The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing
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Book Reviews of The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing
Book Review: If this book doesn't jump start your interest in science, you just might be a redneck....
Summary: 5 Stars
Dawkins' frequently claims that there is a much richer contemplative nature to a scientific view of the universe than in a view dominated by a "notion of a 'supreme being'." This anthology delivers the punch to this claim and does so with an amazing spectrum of ideas. If science were the basis of theology, this anthology contains the kind of writing one might read. This is not a collection about science theory, it is a collection of scientific ideas and dreams. It is prose for any lover of science, by some of the most eloquent and ardent scientists of our times (sans any topical contributions by Dawkins himself, by his own omission, though he nicely introduces each of the authors in the anthology and explains some of the reasons why they were chosen). Spanning many disciplines within the scientific community, not merely Dawkins' own field of biology, this anthology explores the many implications that make suffering through learning scientific fundamentals so very worthwhile. While I thoroughly loved reading this book as a middle-aged science buff, I would think this volume would be an equally great read for the scientifically minded college-bound-high-school student who has yet to decide which scientific discipline they may wish to specialize within. It is a collection that specializes in those blow-your-hair-back kind of answers we often got in science class, when frustrated with learning the basics, and dared to ask the professor, "why do I need to learn this stuff anyway?" It is precisely the kind of anthology one would imagine coming from a professorship that focuses on the *public understanding* of science. It is a fully accessible volume that demonstrates just how elegant and numinous the thoughts of strictly material and humanistic minded people are without abandoning the scientific discipline itself.Book Review: Superb examples of fantastic science writing
Summary: 5 Stars
I own a couple of Dawkins' books: "The God Delusion," "Evolution...," and "The Blind Watchmaker" (the latter is still unread). While he is a fantastic debater and critical thinker in his own right, this book represents an amazing anthology of illustrative scientific writing.
I work for a university and find myself writing about faculty's scientific work often. I bought this book and "A Field Guide for Science Writers" at the same time. While the field guide is directly applicable to my vocation, I had a hard time putting down Dawkins' book. It is an amazing collection of intriguing and, at times, exceptionally elegant writing.
I have read several of the selected works already and now have several more on my read pile.
Another reviewer gave this book lesser ratings because the binding was tight. I agree. If we are talking about the physical production, I would say that part of that is because the pages are sturdy - which is a good thing.
The only caveat I would offer is that without the context of the entirety of the selected works, a moderate amount of scientific literacy is necessary to fully appreciate some of the selections. If you enjoy learning and researching the things you don't already understand, even people who aren't well versed in science will appreciate the selections. Everyone should appreciate the prosaic treatment of such complex subjects.
If you enjoy science or good writing, this is a must have, IMO.
Book Review: the latest century of science writing and the art of becoming human
Summary: 5 Stars
i am not yet far into this book, and i have never been one to doubt the deep humanity of real scientists, so for me these collections of writing of discovery and re-discovery are better than icing the cake; windows into a struggle to keep us human rather than remove the spirit we contain.
- nor do i confound these writings with any deistic or apologist rubbish -
I am sure both science and religion should be better understood as the latter leading to the former, and so it may be observed that misconception should lead to a more refined conception, if the mind is kept open as well as the eyes - but misconception, and what else could one really be expected to begin with? -if held to too tightly becomes moribund superstition rather quickly, and stifles all progress better than going back in time and killing one's own ancestors, to make a bit of a tacky and flawed analogy.
SO . . . Highly recommended for those who would be willing to read deeply, reflect with wonder, and come to see the staircase of our species' growing knowledge as our trail from the dirt to the stars, rather than a misguided tower of babble -
in other words,: don't be one of those who wonder how children in, say, China learn to speak their language so well yet don't speak ours - please?
Book Review: Dawkins, a master writer
Summary: 5 Stars
In the simple and friendly little book entitled Richard Dawkins, How a scientist changed the way we think [Oxford University Press 2006], edited by Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley, scientists and writers heaped praise upon a brilliant and illustrious fellow scientist and writer. In The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing [Oxford University Press 2008] by Richard Dawkins, we encounter the inverse process. The Oxford guru of ungodly genetics offers us a personally-chosen digest of 83 literary variations -- one might say prose poems -- on scientific themes. And each extract is prefaced by a brilliantly terse introduction by the Master of Ceremonies, who invites us to look over his shoulder -- over his reading glasses, one might say -- to take voluptuous literary and didactic pleasure in the modern Word (logos) of Science. Dawkins is never nicer than when he talks of others: of other scientists and writers, of other bright survival machines with a zoological quill in their hands. He is a Renaissance scholar inviting us to a celebration of his scientific and artistic brethren. Dawkins and Oxford (its university, its press) are lights in the murky metaphysics of the modern world.Book Review: Regarding Science-Ejected Vitalism, 2008:
Summary: 5 Stars
What a breath of fresh air, in these times of alt.med. vitalistic spiritistic woo, to hear an actual scientist state how nonscientific vitalism and dualism actually are, and I quote:
"life is the execution of programs written using a small digital alphabet in a single, universal machine language. This realization was the hammer blow that knocked the last nail in the coffin of vitalism and, by extension, of dualism. The hammer was wielded, with undisguised youthful relish, by James Watson and Francis Crick [p.030...] for me, the greatest achievement of Watson and Crick was to turn genetics from a branch of wet and squishy physiology into a branch of information technology, in the process slaying, as I suggested above, the ghost of vitalism [p.226]."
-r.c.