Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #193 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-13
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

BBC Focus, May 2008
'This is a superb collection'

BBC Focus, May 2008
'It's a must-read that will surely make a major contribution to the public understanding of science.'

Sunday Telegraph, 13 April 2008
'It is a real treasure trove of unexpected pleasures.'

Customer Reviews

Why so few women?
This accessible and informative anthology provides a selection of popular science writings, predominantly from the second half of the 20th century. It is a joy to read. The book provides an insight in modern scientific thinking and methodology and shows some of the astonishing ways in which science strives to dispell ignorance. However, as an anthology, it is also remarkably skewed. Firstly, it is astonishing how few female authors are included; unfortunately, the book fails to explain why. Second, "science" is used with a restrictive interpretation, since the book focuses strongly on the natural sciences, some mathematics, the cognitive sciences and some reflections on science in general. Other fields, especially most of the social sciences and humanities, are absent.

A Review from the USA
This is a wonderful book. The level of the writing and the subject matter chosen by Dr. Dawkins are truly great. This book has already "forced" me to purchase a number of other books there are excerpted in the text ...

I have read all of his other books and enjoyed them very much, so when I saw that Dr. Dawkins had a new book only available in the UK, I ordered it from Amazon UK for a scary shipping charge. I couldn't wait for the U.S. edition. It was well worth it! I've read many collections of non-fiction writing. This one is outstanding. Another coup for Dr. Dawkins in the effort to help the public understand science.

Each excerpt from longer pieces (mostly books) in this book is preceded by an interesting essay-let where Dr. Dawkins gives historical, literary, scientific, and sometimes personal setting for the piece. These, as always from Dr. Dawkins, are superbly well written.

Highly recommended, enjoy.

Modern Science Writing
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.