Quantity:

More Buying Choices

46 used & new from �7.99

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Share your own customer images

Search inside this book

The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (Hardcover)

by Richard Dawkins (Editor)

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

RRP:	�20.00
Price:	�11.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save:	�8.03 (40%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 17? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

31 new from �9.99 15 used from �7.99

Other Editions:	RRP:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Paperback (Reprint)	�9.99	�5.96	35 used & new from �5.48

Special Offers and Product Promotions

This title is part of our Up to 35% Off 1000s of Textbooks offer.

Frequently Bought Together

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

Price For All Three: �25.51

Show availability and delivery details

This item: The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing by Richard Dawkins
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Bad Science

by Ben Goldacre

4.5 out of 5 stars (205) �3.58

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

by Richard Dawkins

4.5 out of 5 stars (87) �9.96

Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer

by Christopher Hitchens

4.7 out of 5 stars (15) �7.97

Irrationality

by Stuart Sutherland

4.3 out of 5 stars (33) �5.97

Your Inner Fish: The Amazing Discovery of Our 375-Million-Year-Old Ancestor

by Neil Shubin

4.6 out of 5 stars (24) �5.97

› Explore similar items

Product details

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: OUP Oxford (13 Mar 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0199216800
ISBN-13: 978-0199216802
Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,998 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#3 in Books > Reference > Writing > Poetry

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

BBC Focus, May 2008

'This is a superb collection'

Review

A book from which the love of science and the love of language shine. (Science )

An amalgamation of brilliant reads. (New Scientist )

Every school library should own a copy of this book; every person with even a passing interest in science should read it. (Jerry A. Coyne, Times Literary Supplement. )

Beautiful volume...A labour of love. (Steven Poole. The Guardian. )

A glorius celebration of literary scientists. (Harry Richie Mail on Sunday )

A brilliant collection... If you could only ever read one science book, this should probably be it. (New Scientist )

It is a real treasure trove of unexpected pleasures. (Sunday Telegraph. Kenan Malik )

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

richard dawkins(8)

science(7)

dawkins(1)

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	85% buy the item featured on this page: The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing 4.8 out of 5 stars (18) �11.97
	7% buy The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution 4.5 out of 5 stars (87) �9.96
	4% buy Bad Science 4.5 out of 5 stars (205) �3.58
	2% buy The God Delusion 3.7 out of 5 stars (856) �4.47

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

18 Reviews

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Science Writing, 20 Mar 2008

By	A. Clark (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a varied collection of articles by just about every great modern science writer you can think of. The articles range in size from about 8 pages to as little as half a page, and each is preceded by a short, interesting introduction by Dawkins.

I read a lot of popular science books so inevitably there were a few items which I had already read, but it was nice to be reminded of them, such as Haldane's delightful poem which begins with the words "I wish I had the voice of Homer, to sing of rectal carcinoma!" The items vary considerably in difficulty - some could be understood by a child, others require concentration - and some topics were familiar to me, others were not, so although all the articles are good it is inevitable that the reader will enjoy some articles much more than others. They also vary considerably in subject matter - some are about what science has discovered, others about how scientists work, or the philosophy of science, or amusing anecdotes.

I think anyone interested in Science should get a lot out of the book, and I have been stimulated to seek out more writing by some of the authors. Highly recommended.

Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect bedside reading, 27 Jun 2008

By	Big Jim "Big Jim" (London, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This mighty tome makes excellent bedside reading. You are unlikely to have the musclepower to take this commuting or to the beach (need to wait for the paperback edition for that) but propped up in bed with a cup of cocoa/glass of whisky (delete as appropriate) by your side, this is an excellent book for dipping into and as a previous reviewer says, will encourage you to seek out the books the excerpts come from. In this regard may I be so bold as to recommend any of the books by Richard Feynman. Dawkins himself supplies witty and erudite introductions to each essay so all in all there is absolutely nothing to criticise in this book - unless you hate science that is and even then this book might convince you otherwise.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pelucid writings from brilliant minds, 1 Jul 2008

By	Charles Gidley Wheeler (Kempsford, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

As one who is convinced that Spinoza's monism provides the philosophical basis for all the sciences, reading The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing and seeing Spinoza's view (that God and Nature are one and the same thing, under the dual aspects of thought and matter) confirmed over and over again was enthralling.

While reading it I repeatedly inserted markers into articles that I wished to re-read. In fact, I shall probably read the whole book again and refer to it repeatedly. What particularly fascinated me was the revelation that a quantum of energy appears to us under two aspects: as a wave or as a particle, but never both at the same time. This discovery accords perfectly with Spinoza's dual aspect theory.

My selection of five-star articles is as follows: 'Life Itself', by Francis Crick;`One Self: a Meditation on the Unity of Consciousness' by Nicholas Humphrey; `The Language Instinct', by Steven Pinker; `Avoid Boring People' by James Watson; `Consciousness Explained' by Daniel Dennett; `The Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's new solitaire game "Life"' by Martin Gardner; `Computing Machinery and Intelligence' by Alan Turing; `The Goldilocks Enigma' by Paul Davies; `The Elegant Universe' by Bryan Green, and `Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid' by Douglas Hofstadter.

Having been brought up in an evangelical environment, and having had a taste of Roman Catholicism as well, I can only say that there is no contest between the brilliance, lucidity, humility and open-mindedness of the scientists quoted in this anthology and the tendentious, hubristic, convoluted, ill-founded speculations of theologians - few of whom will have the courage to read this book.

The introductions by Richard Dawkins are excellent. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Comment Comments (3) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 18 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection
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. Read more

Published 3 days ago by C. A. Gallagher

5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty in Science Writing
The book comprise a collection of exemplary writing in the English language by scientists generated during the last one hundred years. Read more

Published 9 days ago by Serghiou Const

5.0 out of 5 stars A quasi-homage to Darwin
Richard Dawkins needs no introduction as a academic and populist writer in the field of evolutionary biology. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Bernard Smith

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and diverse collection
This collection of popular science writings stands out for diversity. There are, of course, some pieces by Albert Einstein, Francis Crick, Richard Feynmann, Oliver Sacks and other... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Christian Jongeneel

5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Fantastic book, bought this for my brother's birthday. He loves it. I have read it and will probably read it again.

Published 2 months ago by S. Farrell

5.0 out of 5 stars Dawkins Book Review
An excellent anthology by Richard Dawkins surveying the thoughts and contributions of leading scientists through the 20th Century. Read more

Published 4 months ago by D. A. R. Williams

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading - whether you're a scientist or not
The most important word in the title is the last - "writing". Dawkins' defining criterion for selection is the quality of the writing. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Clive Viegas Bennett

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice collection of scientific texts
The book is a collection of many many short texts ranging from 1 to 5 pages each on average, all selected and introduced by a small paragraph by Dawkins. Read more

Published 4 months ago by D. Quintiere

5.0 out of 5 stars Science and pure wonder
This selection by Richard Dawkins is full of wonder and magnificent prose. It also conveys the great sense of awe, excitement and sheer pleasure you encounter when exploring how... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Stephen Parry

5.0 out of 5 stars dawkins does it again
This was a pressie for my Dads birthday, it came before the last estimated delivery dates and was inexpensive compared to high street stores. A good buy, thanks

Published 9 months ago by Mr. J. Lees

› See all 18 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }