bit better. I'd call Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday a B+. You likely still won't want to read it if you're not a fan of Penn Jillette, but you'll definitely be entertained if you are.