Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by philosopher Paul Kurtz, also founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, focusing on topics such as science, freethought, secularism, humanism, and skepticism. Their headquarters is located in Amherst, New York, and they publish worldwide. Authors published by Prometheus include Leon Lederman, John W. Loftus, Martin Gardner, Antony Flew, R. Barri Flowers, Nathan Salmon, Ibn Warraq, George H. Smith, Rob Boston, James Randi, Isaac Asimov, Steve Allen, Joe Nickell, Molefi Asante, S. T. Joshi, Philip J. Klass, Julian Huxley, Sidney Hook, Frederich Nietzsche, Ludwig Feuerbach, Robert M. Price, David Ricardo, utilitarian Jeremy Bentham, John Maynard Keynes, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Toles.
Prometheus Books obtained the bulk of the books and manuscripts of Humanities Press International and has been building and expanding this into a scholarly imprint named Humanity Books. This imprint publishes academic works across a wide spectrum of the humanities.
In 1992 Uri Geller sued Victor J. Stenger and Prometheus Books. The suit was dismissed and Geller was required to pay more than $20,000 in costs to the defendant.
In March 2005, Prometheus Books launched the science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr.
As of 2006, the company and its various imprints have approximately 1,600 books in print and publish approximately 95-100 books per year. Since its founding Prometheus Books has published over 2,500 books.
Prometheus Books name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. This act is often used as a metaphor for bringing knowledge or rationality.
Famous quotes containing the words prometheus and/or books:
“Man, became man through work, who stepped out of the animal kingdom as transformer of the natural into the artificial, who became therefore the magician, man the creator of social reality, will always stay the great magician, will always be Prometheus bringing fire from heaven to earth, will always be Orpheus enthralling nature with his music. Not until humanity itself dies will art die.”
—Ernst Fischer (1899–1972)
“I think the adjective “post-modernist” really means “mannerist.” Books about books is fun but frivolous.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)