Not even finished yet - Rated 
...and it's already been jawdroppingly interesting enough to rate 5 stars. I am a non-scientist and what has amazed me so far is the literate, almost poetic style of some of the writing, quite beautiful and tailor-made for the subject matter's scope and importance.
um no - Rated 
I hated this book. Admittedly it isnt really written by Richard Dawkins, but I bought it as it had his name on it. I read this book when I cant sleep and it puts me right out. I love science from all fields and yet somehow this book bored me. Perhaps if you are a very hardcore scientist and you like to read boring accounts of boring things then you may enjoy this. But if you are thinking of buying this because you normally enjoy Richard Dawkins and you enjoy science, then dont.
An excellent collection - Rated
An excellent collection of the writings of some of the greatest names in science of the last 100 years, or so. The excerpts are divided into four sections; 1. What scientists study; 2. Who scientists are; 3. What scientists think and 4. What scientists delight in. There is, perhaps understandably, a definite bias toward evolutionary and biological sciences but there should be enough breadth to entertain anyone who has an interest in science, whatever their preferred subject.
To lift a quote from Sagan's excellent The Demon-Haunted World, which I happen to own already; "Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.". A fact that will not be lost on anyone who reads this collection.
Beauty in Science Writing - Rated
The book comprise a collection of exemplary writing in the English language by scientists generated during the last one hundred years. Each excerpt is introduced by the author with a brief commentary, a fine specimen of insight and literary merit in its own right.
In introducing the first author, James Jeans, Richard Dawkins simultaneously and intelligently outlines the scope and content of the book;there was wisdom on the part of the publishers to quote the specific passage on the cover:'Our ability to understand the universe and our position in it is one of the glories of the human species. Our ability to link mind to mind by language, and especially to transmit our thoughts across centuries is another. Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name. In attempting, however inadequately, to bring the two together, this book can be seen as a celebration of humanity.'
The powerful intellect, polymathy, scientific acuity and exquisitely discriminating literary taste of the author are glowing throughout the book in the selection of passages and authors.
There is an 'embarrassment of riches' in the book to stimulate or challenge the intellect, to charge emotionally or uplift the spirit, to amuse or delight, to provide the ultimate in intellectual, emotional and aesthetic appeal and enjoy science at its best, in a language that often resembles more poetry than prose.
The book covers a wide spectrum of Science areas e.g Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Ecology, Ethology, Neurology, and Cognitive Science.
I appreciate that in citing in the ensuing just a few authors and works, I do not do justice to the prevailing excellence throughout the book. But the exercise aims at providing a flavour of the authors and passages rather than assigning a ranking on merit.
As a point of departure I cite Martin Rees from 'Just Six Numbers', a book I have read. The reason is that our universe had the potential for life to arise. The author demonstrates that just six numbers, imprinted in the 'big bang', determined the essential features of the physical cosmos. Cosmic evolution is astonishingly sensitive to the values of these numbers. If any of them were not 'finely tuned', there could be no stars and no life. The preceding do not imply either intelligent design or teleology.
S. Chandrasekhar from 'Truth and Beauty.' I quote from Dawkins' commentary 'I have found poetic inspiration in the personal reflection which ends the following extract from his lecture on creativity, contrasting it favourably with the famous last lines of Keat's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'. 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'- that is all ye know and ye need to know.'
And from the passage itself 'In a deeply moving essay on "The Meaning of Beauty in the Exact Sciences", Heisenberg gives a definition of beauty which I find most apposite. The definition, which Heisenberg says goes back to antiquity, is that "beauty is the proper conformity of the parts to one another and to the whole." On reflection, it does appear that this definition touches the essence of what we describe as "beautiful":it applies equally to King Lear, the Missa Solemnis, and the Principia.'
The elucidation of the double helical structure of DNA is unquestionably the most significant discovery in Biology in the twentieth century and along with the General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics in Physics, the three most important discoveries in Science in this century.
Consequently I find it fitting to conclude this review with Francis Crick from 'Life Itself'.
I quote from Dawkin's introductory commentary:
'...But what neither Mendel nor anyone else before 1953 knew was that the genes themselves are digital, within themselves. A gene is a sequence of code letters, drawn from an alphabet of precisely four letters, and the genetic code is universal throughout all known living things. Life is the execution of programs written using a small digital alphabet in a single, universal machine language. This realization was the hammer blow that knocked the last nail into the coffin of vitalism and, by extension, of dualism. The hammer was wielded, with undisguised youthful relish, by James Watson and Francis Crick. Their famous one-page paper in Nature of 1953 concludes with what may be the greatest piece of calculated understatement ever:"It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material...'
A quasi-homage to Darwin - Rated
Richard Dawkins needs no introduction as a academic and populist writer in the field of evolutionary biology. However, in this book he dons his hat as Chair of the Public Understanding of Science. The book is a personal selection of extracts and short pieces of the worlds best 20th century scientists, from Einstein to Primo Levi, through Turing and Crick. Part I looks as "What Scientists Study", Part II "Who Scientists Are", Part III "What Scientists Think", and the book closes with Part IV "What Scientists Delight In". Let me say immediately that this is an excellent compilation and good value for money. However I do feel that Dawkins has biased somewhat the compilation to the life sciences - perhaps justifiably you could call this book a quasi-homage to Darwin. Like every compilation you always feel as if some topics were overlooked or at least played down - can it be that no one has written intelligently about modern computer chips, superconductivity, or drug development and trials?
On the other hand we learn much about "The Mysterious Universe" from James Jeans, the power of numbers in "Just Sex Numbers" from Martin Rees, "Mankind Evolving" from Theodosius Dobzhansky, the "Genome" from Matt Ridley, "Theoretical Biology" from Sydney Brenner (a really great piece of writing), the many contributions of Peter Medawar to zoology and medical science, the "Seven Wonders" of Lewis Thomas (from new bacteria to the human species), the wonderful "Periodic Table" of Primo Levi, and the great last entry by Carl Sagan called "Pale Blue Dot" about how small Earth is in the cosmos.
The articles are all short, accessible in the their scope, and all easy to read. I found it an excellent bed-side book, and now finished it will certainly take its place on my shelves. I don't really see it as a reference book, but I do think that it will probably prove just as enjoyable to read a second time in a couple of years.
|
