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Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder Paperback – 6 Apr 2006

4.3 out of 5 stars 69 customer reviews

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (6 April 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0141026189
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141026183
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 103,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

Amazon Review

Richard Dawkins has taken the title of his book from Keats, who believed that Newton had destroyed all the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to the prismatic colours. But, as the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, Dawkins naturally believes the opposite is true. And in Unweaving the Rainbow, he attempts to convince those who hold a similar view to Keats.

With a characteristic mixture of forceful argument and illustrations from scientific research, he shows how science, properly understood, does not disenchant nature, but rather enhances the poetry of experience by revealing the workings of the natural world in their full wonder. Even Newton's unweaving of the rainbow made possible the science of spectroscopy, which enables us to determine the elements stars are made of. But Dawkins touches on other subjects, including statistics, astronomy, physiology and genetics. One of the many absorbing topics examined--from a chapter on sense perception--is how brains create a "virtual reality" by filling in "background noise" ignored by nerves which only respond to signal changes in the external world. Dawkins also examines good (selfish genes) and bad (Gaia hypothesis) examples of poetic science. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A spellbinding storyteller." The New York Times"Brilliance and wit." The New Yorker"An extended rebuttal - not so much by argument as by radiant example - of perennial anti-science convictions. Few among us are better qualified for the job. If any recent writing about science is poetic, it is this." The Wall Street Journal"Like an extended stay on a brain health-farm . . .You come out feeling lean, tuned and enormously more intelligent." The Times of London

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Paperback
There are many good science writers presenting us with challenging and informative material. Paraphrasing Newton's famous disclaimer, however, Richard Dawkins seems to stand on the shoulders of the rest. This collection of essays rebutting the miasma of Romantic Era complaints about science is more timely now than when first published. The myth that science curtails - instead of enlarging - our sense of wonder, still persists. A Keats' poem, the inspiration of this title, typifies not only the world of poetry and prose writing, but also our dominant religions, our educational curricula and even, as he points out devastatingly, our favourite entertainments. Dawkins, in this superbly crafted collection of essays, refutes the Romantics and their legacy. He ably demonstrates how science enhances our knowledge, our values and our sense of being.

Dawkins cites Thomas Huxley's ["Darwin's Bulldog"] assessment of science as "organised common sense" as but a first step in explaining what science reveals. Expanding on Huxley, the American Lewis Wolpert, argues that Nature is full of surprises and paradoxes. A glass of water may contain a molecule of Shakespeare's last cup of tea. Our credulity at seemingly inexplicable coincidences, our "gasps of awe" at the tricks "psychics" and other charlatans play on us, and our adherence to the teachings of "mystics" and other mountebanks may lie in the habits developed when we lived on the savannah. Dawkins urges us to recognise that science, unlike religion or quack medicine, does not aim to deceive us. Quite the reverse. Science, in stripping away mythologies, reveals new forms of stunning beauty.

It may seem paradoxical that Nature's wonders can be explained through barcodes, but Dawkins manages it with his usual panache.
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Format: Paperback
Not many people have the gift of taking some common event and deconstructing it to the nth degree, while making it all seem quite normal. As in his other books (Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, etc.) Mr. Dawkins makes your mind boggle at the way nature use very simple (?) building blocks to fashion something extraordinary ... like us. You are set back on your heels when you realise that your body is largely composed of modified bacteria, without which we could not exist. He goes on to expound on how we see and from there how our brain interprets the world, comparing it to Virtual Reality (no comparison!) - anyone who has experienced any form of VR will understand the immense computing power it takes to present even a half-decent rendition, but the brain does this continuously AND has time to dream, imagine, remember past events and places all in real-time - I doubt if enough teraflops of computer power exist in the world even now to do that.
The main thrust of the book is the poetry of science; how, by understanding more about the way the universe works, we can appreciate the wonder of it all the better - open our minds to something more beautiful than just the outward appearance of a beautiful object - even make us see the beauty in some not-so-pleasant sights!
In this book he uses well thought-out, easy-to-grasp concepts to explode myths, de-bunk charlatans, and de-mystify magic - all with the intention of opening our minds to the concept of evolution (specifically Darwinism). He takes us from rainbows to barcodes to DNA in easy stages, explaining in graphic (but never tedious) detail just how nature can (and will) evolve all its wonders.
Sometimes I had to put the book on one side just to let the enormity of it all sink in.
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Format: Paperback
Discovering THIS Richard Dawkins is like finding gold. For those who read his books AFTER reading The God Delusion it must be something of a surprise to find that Scientific Wonder is his real strength (particularly Evolutionary Biology of course). He really is at his best when he sticks to science (much as I enjoyed his foray into religion - I knew that Christianity/Islam were Iron Age myths anyway).

This book takes us, the reader, by the hand and leads us through a veritable gallery of wonders, questioning asides, and tales of individual endeavour, all recounted with clear-headed wit and sagacity.

If I hear another Christian say that "Dawkins thinks Life is Empty" - I will scream! The sheer joy, excitement and fulfilment that are obvious in his writings - they knock "faith" out of the ballpark, really. Evidenced Truth wins hands-down over religion every time - even when it comes to Joy. So Keats did get it wrong when he accused science of trying to "unweave the rainbow". Science writing like this brings the rainbow into the realm of Understanding - but that only enhances its beauty.

I heartily recommend this.
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By A Customer on 31 Dec. 1998
Format: Hardcover
It's sad that it needs saying today that science can be fascinating and enriching, and indeed no one without a basic understanding of how scientists think and the basic material they think about can count themselves cultured. Dawkins says it in this book, and demonstrates it through a wide survey of many areas of modern science. Unlike many science writers, Dawkins understands and often contributes to the topics of which he writes - this gives his writing an authority usually lacking from "popular science" writing. On the way, he takes a few sideswipes at his "betes noires" such as religion and the anti-science movement - his message is that a scientific world view is an essential part of our culture because, despite its problems and failures, science works better than any other approach we have found. Read it!
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