Both are sitting across the room from me, staring at me from a pile of others.

Look like you'll have to change your handle to "busy bee Happy".

It's still my opinion, certainty, that The Selfish Gene will go down in the history of science as a pivotal work. Read both but emphasize Dawkins. Also try another masterwork by Dawkins on Youtube, "The Root of all Evil".

Hitchens is very good but Dawkins is great. His "The Selfish Gene" changed the world. As a former biology teacher I taught my students that the cell was the basic unit of life. Not so! The gene is the puppeteer that pulls the strings for the traits of the next generation depending on environmental changes. The book is so convincing that Dawkins thought religion would begin to decline in 1976.
The mindblower: the gene doesn't care about the success of the host any more than a typeworm. The gene for blue eyes only cares about the next generation of blue-eyed babies, and it competes with other genes carrying the same trait. It's the Law of the Jungle even at the microscopic level, the fittest live on to the next generation.

Hitch in live debates. Dawkins in writing. Dawkins gets flustered, live and Hitch maintains his composure better.

I prefer audio. Dawkins is great, but personally, Hitchens had a philosophy closer to mine

Not my subjects so, I don't really have an idea. If I were to explore that 'itch' I'd read both and have no idea which I'd read first... odds on, I would enjoy the mental/philosophical exploration both would evoke.

I just finished reading 1636: Vatican Sanction and have picked up The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

[barnesandnoble.com]

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I will "palette cleanse" with a few Jim Butcher graphic novels (on order) and then dive into something after that. I am sticking to 'light fair' for now as I anticipate (hope to) entering the University in the near future to study... too many tracks at the masters level: SPED (endorsement), Science (endorsement to teach), Teaching English as a Second language (TOSA somehow), with some exploration on the side in math and science (to keep the gears spinning mostly). In short I expect to have some heavy, and heavily directed, reading in the near future so, am going to 'play' for now... that said, I have El Ingenioso Hidaldo Don Quixote De La Mancha which I purchased in Salamanca de España sitting on my shelf... stairing at me... reminding me that I was going to go through it (and a couple of other books in Spanish) in order to both read it as one of the "100 books" AND to shore up/increase my skils in Spanish... but, it's daunting!

Both.

What do I care what people say about god's existance? There's no point in reading about, or discussing, some imaginary construct, except those in movie plots and literature.

I have three books which I am reading right now.
Riddles in Hinduism - B R Ambedkar
Natural History:A selection - Pliny the Elder
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Hariri

One more book is in pipeline which I will start reading post completing these three
The Principal Upanishad - S Radhakrishnan

I like Deconverted by Seth Andrews
Also his other book Sacred Cows a Lighthearted Look at Belief and Tradition Around the World

The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Epictetus

Why I am an Agnostic by Robert Ingersoll

A couple of books with a variety of authors might be to your taste. They're like buffets for the mind.

The Agnostic Reader edited by S.T. Joshi

The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

Gospels of Thomas, and Gospel of Mary Magdelene only for perspective and interest. Very different portayals of what the Prophet Jesus was really about by two of his very close associates. Also lots of stories that the Church doesn't want to be let known.
I am a fan of Hitchens and have seen his debates on You Tube although I haven't gotten into his readings. Bart Erhmans Lost Books of the Bible is also very interesting.

Never a borrower or lender be, try Alan Watts

Haven't read either. Currently reading Pythagoras' Trousers by Magaret Wertheim, a feminist perspective on the history of the relationship between science and religion.

I'm a huge fan of Hitchens, but I voted for Dawkins book by a slight margin. I loved both though.

Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson edited by Anita Thompson. I've already read Hitchens, Hawkins is next on my list.

Trying get started on Sense and sensibility keep falling asleep before I get to it.

I've read neither, but I prefer Hitchens.

I have just looked at a set of the most awful atheist books on facebook and wouldnt read any of them - Why? Why would I? read a whole book about something that has never ever been real to me. I don't need proof that god doesnt exist as no god exists for me right now ,and I am at the centre of my own universe.

I find Dawkins comes across as (and may even be) a bit of an arrogant prick who tends to make pronouncements outside his area of expertise. Hitchens can come off arrogant too but has a much more acute wit. Just my $0.02 plus inflation.

Dawkins and Hitchens are both very flawed representatives of non-believers. They are islamophobic and almost xenophobic to the point of driving me insane everytime I have read a word they wrote. Not only do I find their commentary to be as small-minded as most contemporary Christians I find them to actually be worse because they know what they are talking about and still proceed to fill page after page with their arid bulshit.

Read both and loved both. Pick either one and enjoy, and when you have finished, you have got yourself another fantastic read ahead of yourself

I have a soft spot for Hitchens. He's the better writer of the two and if I had to choose between the two to talk to someone I cared about who held on to harmful beliefs, it would be him. No. Actually, it would be Penn Jillette or Carl Sagan, bit the options were Hitch and Dawks.

I’m currently reading God delusion

Both are very good

I must admit, I haven't read God Is Not Great. But the God Delusion is extremely comprehensive and easy to read, with a light sense of humour and incisive wit. All the same, it is more geared towards the sceptically minded who still believe, rather than those who've already made the transition.