An electrifying celebration of science writing

Books do Furnish a Life

A new anthology of the internationally best-selling science writer's work, bringing together his writing about some of the most important science literature of our age to explore its key themes. Includes exclusive new commentary and conversation with other great science thinkers of our time.

Much more than just a collection of journalism, this has an overarching unity and presents a panoramic survey of his intellectual career.  There are occasional moments of delicious savagery as Dawkins dismantles an opponent. Much more often he celebrates the work of fellow scientists and throughout the entire 460 pages, one can enjoy the unfailing clarity of his thought and prose, as well as the grandeur of his vision of life on Earth.

Richard Dawkins is author of The Selfish Gene, voted The Royal Society's Most Inspiring Science Book of All Time, and also the bestsellers The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The Ancestor's Tale, The God Delusion, and two volumes of autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder and Brief Candle in the Dark. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. In 2013, Dawkins was voted the world’s top thinker in Prospect magazine’s poll of 10,000 readers from over 100 countries.

'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 Times 
 
Including 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

A Beginner’s Guide

Outgrowing God

From the author of multi-million bestseller, The God Delusion, an exciting, accessible argument for atheism, written for a new generation.

Outgrowing God is another sally against his oldest foe, the Almighty

Books of 2019: The scientist and controversial commentator on religious and cultural questions presents an accessible, "junior" version of The God Delusion (2006).

His contagious enthusiasm renders the basics of natural selection newly astonishing.

Books of 2019: Richard Dawkins has always had it in for the almighty and he's back to take another pop at the poor bloke. Here he outlines what he believes is the real meaning of life.

Dawkins new book is special in the terrain of atheists’ pleas for humanism and rationalism precisely since it speaks to those most vulnerable to the coercive tactics of religion. As Dawkins himself says in the dedication, this book is for “all young people when they’re old enough to decide for themselves.” It is also, I must add, for their parents.

Professor Janna Levin, Claire Tow Professor of Physics & Astronoy at Barnard College of Columbia University

With wit, logic, and his characteristic flair for expressing complex ideas with uncanny clarity, Richard Dawkins separates myth from reality in OUTGROWING GOD.  His book is more than a beginners’ guide to atheism: it is a primer that liberates us to see and explore the beauty of the Universe free of fables and fantasies.

Neil Shubin, paleontologist and author of Your Inner Fish

The author of The God Delusion, the man at the forefront of the New Atheism movement, returns with passion to his theme.

Dawkins’ new book is perhaps his most likeable.

It offers irrefutable proof that [we] evolved from something else

Vividly demonstrates the spirit of scientific discovery that has made life meaningful for Dawkins himself. His contagious enthusiasm renders the basics of natural selection newly astonishing.

Outgrowing God has fine content and a genial tone. It should do well.

When someone is considering atheism I tell them to read the Bible first and then Dawkins. Outgrowing God - second only to the Bible!

When people ask me, 'If you could have dinner with three people...', Richard Dawkins often springs to mind. Reading Outgrowing God felt like having that dinner. Dawkins spends the first half of the dinner blowing my mind by explaining what we know about the origins of the Bible, and the second half changing the way I think about evolution. I came out feeling smarter.

Richard Dawkins is one of the great scientists and science communicators of our time, and Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide shows that he does not mean to relinquish those titles any time soon. It is a paean to truth and reason, written in the hope that more people will rally to the defence of those values at a time when they are being hastily abandoned. Dawkins writes so well that his hope of helping society grow up might just be fulfilled.

My son came home from his first day in the sixth grade with arms outstretched, plaintively demanding to know: 'Have you ever heard of Jesus?' We burst out laughing. He felt that he had woken up one day to a world in which his peers were expressing beliefs he found frighteningly unreasonable. He began devouring books like The God Delusion, books that helped him formulate his own arguments and stand his ground. Dawkins' new book is special in the terrain of atheists' pleas for humanism and rationalism precisely since it speaks to those must vulnerable to the coercive tactics of religion. It is also for their parents.

Should we believe in God? In this new book, written for a new generation, the brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, explains why we shouldn't. 
 
Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In twelve chapters that address some of the most profound questions human beings confront, Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to interrogate the hypocrisies of all the religious systems and explain to readers of all ages how life emerged without a Creator, how evolution works and how our world came into being. 
 
For anyone hoping to grapple with the meaning of life and what to believe, Outgrowing God is a challenging, thrilling and revelatory read. 
 
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The Discussion that Sparked an Atheist Revolution  Foreword by Stephen Fry

The Four Horsemen

The transcript of the one and only conversation between 'the four horsemen' of New Atheism, with  introductions from Dawkins, Dennett and Harris and a sparkling foreword by Stephen Fry.

This transcript  is of historical significance and belongs in the library of all thinking people. A classic for our time...and all time.

Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist Scientific American, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author of Heavens on Earth, The Moral Arc, The Believing Brain, and Why People Believe Weird Things

I have a short list of intellectual heroes, and Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett each have a place on it—not because I always agree with their views, but because I'm in awe of the way they form, express, and defend their views. If thinking were a sport, these four would be national superstars—and reading The Four Horsemen feels like having a front row seat at the all-star game. This is more than a book about atheism and religion—it's a lesson in how to use our intellect to cut through the haze of delusion and misconception inherent in any human society.

Tim Urban, author of the blog 'Wait But Why'

We are slowly losing the hard-won right, gained by brave heroes of the enlightenment such as Voltaire and Hume, to be free to criticise religion without persecution and prosecution; the crime of blasphemy is creeping back. The words of Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris and Dennett are needed more than ever. These are the heirs to Voltaire.

Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything

I was gripped. Throughout this erudite conversation the humility and openness of science shines against religion’s arrogance, hypocrisy and sheer gall in just ‘making stuff up’. How refreshing it is.

If you had to pick a place for our pop culture to change, Sun Records on December 4, 1956 at a jam session with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley is a pretty good symbolic spot.  This conversation on September 30th, 2007 with Daniel, Sam, Richard, and Elvis . . . I mean Hitch at Hitch’s pad is as good a place as any to mark the start of the Atheist revolution.

What a gift to be able to eavesdrop on this conversation!  These four are the kinds of thinkers we don’t get enough of anymore; unapologetic, uncompromising, and deeply generous with one another as well as anyone who happens to be listening in. You needn’t be an atheist or a horseman to relish every word of this delightful book. You just need to be hungry for genuine intellectual inquiry and open debate. And, let’s face it, you’re probably starving.

Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects Of Discussion

Reading this book is like to getting to spend a profound afternoon with some of our greatest intellectuals. Blasphemous, erudite, devastatingly truthful, slyly hilarious.  I gasped, I laughed, I nodded, and sometimes had to stop and just think for a moment about what they'd dared to say.

Julia Sweeney, author of Letting Go of God

For people inclined to disbelieve supernatural explanations -- in America, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers and sisters -- The Four Horsemen is a smart, fun, funny, seriously provocative primer.

Thrilling...Challenging...This bracing exchange of ideas crackles with energy...an invigorating example of what happens when astute, inquisitive minds engage together on deep questions.

Richard Dawkins (Author) Richard Dawkins is author of The Selfish Gene, voted The Royal Society's Most Inspiring Science Book of All Time, and also the bestsellers The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The Ancestor's Tale, The God Delusion, and two volumes of autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder and Brief Candle in the Dark. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. In 2013, Dawkins was voted the world’s top thinker in Prospect magazine’s poll of 10,000 readers from over 100 countries. Sam Harris (Author) Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, and Waking Up. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonfiction. His work has been published in more than twenty languages. Harris has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Economist, The Times, the Boston Globe, the Atlantic, Annals of Neurology, and other outlets. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. Please visit his website at SamHarris.org. Daniel C. Dennett (Author) Daniel C. Dennett was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist whose research centred on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He was the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University and a visiting professor at Oxford and the London School of Economics. He is the author of numerous books including Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, Breaking the Spell, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and Consciousness Explained. He died in April 2024. Christopher Hitchens (Author) Christopher Hitchens was an English-born American author, journalist and literary critic. He was a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media in a career that spanned more than four decades and made him a prominent public intellectual, and a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. His books include The Monarchy; Blood, Class, and Nostalgia; No One Left to Lie Toand God Is Not Great. He died in 2011. Stephen Fry (Foreword By) Stephen Fry is an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter and director. He rose to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which he co-wrote with Laurie) and Jeeves and Wooster, and was unforgettable as General Melchett in Blackadder. He has hosted over 180 episodes of QI, and has narrated all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the audiobook recordings. He is the bestselling author of four novels - The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History, The Hippopotamus and The Liar - as well as three volumes of autobiography - Moab is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and More Fool Me. Mythos and Heroes, his retelling of the Greek myths, are both Sunday Times bestsellers.

Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist

Science in the Soul

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. A sparkling new anthology of essays, lectures and letters by the brilliant evolutionary biologist, author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion.

[Dawkins] is a thunderously gifted science writer

One of the best non-fiction writers alive today

The illumination of Dawkins’ incisive thinking on the intellectual world extends far beyond biology. What a treat to see so clearly how matter and meaning fit together, from fiction to philosophy to molecular biology, all in one unified vision!’  Daniel C. Dennett

In this golden age of enlightened science writing it is stunning that no scientist has ever won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pulitzer Prizes, yes, but it is time literature's highest award be granted to a scientist whose writings have changed not just science but society. No living scientist is more deserving of such recognition than Richard Dawkins, whose every book reflects his literary genius and scientific substance. Science in the Soul is the perfect embodiment of Nobel quality literature."

Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, columnist Scientific American, author The Moral Arc and Heavens on Earth

I thank Thor and Zeus that in their infinite wisdom they chose to make the great wordsmith of our age a great rationalist and vice versa.

Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist and The Evolution of Everything

A writer of tremendous clarity and force...in full polemical flight, Dawkins is a marvel.

This Dawkins is a dangerous guy. Like Marx. Or Darwin.

The most influential man of reason…intellectually rigorous to a fault.

With his latest book, ‘Science in the Soul’, Richard Dawkins continues the legacy of Carl Sagan, though of course, in a more combative mode... 
Richard Dawkins is one of the best science popularisers of our times. He is also an eminent evolutionary biologist... 
All the articles in this compilation are ultimately soul-elevating in the sense that they emphasise the importance of reason and spirit of science in approaching many of the problems which we may think as being outside the realm of science or domains where inducing a hostility to a scientific approach is possible.... 
Dawkins is an extraordinarily talented author and persuader ...Dawkins also comes across in this collection of essays as a warm rational scientist who is interestingly so open to the innocent human fascination for the grandeur of nature.

Dawkins at his most delicious. These are some of the finest treasures of non-fiction you'll find anywhere

Now, more than ever, public intellectual scientists like Dawkins are needed to counter the forces of faith, fiction, and farce dominating our so-called “post-fact” society. 
 
The Oxford University professor is the embodiment of the concept of the public intellectual

Richard Dawkins first catapulted to fame with his iconic work The Selfish Gene (1976) which he followed with a string of prestigious books, including The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The God Delusion, a previous anthology A Devil's Chaplain (2003) and two volumes of autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder (2013) and Brief Candle in the Dark (2015). He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature and the recipient of numerous honours and awards. He remains a fellow of New College, Oxford. In 2013, Dawkins was voted the world’s top thinker in Prospect magazine’s poll of 10,000 readers from over 100 countries.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
Richard Dawkins - author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion - is one of science's greatest communicators. This anthology of more than forty pieces is a kaleidoscopic argument for the power and the glory of science. 
 
Breathtaking, brilliant and passionate, these essays, journalism, lectures and letters make an unanswerable case for the wonder of scientific discovery and its power to stir the imagination; for the practical necessity of scientific endeavour to society; and for the importance of the scientific way of thinking – particularly in today’s ‘post-truth’ world. 
 
With an introduction and new commentary by the author, subjects range from evolution and Darwinian natural selection to the role of scientist as prophet, whether science is itself a religion, the probability of alien life in other worlds, and the beauties, cruelties and oddities of earthly life in this one. Alongside the explications, the celebrations and the controversies are wonderfully funny ventures into satire and parody, and moving personal reflections in memory and honour of others. 
 
Science in the Soul is a sparkling showcase for Professor Dawkins' rapier wit, the clarity, precision and vigour he brings to an argument, the beauty of his prose, the depth of his feeling and his capacity for joy.

The Blind Watchmaker

'This might just be the most important book on evolution since Darwin' John Gribbin in The Good Book Guide

***30th Anniversary Edition*** 
 
Acclaimed as the most influential work on evolution written in the last hundred years, The Blind Watchmaker offers an inspiring and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. A brilliant and controversial book which demonstrates that evolution by natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind yet essentially non-random process discovered by Darwin - is the only answer to the biggest question of all: why do we exist?

Richard Dawkins has updated evolution ... His subject is nothing less than the meaning of life, and he attacks it with the evangelical fervour of a clergyman and the mind of a scientist

Beautiful ... he seizes happy analogies, bright metaphors and shining images to light up his passion and our darkness

Good writing, tight argument and unpulled punches ... a satisfying book

One of the best science books - one of the best of any books - I have ever read

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, CLIMBING MOUNT IMPROBABLE (Penguin, 1996) and UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW (Penguin, 1998).

Acclaimed as the most influential work on evolution written in the last hundred years, The Blind Watchmaker offers an inspiring and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. A brilliant and controversial book which demonstrates that evolution by natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind yet essentially non-random process discovered by Darwin - is the only answer to the biggest question of all: why do we exist?

Climbing Mount Improbable

***20th Anniversary Edition - With a New Introduction*** 
 
How could such an intricate object as the human eye - so complex and so precise - have come about by chance? In this masterful piece of popular science, Richard Dawkins builds a powerful and carefully reasoned argument for evolutionary adaptation as the force behind all life on earth. The metaphor of 'Mount Improbable' represents the combination of perfection and improbability that we find in the seemingly 'designed' complexity of living things. And through it all runs the thread of DNA, the molecule of life, responsible for its own destiny on an unending pilgrimage through time. Evocative illustrations accompany Dawkins' eloquent descriptions of astonishing adaptations in the living world.

A beautiful, barnstorming thunderclap of a book

Mount Improbable is Dawkins's metaphor for natural selection: its peaks standing for evolution's most complex achievements ... a perfect, elegant riposte to a great deal of fuzzy thinking

One of the most gifted storytellers of our generation ... he writes like an angel

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 UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW (Penguin, 1998).

How could such an intricate object as the human eye - so complex and so precise - have come about by chance? In this masterful piece of popular science, Richard Dawkins builds a powerful and carefully reasoned argument for evolutionary adapatation as the force behind all life on earth. The metaphor of 'Mount Improbable' represents the combination of perfection and improbability that we find in the seemingly 'designed' complexity of living things. And through it all runs the thread of DNA, the molecule of life, responsible for its own destiny on an unending pilgrimage through time. Evocative illustrations accompany Dawkins' eloquent descriptions of astonishing adaptations in the living world.

Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

Unweaving the Rainbow

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.

A brilliant assertion of the wonder and excitement of real, tough, grown-up science

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

Beautifully written and full of interesting, original ideas. Essential reading

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

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 dazzling, passionate polemic against anti-science movements of all kinds. 
 
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.

My Life in Science

Brief Candle in the Dark

The second and final part of Richard Dawkins' memoirs

Readers of Brief Candle are in for many treats: lively prose from one of our greatest living writers; stimulating ideas on the nature of life and the human condition; and the opportunity to eavesdrop on the workings of an extraordinary mind, intellectually fierce yet personally generous.

Dawkins's greatest gift has been as a lyricist ... His writing can still sparkle. He excels at capturing the scenes behind a scene, deftly explaining a scientific principle, capping a story with an amusing anecdote ... At such moments, one feels transported to a tweedy evening at Oxford, pouring the sherry as a charming senior faculty member holds court.

A highly readable account of the fascinating career of the science populariser ... Among its attractions are handy summaries of the central arguments of each of Dawkins's books ... It shows Dawkins in all his contradictory guises

Dawkins has written with passion, urgency and clarity

Richard always writes like he’s telling you a story, which is why so many of us non-science people understand science better than we used to. But when the story is his own life, its doubly compelling.

This is the Richard Dawkins I have come to know and respect ... witty, self-deprecating, intensely curious, always genuine, and a beguiling storyteller, who just happens to also be one of the best scientist-writers on the planet. For those who want some insight into the true nature of the man behind The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion, this book is sure to please, and perhaps surprise.

A century from now historians will take note of a handful of scientific luminaries in the second half of the 20th century who changed not just their science but their culture. First among equals in that short list will surely be Richard Dawkins, unquestionably one of the great minds of our time who is also an eloquent writer. Brief Candle in the Dark gives those future historians his pathway to greatness that begins with the publication of his monumental The Selfish Gene in 1976 and climaxes with the book that may do more to elevate atheism to a legitimate position than any that came before—The God Delusion—whose impact, like the author, reverberates still.

Michael Shermer, Publisher of 'Skeptic' magazine, monthly columnist 'Scientific American', author of 'The Moral Arc'

Brief Candle in the Dark provides so many pleasures in which to revel: the searing clarity of scientific insights and explanations; the depth of wit and width of erudition; a prose which can soar to poetry while never losing its accuracy; an inspired delight in the beauty of nature’s ways and a just as inspiring delight in the gifts and talents of others. The Richard Dawkins who comes shining through these wonderful pages is as generous as he is brilliant, calling to mind Darwin’s ringing words: There is grandeur in this view of life.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away

Sometimes funny, sometimes fascinating, and always interesting,Dawkins takes us through his later years story by story, revealing the humanity behind the man like never before. Richard Dawkins stands on a well-deserved pedestal in my mind because of all he has accomplished, and how those accomplishments have affected me, personally, and millions of others as well; A Brief Candle in the Dark reminds us, warmly and eloquently, that the greatest accomplishments are achieved when science is bolstered by good will and kindness.

David Silverman, president of American Atheists, Inc.

Winston Churchill once quipped, “Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.” Richard Dawkins is also a very modest man, though he has a lot to be immodest about. In Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins takes us through a personal journey of anecdotes and conversations with world-class scientists and thinkers, without acknowledging that he is truly a rock star among them. You don’t have to be a scientist to appreciate how deeply Dawkins loves interpreting science for the rest of us in this remarkable book about his own remarkable life, so far.

Herb Silverman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, founder and president of the Secular Coalition for America, and author of Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt

The text is fascinating, thoroughly readable, and joyful ... Whether he is relating his experiences popularizing science or summarizing his travels to the Galápagos Islands, Dawkins tells a good tale as he expounds upon the value in broadly promoting science literacy ... Dawkins offers great insight into the nature of science and introduces readers to many of the major players responsible for creating the field of evolutionary biology.

What it lacks in intimacy it makes up for with wit and bounce and a sense that this deeply learned man is running for mayor of our brains....A line that Mr. Dawkins uses to praise another scientist, the evolutionary biologist Alan Grafen, could surely be applied to the author himself: “As P.G. Wodehouse might have put it, ‘North of the collar stud, Alan stands alone.’ ”

Better spend time on a relatively poor book by Dawkins than on the best efforts of many other science writers.

In An Appetite for Wonder Richard Dawkins brought us his engaging memoir of the first 35 years of his life from early childhood in Africa to publication of The Selfish Gene in 1976, when he shot to fame as one of the most exciting new scientists of his generation. In Brief Candle in the Dark he continues his autobiography, following the threads that have run through the second half of his life so far and homing in on the key individuals, institutions and ideas that inspired and motivated him. 
 
He paints a vivid picture, coloured with wit, anecdote and digression, of the twenty-five postgraduate years he spent teaching at Oxford. He pays affectionate tribute to past colleagues and students, recalling the idiosyncrasies of an establishment steeped in ancient tradition and arcane ritual while also recording his respect for the profound commitment to learning and discovery that lies at its core. He invites us to share the life of a travelling scientist, from fieldwork on the Panama Canal to conferences of stratospheric eminence in exotic locations in the company of some of the most prominent of the world’s scientific luminaries. And he describes his experiences with his many publishers, television producers, interviewers and partners in debate, not least in the heady period when, after publication of The God Delusion in 2006, he is dubbed the world’s most outspoken and controversial atheist. 
 
 Most important of all, for the first time he reviews with fresh and stimulating insights the evolving narrative of his ideas about science over the course of his highly distinguished career as thinker, teacher and writer. In Brief Candle in the Dark we are invited to enter with him a constantly stimulating world of discovery and to meet a fascinating cast of exceptional characters described by the talented pen of one of the most exceptional of them all.

An Appetite For Wonder: The Making of a Scientist

An early memoir from the world's most famous atheist, and scientist.

Most geeks cannot write;  this one can... Equipped with an undoubted gift for expression, Dawkins the writer comes with a unique pedigree

This eloquent, witty and instructive book reveals the true Richard Dawkins. It's a great read.

Throughout and as usual, Dawkins's writing is graceful, sparkling with anecdotes and wit

Dawkins is a fascinating man and as a writer he is nothing less than essential... he is a man who has influenced or changed the way people think. His story needs to be read.

Richard Dawkins's memoirs are, like their author, honest, perceptive, sometimes ingenuous, always rational and deeply humane.

Lyrical... [Dawkins's] appetite for wonder is beguiling

Enjoyable from start to finish, this exceptionally accessible book will appeal to science lovers, lovers of autobiographies—and, of course, all of Dawkins’s fans, atheists and theists alike.

Well-written, captivating, and filled with fascinating anecdotes

Richard Dawkins is a hero of mine, so being able to read about how he became the man and the thinker he is, was a particular delight for me. How his life formed from an inchoate, primordial soup and then never wavered from sound, scientific principles made for a huge page turning experience; he’s also a great writer, so that helps. Some people get their kicks from Superman’s origin story, or Batman’s origin story… or Jesus’. But for me, it was Richard Dawkins.

Skepticism and atheism do not arrive from revelation or authority. In our culture it's a slow thoughtful process. But, in the beginning there was Dawkins, moving that process along for many of us, with information and inspiration. For the modern skeptical/atheist movement, in the beginning -- there was Dawkins and he was wicked good. Appetite for Wonder shows us this beginning.

Penn Jillette, author of God No! and Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

It has been my good fortune to meet many of the greatest minds of our time, but standing above them all in the power of both his ideas and his rhetoric is Richard Dawkins, whose books are major publishing events because they change the conversation and the culture. In An Appetite for Wonder Dawkins turns his critical analysis inward to reveal how his mind works and what personal events and cultural forces most shaped his thinking. Destined to become a classic in the annals of science autobiography.

Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Believing Brain and Why Darwin Matters

Richard Dawkins is among the most eloquent scientists who has ever written for the public. His work has changed countless people’s lives, opening their minds to the wonder and beauty of science, and to the silliness of myth and superstition. But few people know Dawkins the man. How did such a man, born abroad from a family of some privilege, schooled as traditionally as any upper-class British youth, become one of the most well-known scientists in the world, and at the same time—among many of the faithful at least—among the most despised? Told with frankness and eloquence, warmth and humor, this is a fascinating story of a fascinating man who was lucky enough—for himself and the rest of the world—to fall in love with science. This is a truly entertaining and enlightening read and I recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of Dawkins the man and the rightful place of science in our modern world.

An Appetite for Wonder feels very much like the substance of the breezy conversation you might have at a long summer dinner, if Dawkins were the guest of honor…charming, boring, brilliant, contradictory, conventional, revolutionary. We leave it perhaps not full of facts or conclusions, but with a feeling of knowing the man.

Dawkins writes with an admirable honestly… When focusing on his area of expertise: explaining the magic contained within the natural universe and the tree of life, Dawkins proves that today he is still an extraordinary thinker, and one who has made an enormous contribution to understanding human nature. This memoir is a fascinating account of one man's attempt to find answers to some of the most difficult questions posed to mankind.

A memoir that is funny and modest, absorbing and playful. Dawkins has written a marvellous love letter to science… and for this, the book will touch scientists and science-loving persons. … an enchanting memoir to read, one that I recommend highly.

Dawkins’ style [is] clear and elegant as usual… a personal introduction to an important thinker and populariser of science. … provide[s] a superb background to the academic and social climate of postwar British research.

The Richard Dawkins that emerges here is a far cry from the strident, abrasive caricature beloved of lazy journalists … There is no score-settling, but a generous appreciation and admiration of the qualities of others, as well as a transparent love of life, literature - and science.

[Here] we have the kindling of Mr. Dawkins’s curiosity, the basis for his unconventionality.

This memoir is destined to be a historical document that will be ceaselessly quoted.

Surprisingly intimate and moving. … He is here to find out what makes us tick: to cut through the nonsense to the real stuff.

This first volume of Dawkins's autobiography … comes to life when describing the competitive collaboration and excitement among the outstanding ethologists and zoologists at Oxford in the Seventies—which stimulated his most famous book, The Selfish Gene.

…this isn’t Dawkins’s version of My Family and Other Animals. It’s the beauty of ideas that arouses his appetite for wonder: and, more especially, his relentless drive … towards the answer.

Enjoyable from start to finish, this exceptionally accessible book will appeal to science lovers, lovers of autobiographies-and, of course, all of Dawkins's fans, atheists and theists alike.

Richard Dawkins first catapulted to fame with his iconic work The Selfish Gene, which he followed with a string of bestselling books: The Extended Phenotype, The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Ancestor’s Tale, The God Delusion, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Magic of Reality, and a collection of his shorter writings, A Devil’s Chaplain. 
 
Dawkins is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the Royal Society of Literature Award (1987), the Michael Faraday Award of the Royal Society (1990), the International Cosmos Prize for Achievement in Human Science (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Shakespeare Prize (2005), the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science (2006), the Galaxy British Book Awards Author of the Year Award (2007), the Deschner Prize (2007) and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He retired from his position as the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University in 2008 and remains a fellow of New College. 
 
In 2012, scientists studying fish in Sri Lanka created Dawkinsia as a new genus name, in recognition of his contribution to the public understanding of evolutionary science. In the same year, Richard Dawkins appeared in the BBC Four television series Beautiful Minds, revealing how he came to write The Selfish Gene and speaking about some of the events covered in his latest book, An Appetite for Wonder. In 2013, Dawkins was voted the world’s top thinker in Prospect magazine’s poll of 10,000 readers from over 100 countries.

Born to parents who were enthusiastic naturalists, and linked through his wider family to a clutch of accomplished scientists, Richard Dawkins was bound to have biology in his genes. But what were the influences that shaped his life? And who inspired him to become the pioneering scientist and public thinker now famous (and infamous to some) around the world? 
 
In An Appetite for Wonder we join him on a personal journey from an enchanting childhood in colonial Africa, through the eccentricities of boarding school in England, to his studies at the University of Oxford’s dynamic Zoology Department, which sparked his radical new vision of Darwinism, The Selfish Gene. Through Dawkins’s honest self-reflection, touching reminiscences and witty anecdotes, we are finally able to understand the private influences that shaped the public man who, more than anyone else in his generation, explained our own origins.

Illustrated Children's Edition

The Magic of Reality

See the wonder of science come alive in this fascinating guide to life’s greatest questions.

It's the clearest and most beautifully written introduction to science I've ever read . . . Explanations I thought I knew were clarified; things I never understood were made clear for the first time.

I wanted to write this book but I wasn't clever enough. Now I've read it, I am.

Prodigiously illustrated and beautifully designed ... I cannot think of a better, or simpler, introduction to science.

From the first sentence it reads with the force and fluency of a classic ... a luminous, authoritative prose that transcends age differences.

With fabulous illustrations by Dave McKean, Richard Dawkins' The Magic of Reality is an outstanding science book. Written in a simple. conversational style that will appeal to adults as well as teenagers, it really does explain complex subjects clearly. Every home should have a copy of this beautifully produced book.

The Magic of Reality provides a beautiful, accessible and wide ranging volume that addresses the questions that all of us have about the universe...written with the masterful and eloquently literate style of perhaps the best popular expositor of science, Richard Dawkins, and delightfully illustrated by Dave McKean. What more could anyone ask for?

Lawrence Krauss, author of Quantum Man, and A Universe from Nothing.

A charming and free-ranging history of science.

Stunning in appearance ... the book is a triumph.

This book may be exactly what's needed to increase science literacy for readers of all ages.

The text is persuasive whatever one's age ... the chapter on rainbows has the clearest explanation of how they appear that I've ever seen.

This book is primarily aimed at teenagers, but plenty of adults will get a kick out of it too...McKean's drawings bring the text to life brilliantly ... Dawkins writes convincingly about everything from chemistry to statistics.

Dawkins uses a simple, brilliant technique highly appealing to young and old.

What are things made of? 
What is the sun? 
Is there really life on other planets? 
Why do bad things happen? 
 
Throughout history, people have invented fascinating stories to explain the world we live in. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu’s egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun – but what are the real answers to such questions? 
 
Professor Richard Dawkins has teamed up with renowned illustrator Dave McKean to take you on an amazing journey from atoms to animals, pollination to paranoia, the big bang to the bigger picture. See the wonder of science come alive in this beautifully illustrated guide to the greatest questions on earth – and some of the answers to them.

From the multi-million bestselling author of The God Delusion

How we know what's really true

An inspiring introduction to science and a fascinating exploration of the natural world.

Dawkins has a gift for making science enjoyable ... [He is] one of the greatest scientific writers/explainers of all time.

From the first sentence it reads with the force and fluency of a classic ... a luminous, authoritative prose that transcends age differences

Stunning in appearance ... the book is a triumph

The text is persuasive whatever one's age ... the chapter on rainbows has the clearest explanation of how they appear that I've ever seen

I wanted to write this book but I wasn't clever enough. Now I've read it, I am

Prodigiously illustrated and beautifully designed ... I cannot think of a better, or simpler, introduction to science

A charming and free-ranging history of science

It's the clearest and most beautifully written introduction to science I've ever read. Again and again I found myself saying "Oh! So that's how genes work!" (or stars, or tectonic plates, or all the other things he explains). Explanations I thought I knew were clarified; things I never understood were made clear for the first time

The Magic of Reality provides a beautiful, accessible and wide ranging volume that addresses the questions that all of us have about the universe...written with the masterful and eloquently literate style of perhaps the  best popular expositor of science, Richard Dawkins, and delightfully illustrated by Dave McKean.  What more could anyone ask for?

Lawrence Krauss, author of Quantum Man, and A Universe from Nothing

This book may be exactly what's needed to increase science literacy for readers of all ages

This book is primarily aimed at teenagers, but plenty of adults will get a kick out of it too...McKean's drawings bring the text to life brilliantly ... Dawkins writes convincingly about everything from chemistry to statistics

Dawkins uses a simple, brilliant technique highly appealing to young and old

Few scientists manage to reach a huge popular audience. Even among them Richard Dawkins is distinctive for the clarity and elegance of his prose. The Magic of Reality... will be appreciated by inquisitive children while illuminating much for the adult general reader.

Richard Dawkins has written a string of bestselling books, including the phenomenal The God Delusion. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature, and has won numerous awards. He was a professor at Oxford University until 2008 and he remains a fellow of New College.

Magic takes many forms. The ancient Egyptians explained the night by suggesting that the goddess Nut swallowed the sun. The Vikings believed a rainbow was the gods' bridge to earth. These are magical, extraordinary tales. But there is another kind of magic, and it lies in the exhilaration of discovering the real answers to these questions. It is the magic of reality - science. 
 
Packed with inspiring explanations of space, time and evolution, laced with humour and clever thought experiments, The Magic of Reality explores a stunningly wide range of natural phenomena. What is stuff made of? How old is the universe? What causes tsunamis? Who was the first man, or woman? This is a page-turning, inspirational detective story that not only mines all the sciences for its clues but primes the reader to think like a scientist too. 
 
Richard Dawkins elucidates the wonders of the natural world to all ages with his inimitable clarity and exuberance in a text that will enlighten and inform for generations to come.

A stunning collaboration between a world-famous scientist and outstanding illustrator

Prodigiously illustrated and beautifully designed... I cannot think of a better, or simpler, introduction to science

What are things made of? 
What is the sun? 
Why is there night and day, winter and summer? 
Why do bad things happen? 
Are we alone? 
 
Throughout history people all over the world have invented stories to answer profound questions such as these. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu's egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun - but what is the real answer to such questions? 
 
The Magic of Reality, with its explanations of space, time, evolution and more, will inspire and amaze readers of all ages - young adults, adults, children, octogenarians. Teaming up with the renowned illustrator Dave McKean, Richard Dawkins answers all these questions and many more. In stunning words and pictures this book presents the real story of the world around us, taking us on an enthralling journey through scientific reality, and showing that it has an awe-inspiring beauty and thrilling magic which far exceed those of the ancient myths. 
 
We encounter rainbows, our genetic ancestors, tsunamis, shooting stars, plants, animals, and an intriguing cast of characters in this extraordinary scientific voyage of discovery. Richard Dawkins and Dave McKean have created a dazzling celebration of our planet that will entertain and inform for years to come.

Richard Dawkins is the former Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University (1995-2008). His many bestsellers include The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion. 
 
Dave McKean has illustrated many award winning books and graphic novels, including Coraline by Neil Gaiman, and the Newberry and Carnegie Medal winning The Graveyard Book. He has created hundreds of album, comic and book covers, and has designed characters for two of the Harry Potter films. He has also directed two feature films, MirrorMask and Luna.

What are things made of? 
What is the sun? 
Why is there night and day, winter and summer? 
Why do bad things happen? 
Are we alone? 
 
Throughout history people all over the world have invented stories to answer profound questions such as these. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu's egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun - but what is the real answer to such questions? 
 
The Magic of Reality, with its explanations of space, time, evolution and more, will inspire and amaze readers of all ages - young adults, adults, children, octogenarians. Teaming up with the renowned illustrator Dave McKean, Richard Dawkins answers all these questions and many more. In stunning words and pictures this book presents the real story of the world around us, taking us on an enthralling journey through scientific reality, and showing that it has an awe-inspiring beauty and thrilling magic which far exceed those of the ancient myths. 
 
We encounter rainbows, our genetic ancestors, tsunamis, shooting stars, plants, animals, and an intriguing cast of characters in this extraordinary scientific voyage of discovery. Richard Dawkins and Dave McKean have created a dazzling celebration of our planet that will entertain and inform for years to come.

The Evidence for Evolution

The Greatest Show on Earth

Britain's greatest science writer comprehensively rebuts the creationists by pulling together the incontrovertible evidence for evolution

Richard Dawkins is so much more than just the world's most famous atheist, this smart and engaging "evidence for evolution" is required reading for those who want a grounding in the facts. It's as fascinating as it is challenging

In the bicentennial year of Darwin's birth Mr Dawkins fills a gap in his oeuvre by setting out the evidence that the "theory" of evolution is a fact... And what a lot of evidence there is

With characteristic flair and passion, Dawkins has put on a stunning exhibition of the evidence for evolution. In his own words, 'Evolution is a fact... and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it'

Dr Alice Roberts, Biological anthropologist, author & broadcaster

Richard Dawkins writes about evolution science with unflagging enthusiasm, wit and lucidity. This book is a wonderful addition to his already distinguished ouevre

Dawkins's writing demonstrates once again his consummate skill as an explainer... the topics are all laid out with that combination of clarity and verve that is [his] hallmark

A beautifully crafted and intelligible rebuttal of creationism and intelligent design

A voice of reason in irrational times, Richard Dawkins is both theorist and explainer of one of the greatest discoveries of the human mind

Dawkins gathers up the weight of evidence into a huge lump and hurls it at us from the highest heights his rhetoric can scale... but his grandness of vision still dazzles

Whether it's Lenski's bacteria or our own ancestors, Richard Dawkins discusses the evidence for evolution with his usual charm, style, clarity and brilliance

Simon Singh, author of 'Fermat’s Last Theorem'

Dawkins is the Jeremy Clarkson of biology: an effervescent and opinionated enthusiast who loves to poke fun at opponents' idiocies

He has lost none of his virtuosity in explanation, narration and the presentation of a clinching fact

Dawkins remains a superb translator of complex scientific concepts ... he has a way of making the drollest details feel like a revelation

This is the book Richard Dawkins needed to write and many need to read - a comprehensive account of evolution which faces the difficulties and questions his critics have raised. In it he draws on his great ability to write about science in a way that is clear, absorbing and vivid

Lord Harries of Pentregarth (formerly Bishop Richard Harries)

... He is an awesome thinker, a superb writer whose explanatory skills I envy, who dismisses his opponents with the thoroughness of a top silk

Dawkins emerges like a prize-fighter, knocking out of the ring all objections

Most importantly his writing radiates an intense sense of fascination. He is a great explainer, taking complex biological processes and making them accessible

Richard Dawkins

Books by Richard Dawkins

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