He has written four novels: Time for Bed, Whatever Love Means, The Secret Purposes and The Death of Eli Gold. For Baddiel, the handy thing about erasing God from Judaism is that he “doesn’t have to process the idea that (friends and family) might be properly clever yet deeply believe something I hold to be absurd… It’s like having to process the idea that some of your friends might be really smart but also have an intense form of OCD.” There was a bit near the end that I really didn't follow the logic of, where he says (paraphrased admittedly) There’s plenty to ponder whenever this wise and witty mortal whips out his chisel and tablets of stone All of this leaves me scratching my head, wondering what led David Baddiel to become such a staunch atheist. It seems that Christianity could be the perfect fit for him, even if he hasn’t realised it yet!

I am not entirely sure what this book is really about though. Yes, it is about belief in God, but there are a few other things going on. For me the most interesting part of the book is when he talks about Leopoldstadt, and how he is a complete atheist who’s Jewishness is at the very core of his being. Maybe that just resonated with me because I feel a slightly milder version of this. Ultimately, his fear of the ­nothingness that succeeds death is misplaced. If death is a void, you won’t know you’ve suffered it and you won’t care; and nor will you be judged for whatever you did when alive. If I had this author’s certainty in a godless universe, I wouldn’t waste time writing books, let alone reviewing them. I might rob a bank. Rather, God’s absence outside our vivid imagination is just a “deeply depressing” fact for anyone who doesn’t much care for dying. “Death is necessary and makes more sense than – whatever the Bee Gees might say – staying alive,” he laments.

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Very uplifting, I say. Baddiel laughs. And what is there but to laugh in any case? I ask him at one point whether he expects his argument to change any minds.

I just think this is just not logical at all, at any step? Like firstly, because we function in the same way biologically doesn't necessarily mean we are the same in all ways (consciousness etc). Then if there's nothing special about us and we are just the same as the other animals, there's theoretically no obligation to act morally at all - and besides, tons of animals eat each other all the time. Then even if the fact of humans killing animals meant that god didn't care about animals, I don't think it would necessarily follow that they don't exist. I am not sure if I would describe the author and his way of writing in this book as self-indulgent. What he appears to be is very self-confident, or appearing to be, in saying “I am who I am and I believe this”. Maybe this seems out of place to me when moral relativism can seem too often nowadays to be a fashionable reason for standing for nothing. But at times I did wonder; do you have enough self-reflection and a healthy amount of self-doubt about you? From the bestselling author of Jews Don’t Count ‘ A hugely heartfelt, funny, kind, fascinating, human and clever book ’ ALAIN DE BOTTON Never mind that plenty of people have argued there is existential proof of God, Baddiel’s thesis is rooted in the “genetic fallacy”, the idea that because we can hypothesise a psychological explanation for something, we can dismiss it as man-made – and to this the author adds the weight of numbers. It’s the sheer ubiquity of God-belief (whether we are drawn to “the Queen” or “Doctor Who”) that seems to convince him it is the product of emotional need, a “babyish” yearning for “God the Parent” who provides an afterlife that offers an alternative to the “nothingness” of the grave.

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Jews Don’t Count is a supreme piece of reasoning and passionate, yet controlled, argument. From his first sentence, the energy, force and conviction of Baddiel’s writing and thinking will transfix you…as readable as an airport thriller…a masterpiece.’STEPHEN FRY -