Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for WonderFrom the New York Times–bestselling author of Science in the Soul. “If any recent writing about science is poetic, it is this” (The Wall Street Journal). Did Sir Isaac Newton “unweave the rainbow” by reducing it to its prismatic colors, as John Keats contended? Did he, in other words, diminish beauty? Far from it, says acclaimed scientist Richard Dawkins; Newton’s unweaving is the key too much of modern astronomy and to the breathtaking poetry of modern cosmology. Mysteries don’t lose their poetry because they are solved: the solution often is more beautiful than the puzzle, uncovering deeper mysteries. With the wit, insight, and spellbinding prose that have made him a bestselling author, Dawkins takes up the most important and compelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics to language and virtual reality, combining them in a landmark statement of the human appetite for wonder. This is the book Dawkins was meant to write: A brilliant assessment of what science is (and isn’t), a tribute to science not because it is useful but because it is uplifting. “A love letter to science, an attempt to counter the perception that science is cold and devoid of aesthetic sensibility . . . Rich with metaphor, passionate arguments, wry humor, colorful examples, and unexpected connections, Dawkins’ prose can be mesmerizing.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Brilliance and wit.” —The New Yorker |
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
3 BARCODES IN THE STARS | 38 |
4 BARCODES ON THE AIR | 66 |
5 BARCODES AT THE BAR | 83 |
6 HOODWINKD WITH FAERY FANCY | 114 |
7 UNWEAVING THE UNCANNY | 145 |
8 HUGE CLOUDY SYMBOLS OF A HIGH ROMANCE | 180 |
9 THE SELFISH COOPERATOR | 210 |
10 THE GENETIC BOOK OF THE DEAD | 235 |
11 REWEAVING THE WORLD | 257 |
12 THE BALLOON OF THE MIND | 286 |
314 | |
Back Cover | 339 |
Spine | 340 |
Other editions - View all
Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder Richard Dawkins No preview available - 1999 |
Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder Richard Dawkins No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
actually analogy ancestors animals astrologers bacteria bad poetic science barcode bird body brain calculate Cambrian Cambrian explosion caterpillar cells chapter chromosome co-evolution coincidence colour cooperation cuckoos Darwinian DNA evidence DNA fingerprinting dunnock eggs environment error evolution evolutionary evolved experience eyes face false female fingerprinting fossil frequency gene pool genetic genome happened human idea illusion images individual insects junk DNA Keats kind language light living London look macromutation male mass extinctions meadow pipit mean memes metaphor million mitochondria molecules move natural selection never Newton odds Oxford particular pattern perhaps petwhac phyla planet poetry poets population possible probably quantum raindrop random reason resemble scepticism scientific scientists selfish selfish gene sense simulation sound species spectrum stars statistical story survive suspect tandem repeat television tell theory things true universe unweaving the rainbow virtual reality watch wavelengths waves wonder word Y chromosome
Popular passages
Page 17 - It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and
Page 17 - from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us... Thus, from the war of