In 1995 Richard Dawkins became the first holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is the bestselling author of THE SELFISH GENE, CLIMBING MOUNT IMPROBABLE (Penguin, 1996) and UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW (Penguin, 1998).
Richard Dawkins has updated evolution ... His subject is nothing
less than the meaning of life, and he attacks it with the
evangelical fervour of a clergyman and the mind of a scientist
*The Times*
Beautiful ... he seizes happy analogies, bright metaphors and
shining images to light up his passion and our darkness
*Guardian*
Good writing, tight argument and unpulled punches ... a satisfying
book
*Economist*
One of the best science books - one of the best of any books - I
have ever read
*Los Angeles Times*
Oxford zoologist Dawkins (The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype trumpets his thesis in his subtitlealmost guarantee enough that his book will stir controversy. Simply put, he has responded head-on to the argument-by-design most notably made by the 18th century theologian William Paley that the universe, like a watch in its complexity, needed, in effect, a watchmaker to design it. Hewing to Darwin's fundamental (his opponents might say fundamentalist) message, Dawkins sums up: ``The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the evolution of organized complexity.'' Avoiding an arrogant tone despite his up-front convictions, he takes pains to explain carefully, from various sides, why even such esteemed scientists as Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould, with their ``punctuated equilibrium'' thesis, are actually gradualists like Darwin himself in their evolutionary views. Dawkins is difficult reading as he describes his computer models of evolutionary possibilities. But, as he draws on his zoological background, emphasizing recent genetic techniques, he can be as engrossing as he is cogent and convincing. His concept of ``taming chance'' by breaking down the ``very improbable into less improbable small components'' is daring neo-Darwinism. Line drawings. (November 24)
Richard Dawkins has updated evolution ... His subject is nothing
less than the meaning of life, and he attacks it with the
evangelical fervour of a clergyman and the mind of a scientist *
The Times *
Beautiful ... he seizes happy analogies, bright metaphors and
shining images to light up his passion and our darkness * Guardian
*
Good writing, tight argument and unpulled punches ... a satisfying
book * Economist *
One of the best science books - one of the best of any books - I
have ever read * Los Angeles Times *
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