Step 2: A greater power can restore sanity

So without realising what might follow after step 1: admitting you have a problem, I have unwittingly ordered online some material that for me fits nicely with step 2. Although I should say that I have still not truly admitted to myself that this is a problem, my compulsion for buying books. Looking to a greater power, higher than myself I have indulged in new copies of:

11. Why I am Not a Christian: and Other Essays on Religion - Bertrand Russell - £11.99 Amazon
12. God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens - £5.89 Amazon
13. Arguably - Christopher Hitchens - £7.92 Amazon

I have been looking out for these titles at charity shops for months but have come to realise that people that own these books must treasure and keep them which is why they are so relatively rare in the charity shops I go to. Hence I bit the bullet and bought them with some birthday vouchers and they arrived today.

There is an obvious theme to this batch of books, which as anyone can guess goes hand in hand with having already read several Richard Dawkins books as well as owning An Atheists Guide to Christmas  and a mega copy of The Origin of Species and The Voyage of the Beagle. Add that I have a background in physics and have not been baptised and you may as well throw me on the heathen fire.

Just writing about these books is making me feel a little uneasy, after years of conditioning reminding me not to offend others. I have already decided that I cannot read God is Not Great on my commute, after the only time I took The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins on the tube, two nuns and a Jewish man wearing a kippah sat opposite me. Nothing of course happened to make it impossible to read a book about religion in public but I perceived an awkwardness and feared that someone might say something to me about my choice of reading material. I shall, however, relish reading these titles from the safety of my sofa. They've already made me quite happy just being in my collection.