From the New York Timesâbestselling author of Science in the Soul. âIf any recent writing about science is poetic, it is thisâ (The Wall Street Journal).
Did Sir Isaac Newton âunweave the rainbowâ 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; Newtonâs unweaving is the key too much of modern astronomy and to the breathtaking poetry of modern cosmology. Mysteries donât 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 isnât), a tribute to science not because it is useful but because it is uplifting.
âA 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, Dawkinsâ prose can be mesmerizing.â âSan Francisco Chronicle
âBrilliance and wit.â âThe New Yorker