Unweaving the Rainbow Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder
Product details
Biographical note
In 1995 Richard Dawkins became the first holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is the bestselling author of THE SELFISH GENE, THE BLIND WATCHMAKER (Penguin, 1988) and CLIMBING MOUNT IMPROBABLE (Penguin, 1996).A brilliant assertion of the wonder and excitement of real, tough, grown-up science
- A. S. Byatt, 'Books of the Year', Daily Telegraph
The way Dawkins writes about science is not just a brain-tonic. It is more like an extended stay on a brain health-farm ... You come out feeling lean, tuned and enormously more intelligent
- John Carey, Sunday Times
Beautifully written and full of interesting, original ideas. Essential reading
The Times
For Dawkins there is more poetry, not less, in the rainbow because of Newton ... he weaves rainbows of wonder from other provinces of science and then unleashes his fury on those who accuse scientists like him of being unimaginative
Sunday Times
Brilliantly entertaining and stimulating
Observer
A dazzling, passionate polemic against anti-science movements of all kinds
Cover note: Each copy of the new edition of Unweaving the Rainbow features a unique wavelength pattern. No two covers are exactly alike.
Keats accused Newton of destroying the poetry of the rainbow by explaining the origin of its colours. In this illuminating and provocative book, Richard Dawkins argues that Keats could not have been more mistaken, and shows how an understanding of science enhances our wonder of the world. He argues that mysteries do not lose their poetry because they are solved: the solution is often more beautiful than the puzzle, uncovering even deeper mysteries. 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 on the human appetite for wonder.
Cover note: Each copy of the new edition of Unweaving the Rainbow features a unique wavelength pattern. No two covers are exactly alike.