Editions

The Magic of Reality

  • Imprint: Bantam Press

  • ISBN: 9780593066126

  • Length: 272  Pages

  • Dimensions: 251mm x 23mm x 195mm

  • Weight: 1070g

  • RRP: £30.00

The Magic of Reality

  • How we know what's really true

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.

  • Imprint: Bantam Press

  • ISBN: 9780593066126

  • Length: 272  Pages

  • Dimensions: 251mm x 23mm x 195mm

  • Weight: 1070g

  • RRP: £30.00

Reviews

  • 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

    Philip Pullman

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

    Ricky Gervais

  • 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

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

    The Times

  • A charming and free-ranging history of science

    The Sunday Times

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About the Author

Richard Dawkins

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 a Fellow of New College, Oxford and 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.

Richard Dawkins

Dave McKean

Dave McKean has illustrated and designed many ground-breaking books and graphic novels including Varjak Paw (SF Said), The Magic of Reality (Richard Dawkins), The Savage (David Almond) and The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman). He wrote and illustrated Pictures That Tick and the multi-award winning Cages. He has created hundreds of CD and comic covers and directed five short and three feature films.

Dave McKean

Read more

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Extracts

Outgrowing God by Richard Dawkins

In his new book Outgrowing God, Professor Richard Dawkins explores how much of what we know about religion is true, and argues why we shouldn’t believe in God.
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Features

Richard Dawkins and Reverend Richard Coles debate 'Outgrowing God'

We asked Britain's most famous vicar to review Richard Dawkins' new book on atheism. Now the author has written a response. Together they make a fascinating debate about religion and the nature of belief.
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Events

Richard Dawkins: An Argument for Atheism, 22nd - 30th September 2019

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