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 |
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... astrologers , clairvoyants and television psychics . Hijacking by pseudo - scientists is not the only threat to our sense of wonder . Populist ' dumbing down ' is another , and I shall return to it . A third is hostility from academics ...
... astrologers , clairvoyants and television psychics . Hijacking by pseudo - scientists is not the only threat to our sense of wonder . Populist ' dumbing down ' is another , and I shall return to it . A third is hostility from academics ...
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Contents
| 1 | |
| 15 | |
| 38 | |
| 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 |
Back Matter | 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 40 - Keats wrote: Do not all charms fly At the mere touch of cold philosophy? There was an awful rainbow once in heaven. We know her woof her texture; she is given In the dull catalogue of common things. Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings, Conquer all mysteries by rule and line, Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine — Unweave a rainbow...
Page 40 - There was an awful rainbow once in heaven. We know her woof her texture; she is given In the dull catalogue of common things. Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings, Conquer all mysteries by rule and line, Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine — Unweave a rainbow...
Page 80 - not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thy happiness — That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer
Page 80 - My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and
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
Page 84 - Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one
Page 134 - establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish.
Page 65 - To the charmed eye educed the gorgeous train Of parent colours. First the flaming red Sprung vivid forth, the tawny orange next And next delicious yellow; by whose side Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing green. Then the pure blue, that swells autumnal skies, Ethereal played¿ and then, of sadder hue, Emerged the deepened indigo, as when The heavy-skirted evening droops with
Page 40 - And don't you remember Keats proposing ‘Confusion to the memory of Newton: and upon your insisting on an explanation before you drank it; his saying, ‘Because he destroyed the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to a prism' Ah, my dear old friend, you and I shall never see such days again.¿