Christopher Hitchens filled Town Hall to overflowing last night to talk about his new book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. It was nearly standing room only. Seattlest was one of the last people to squeeze into the hall and find a seat. Apparently Seattle has a lot of atheists. Who knew?

In his other appearances around the country, Hitchens has appeared with a local theist as a debate partner. He was scheduled to do so in Seattle, but apparently his scheduled debate partner fell though at the last minute and he went on alone. Not a problem! First he introduced the philosophy behind his rejection of theism. Then he created an imaginary debate partner and asked himself questions. Some might say this gave him an unfair advantage, but the audience didn't complain. We were too busy being amused by Hitchens' slams against residents of the South, the British royal family, Al Sharpton, Fox radio anchors, and the warrantless wire-tapping program.

A platoon of questioners mostly refrained from self-indulgent rambling, making the Q&A session unusually productive for Seattle, and when Seattlest left the line for book signing had over 100 people in it. It's no surprise that God Is Not Great is number 4 on the New York Times best-seller list, if this is how all Hitchens' events go. He's charismatic and passionate. Should you buy the book? Well, his arguments aren't anything you can't find on numerous online debate boards, but they're probably more grammatically correct and a good deal wittier.