Dawkins on Dawkins (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, September 09, 2015, 17:28 (3362 days ago)

The second book in his autobiography is reviewed critically:-http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v525/n7568/full/525184a.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20150910&spMailingID=49508451&spUserID=MjA1NjE2NDU5MwS2&spJobID=761206452&spReportId=NzYxMjA2NDUyS0-"Now, Brief Candle in the Dark revisits Dawkins's career since The Selfish Gene. Its predecessor, An Appetite for Wonder (Bantam, 2013), was a memoir of a young upper-class Englishman becoming a scientist, replete with African adventures, British public schools and Oxonian traditions. Some reviewers wondered whether the sequel would have more heft and focus, reflection and introspection. At 450 pages, it is certainly heftier.-***-"For a time, Dawkins was a rebellious scientific rock star. Now, his critique of religion seems cranky, and his immovably genocentric universe is parochial. Brief Candle is about as edgy as Sir Mick and the Rolling Stones cranking out the 3,578th rendition of 'Brown Sugar' — a treat for fans, but reinscribing boundaries rather than crossing them."-Comment: the science is passing him by.