The Second Plane - Martin Amis

Despite Amis's apparently worrying recent comments on Islam in Britain, I was keen to read this collection of essays and short stories about 9/11. There is nothing offensive here, and his usual fireworks-laden prose and intellectual acuity make it well worth a read.

I particularly liked his insights into the mentality of the terrorists themselves and their nihilist death cult, and the point that none of it could happen if anybody involved had the slightest sense of humour.

And, to continue my recent skepical theme, I thought this was a gem:

To be clear: an ideology is a belief system with an inadequate basis in reality; a religion is a belief system with no basis in reality whatever. Religious belief is without reason and without dignity, and its record is near-universally dreadful. It is straightforward - and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if He cared for humankind, He would never have given us religion.