Richard Dawkins

Aiming to lay bare the act of blatant state terrorism that is the invasion and occupation of Iraq, this book seeks to reveal the extraordinary tapestry of lies, distortions and gross media manipulation that underpin it. It looks at how public opinion is wilfully ignored and "democracy" used as a figleaf for the furthering of colonial ambitions.

A witty and insightful menagerie of animal tales from the eminent writer Richard Dawkins, illustrated with Ernst Haeckelâ??s colourful and intricate drawings

Celebrating 50 years with a new anniversary edition, this critically acclaimed international bestseller has sold millions of copies and been translated into over 30 languages. Among the most influential and enduring science books of all time, The Selfish Gene is a classic in every sense of the word. Originally published in 1976, the book soon galvanized the biology community and fascinated a broad general readership. Professor Dawkins's gene's-eye view of evolution introduced a completely novel way of looking at survival. Fifty years later, The Selfish Gene still sparks fascination and debate among scientists and science-enthusiasts alike, inspiring new directions in research and fresh generations of young life scientists. First-time and returning readers will marvel at the timelessness and universality of this monumental work. In a new epilogue to the 50th anniversary edition, Professor Dawkins reflects on his signature publication and its enduring relevance and appeal. This edition also contains a new appendix, which sheds historical and personal light on the perpetual relevance of the 'selfish gene'. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

Celebrating 50 years with a new anniversary edition, this critically acclaimed international bestseller has sold millions of copies and been translated into over 30 languages. Among the most influential and enduring science books of all time, The Selfish Gene is a classic in every sense of the word. Originally published in 1976, the book soon galvanized the biology community and fascinated a broad general readership. Professor Dawkins's gene's-eye view of evolution introduced a completely novel way of looking at survival. Fifty years later, The Selfish Gene still sparks fascination and debate among scientists and science-enthusiasts alike, inspiring new directions in research and fresh generations of young life scientists. First-time and returning readers will marvel at the timelessness and universality of this monumental work. In a new epilogue to the 50th anniversary edition, Professor Dawkins reflects on his signature publication and its enduring relevance and appeal. This edition also contains a new appendix, which sheds historical and personal light on the perpetual relevance of the 'selfish gene'.

THE TIMES BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF 2024GUARDIAN BEST IDEAS BOOKS OF 2024ECONOMIST BEST BOOKS OF 2024FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOKS OF 2024From one of the world’s great science writers, a book that explores the deepest principles of evolutionary history. In this groundbreaking new approach to the evolution of all life, Richard Dawkins shows how the body, behaviour, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book – an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. A perfectly camouflaged desert lizard has a desiccated landscape of sand and stones ‘painted’ on its back. Its skin can be read as a description of ancient deserts in which its ancestors survived – and, before that, of the worlds of its more remote ancestors: a genetic book of the dead. But such descriptions are more than skin-deep. The fine chisels of Darwinian natural selection carve their way through the very warp and woof of the body, into every biochemical nook and corner, into every cell of every living creature. A zoologist of the future, presented with a hitherto-unknown animal, will be able to reconstruct the worlds that shaped its ancestors, to read its unique ‘book of the dead’. The book is filled with fascinating examples of the power of Darwinian natural selection to build exquisite perfection, paradoxically accompanied by what look like gross blunders. Along the way, Dawkins dismantles influential criticisms of the ‘gene’s-eye-view’ of life. And, to end with a provocative sting in the tail, the author asks there is a sense in which all our ‘own’ genes can be seen as a gigantic colony of cooperating viruses? From the author of The Selfish Gene and The Ancestor’s Tale comes a revolutionary, richly illustrated book that unlocks the door to an ancient past, seen through wholly new eyes.

From a renowned biologist and best-selling author, a whole new way of looking at living organisms: reading them as documents describing ancient worlds A Financial Times Best Book of 2024: Science - Named Science Book of the Year by Times (UK) - A Guardian Best Ideas Book of 2024 "Intellectually sparkling and beautifully crafted."--Adrian Woolfson, Wall Street Journal "A glorious affair. . . . Arguably Dawkins's] most joyous ode to the wonders that evolution has wrought in the animal world."--Philip Ball, Science An exquisitely camouflaged lizard has a desiccated landscape of sand and stones "painted" on its back. Its skin can be read as a description of an ancient desert, a world in which its ancestors survived. Such descriptions are more than skin deep, however. They penetrate the very warp and woof of the entire animal. In this groundbreaking exploration of the power of Darwinian evolution and what it can reveal about the past, Richard Dawkins shows how the body, behavior, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book--an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. In the future, a zoologist presented with a hitherto unknown animal will be able to decode its ancestral history, to read its unique "book of the dead." Such readings are already uncovering the remarkable ways animals overcome obstacles, adapt to their environments, and, again and again, develop remarkably similar ways of solving life's problems. From the author of The Selfish Gene comes a revolutionary, richly illustrated book that unlocks the door to a past more vivid, nuanced, and fascinating than anything we have seen.

Ny bok om evolutionens underverk av författaren till Den själviska genen »En färgsprakande rundtur i naturen sedd ur genernas synvinkel.« Times väljer Den genetiska dödsboken till Årets vetenskapsbok 2024»En magnifik bok om evolutionens underverk.« Philip Ball, ScienceEn kamouflerad ödla har ett uttorkat landskap av sand och stenar »målat« på ryggen. Ödlans hud kan läsas som en beskrivning av en urtida öken, en värld där dess förfäder levde och överlevde. Sådana beskrivningar går dock djupare än huden. De tränger ända in i den levande varelsens grundstomme. Den genetiska dödsboken är en banbrytande bok: ett utforskande av den darwinistiska evolutionens makt och vad den kan avslöja om det förflutna. Richard Dawkins visar hur varje levande varelses kropp, beteende och gener kan läsas som en bok - ett arkiv över dess förfäders världar. I framtiden kommer en zoolog som ställs inför ett hittills okänt djur att kunna avkoda dess förfäders historia genom att läsa djurets unika »dödsbok«. Den genetiska dödsboken är rikt illustrerad i färg och öppnar porten till ett förflutet som är mer levande, nyanserat och fängslande än någonting vi tidigare sett. RICHARD DAWKINS [f. 1941] är evolutionsbiolog, etolog, före detta professor vid Oxfords universitet och flerfaldigt prisbelönt författare. Med debuten Den själviska genen [1976] förändrade han helt synen evolutionsteorin och han har jämförts med tidigare revolutionära biologer som Charles Darwin, James Watson och Francis Crick.

THE FOUR MILLION COPY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERThe brilliantly argued and impassioned classic polemic from the world’s best-known atheist. Sensationally incisive and perennially timely, this is required reading for everyone.‘A resounding trumpet blast for truth’ Matt Ridley'[The God Delusion] deserves multiple readings; not just as an important work of science, but as a great work of literature’ Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate, Times Literary Supplement‘If its merciless rationalism doesn’t enrage you at some point, you probably aren’t alive’ Julian Barnes‘Entertaining, wildly informative, splendidly written’ Rod Liddle, Sunday Times'There is not a dull page . . . a book that makes me want to cheer its clarity, intelligence and truth-telling’ Claire Tomalin‘My favourite book of all time . . . a heroic and life-changing work’ Derren Brown‘Spirited and exhilarating . . . Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments’ Joan Bakewell, Guardian‘At last, Richard Dawkins, one of the best non-fiction writers alive today, has assembled his thoughts on religion into a characteristically elegant book’ Steven Pinker‘The world needs passionate rationalists unafraid to challenge long accepted beliefs. Richard Dawkins so stands out through the cutting intelligence of e God Delusion’ James D. Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of DNA----------The God Delusion caused a sensation when it was published in 2006. Within weeks it became the most hotly debated topic, with Dawkins himself branded as either saint or sinner for presenting his hard-hitting, impassioned rebuttal of religion of all types. His argument could hardly be more topical. While Europe is becoming increasingly secularized, the rise of religious fundamentalism, whether in the Middle East or Middle America, is dramatically and dangerously dividing opinion around the world. In America, and elsewhere, a vigorous dispute between 'intelligent design' and Darwinism is seriously undermining and restricting the teaching of science. In many countries religious dogma from medieval times still serves to abuse basic human rights such as women's and gay rights. And all from a belief in a God whose existence lacks evidence of any kind. Dawkins attacks God in all his forms. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry and abuses children. The God Delusion is a brilliantly argued, fascinating polemic: required reading for anyone interested in this most emotional and important subject.

From one of the world's great science writers and biologists: a book that reflects on the vast arc of evolutionary history and what it tells us about life on earth. How much do we really know about our past? For centuries, we have yearned to learn more about our ancestors and piece together the story of how we came to be. But language can only record so much. And fossils can be even harder to decipher. We are left groping in the dark, forced to speculate and reconstruct ways of life based on fragments of information. But what if there was a better way? In The Genetic Book of the Dead, Richard Dawkins explores the untapped potential of DNA to transform and transcend our understanding of evolution. In the future, a zoologist presented with a hitherto unknown animal will be able to read its body and its genes as detailed descriptions of the world its ancestors inhabited. This 'book of the dead' would uncover the remarkable ways in which animals have overcome obstacles, adapted to their environments and, again and again, developed remarkably similar ways of finding solutions to life's problems. What biologists call ‘convergent evolution’, the way in which species separated by vast stretches of time have evolved surprisingly recognisable forms and functions, is one of the most powerful and least understood forces driving life on earth. From the bestselling author of The Selfish Gene comes a revolutionary book that unlocks the door to a past more vivid, nuanced and fascinating than anything we have ever seen.

In this enlightening and entertaining book, author and Skeptical Inquirer editor Kendrick Frazier takes readers on a journey to the contentious boundary zone between science and its antagonists: pseudoscience (pretend science) and anti-science (open hostility to science). Pseudoscience romps in the shadows of science but takes on the guise of science to excite, sell, mislead, and deceive the public. Anti-science denigrates, even denies, findings of science for ideological ends. In this dangerous age of misinformation (and dis-information), we need science’s remarkable truth-seeking tools more than ever to help counter society’s crazier impulses in which opinion, beliefs, and lies trump facts, evidence, and truth. In one sense, Shadows of Science is Frazier’s love letter to science, one of humanity’s greatest inventions, one we should exalt for its unique ability to find provisional truths about nature. In congenial prose he reports on recent discoveries and describes how science works and how its error-correcting mechanisms lead eventually to new knowledge. He tells the stories of some of our champions of science and reason. He describes the little-appreciated values of science, how it embraces uncertainty and humility, and its emphasis on fact-based observation and experiment. Pseudoscience adopts some of science’s language and has a beguiling appeal, but there the similarities end. Frazier has professionally reported on frontier scientific discoveries and observed and exposed the pretensions and dangers of pseudoscience and anti-science his entire career. Here he shares his experiences, his knowledge and insights, and his love and passion for our ability to learn what’s real about the natural world—and to identify and expose fake science, pretend science, and anti-science in all their multifarious forms.

Som en utmärkt guide till vår tids mest spännande och banbrytande idéer samlas här essäer, recensioner, samtal och artiklar av en av populärvetenskapens vassaste pennor. Med sina banbrytande evolutionsbiologiska studier och sitt villkorslösa försvar av vetenskapen har Richard Dawkins som få andra excellerat i att göra det vetenskapliga förhållningssättet till tillvaron tillgängligt för en stor publik. För första gången samlas här hans texter om vår tids skarpaste snillen som Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski och Lewis Wolpert, djuplodande samtal med kollegor som Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Steven Pinker och Matt Ridley – liksom vasst underhållande polemik med meningsmotståndare och falska profeter.

What words come to mind when we think of God? Merciful? Just? Compassionate? In fact, the Bible lays out God’s primary qualities clearly: jealous, petty, unforgiving, bloodthirsty, vindictive—and worse! Originally conceived as a joint presentation between influential thinker and bestselling author Richard Dawkins and former evangelical preacher Dan Barker, this unique book provides an investigation into what may be the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Barker combs through both the Old and New Testament (as well as 13 different editions of the “Good Book”), presenting powerful evidence for why the Scripture shouldn’t govern our everyday lives. This witty, well-researched book suggests that we should move past the Bible and clear a path to a kinder and more thoughtful world.

Har du någonsin drömt om att kunna flyga? Du är inte ensam. I den här boken utforskar Richard Dawkins konsten att flyga och hur den utvecklats, både på evolutionär väg och genom mänsklig innovation. Hur tog sig fåglar, insekter och andra djur upp i luften? Och hur har människan lärt sig att på liknande sätt utnyttja fysikens lagar för att lämna marken? Konsten att flyga är på samma gång en exposé över den förunderliga flygförmågan och en hyllning till vår förmåga att med vetenskap och fantasi sväva bort från vardagslivets tristess. Den är rikt illustrerad av Jana Lenzová och utgör ett unikt samarbete mellan en världsledande vetenskapsman och en kongenial konstnär.

Richard Dawkins on how nature and humans have learned to overcome the pull of gravity and take to the skies. 'A masterly investigation of all aspects of flight, human and animal... A beautifully produced book that will appeal across age groups' Alexander McCall Smith 'Dawkins has always been an extraordinarily muscular, persuasive thinker. What feels new here is that he writes with such charm and warmth' The TimesHave you ever dreamt you could fly? Or imagined what it would be like to glide and swoop through the sky like a bird? Do you let your mind soar to unknown, magical spaces? Richard Dawkins explores the wonder of flight: from the mythical Icarus, to the sadly extinct but spectacular bird Argentavis magnificens, from the Wright flyer and the 747, to the Tinkerbella fairyfly and the Peregrine falcon. But he also explores flights of the mind and escaping the everyday – through science, ideas and imagination. Fascinating and beautifully illustrated, this is a unique collaboration between one of the world's leading scientists and a talented artist.

'A rich feast of his essays, reviews, forewords, squibs and conversations, in which talent and passion are married to deep knowledge.' Matt Ridley'Enjoy the unfailing clarity of his thought and prose, as well as the grandeur of his vision of life on Earth.' - Mark Cocker, Spectator'Richard Dawkins is a thunderously gifted science writer.' Sunday TimesIncluding conversations with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley and more, this is an essential guide to the most exciting ideas of our time and their proponents from our most brilliant science communicator. Books Do Furnish a Life is divided by theme, including celebrating nature, exploring humanity, and interrogating faith. For the first time, it brings together Richard Dawkins' forewords, afterwords and introductions to the work of some of the leading thinkers of our age - Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski, Lewis Wolpert - with a selection of his reviews to provide an electrifying celebration of science writing, both fiction and non-fiction. It is also a sparkling addition to Dawkins' own remarkable canon of work. Plenty of other scientists write well, but no one writes like Dawkins... here is Dawkins the teacher, the scholar, the polemicist, the joker, the aesthete, the poet, the satirist, the man of compassion as well as indignation, the slayer of superstition and, above all, the scientist. - Areo Magazine

Written by members of the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science who have tackled the topic of evolution in their classroom for decades, On Teaching Evolution offers practical advice and sample lesson plans for fellow science teachers. Learn about what inspired them to love teaching evolution and the experiences that help guide their teaching practices. Contributing authors include: Bertha V zquez, Amanda Clapp, Blake Touchet, Chance Duncan, David Upegui, John Mead, Nikki Chambers, Patti Howell, Reginald Finley, David Mowry, Kenny Coogan, Robert Cooper, and Kathryn Green.

Richard Dawkins on how nature and humans have learned to overcome the pull of gravity and take to the skies. 'A masterly investigation of all aspects of flight, human and animal... A beautifully produced book that will appeal across age groups' Alexander McCall Smith 'Dawkins has always been an extraordinarily muscular, persuasive thinker. What feels new here is that he writes with such charm and warmth' The Times Have you ever dreamt you could fly? Or imagined what it would be like to glide and swoop through the sky like a bird? Do you let your mind soar to unknown, magical spaces? Richard Dawkins explores the wonder of flight: from the mythical Icarus, to the sadly extinct but spectacular bird Argentavis magnificens, from the Wright flyer and the 747, to the Tinkerbella fairyfly and the Peregrine falcon. But he also explores flights of the mind and escaping the everyday – through science, ideas and imagination. Fascinating and beautifully illustrated, this is a unique collaboration between one of the world's leading scientists and a talented artist.