The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing

by Dawkins, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780199216819
• ISBN10: 0199216819
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is an anthology of fine writing by scientists from the early 20th century to the present day, personally selected and with a commentary by Richard Dawkins.

Author Biography

Richard Dawkins is the first holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, and is a Fellow of New College, Oxford. His bestselling books include The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, and The Ancestor's Tale. Dawkins is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature.

Table of Contents

Featured Writers and Extracts	p. xi
Introduction	p. xvii
What Scientists Study
The Mysterious Universe	p. 3
Just Six Numbers	p. 4
Creation Revisited	p. ll
The Ant and The Peacock	p. 16
The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection	p. 18
Mankind Evolving	p. 22
Adaptation and Natural Selection	p. 27
Life Itself	p. 30
Genome	p. 35
'Theoretical Biology in The Third Millennium'	p. 40
The Language of The Genes	p. 48
'On Being The Right Size'	p. 53
The Explanation of Organic Diversity	p. 59
'The Importance of The Nervous System In The Evolution Of Animal Flight'	p. 61
Man In The Universe	p. 66
On Growth and Form	p. 69
The Meaning of Evolution	p. 78
Trilobite!	p. 82
The Mind Machine	p. 86
Mirrors In Mind	p. 89
'One Self: A Meditation on The Unity of Consciousness'	p. 96
The Language Instinct and How The Mind Works	p. 103
The Rise and Fall of The Third Chimpanzee	p. 110
The Life of The Robin	p. 114
Curious Naturalists	p. 115
Social Evolution	p. 123
The Open Sea	p. 127
The Sea Around Us	p. 130
'How Flowers Changed The World'	p. 138
The Diversity of Life	p. 143
Who Scientists Are
The Expanding Universe	p. 151
The Foreword to C. H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology	p. 152
Disturbing The Universe	p. 157
'War and The Nations'	p. 161
'A Passion for Crystals'	p. 168
'Said Ryle to Hoyle'	p. 172
'Cancer's A Funny Thing'	p. 174
The Identity of Man	p. 176
'Science and Literature', 'Darwin's Illness', 'The Phenomenon Of Man', the postscript to 'Lucky Jim', and 'D'Arcy Thompson and Growth and Form'	p. 179
Self-Made Man	p. 188
Origins Reconsidered	p. 190
Lucy	p. 195
'Worm For A Century, and All Seasons'	p. 200
Life Cycles	p. 211
Uncle Tungsten	p. 214
'Seven Wonders'	p. 219
Avoid Boring People	p. 226
What Mad Pursuit	p. 229
The Unnatural Nature of Science	p. 232
Essays of a Biologist	p. 234
'Religion and Science'	p. 235
The Dem On-Haunted World	p. 239
What Scientists Think
The Character of Physical Law	p. 247
What Is Life?	p. 249
Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Consciousness Explained	p. 254
The Growth of Biological Thought	p. 259
'The Tragedy of The Commons'	p. 263
Geometry For The Selfish Herd and Narrow Roads Of Geneland	p. 266
How Nature Works	p. 273
The Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's New Solitaire Game 'Life'	p. 276
Mathematics For The Million	p. 284
The Miraculous Jar	p. 289
The Mathematical Theory of Communication	p. 297
Computing Machinery and Intelligence	p. 305
'What Is The Theory of Relativity?'	p. 314
Mr Tompkins	p. 317
The Goldilocks Enigma	p. 323
The Time And Space of Uncle Albert	p. 332
The Elegant Universe	p. 336
A Brief History Of Time	p. 342
What Scientists Delight In
Truth and Beauty	p. 349
A Mathematician's Apology	p. 352
Dreams of A Final Theory	p. 357
The Life of The Cosmos	p. 362
The Emperor's New Mind	p. 367
Gödel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid	p. 371
Geons, Black Holes, And Quantum Foam	p. 378
The Fabric of Reality	p. 381
The Periodic Table	p. 383
Life: An Unauthorized Biography	p. 390
The Meaning of Evolution	p. 392
Little Men and Flying Saucers	p. 393
Pale Blue Dot	p. 394
Acknowledgements	p. 397
Index	p. 401
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