Unweaving the Rainbow

Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

Richard Dawkins

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN:
  9780618056736
• eBook ISBN:
  9780547347356
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Humanism in Philosophy
• Index: Biological Sciences

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Science in the Soul. "If any recent writing about science is poetic, it is this" ( The Wall Street Journal).
 
Did Sir Isaac Newton "unweave the rainbow" 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; Newton's unweaving is the key too much of modern astronomy and to the breathtaking poetry of modern cosmology. Mysteries don't 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 isn't), a tribute to science not because it is useful but because it is uplifting.
 
"A 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, Dawkins' prose can be mesmerizing." — San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Brilliance and wit." — The New Yorker

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Numbers in parentheses refer to relevant works numbered in the bibliography.

A

Abraham 217

Adams, Douglas 29

aeroplanes, scepticism about 130–1, (20)

lack of scepticism about 138–9

Afrikaners, genetic disease 104, (11)

Akenside, Mark 38

aliens see life, extra-terrestrial

altruism, individual and gene selfishness 212, (31), (125)

angler fish 174–6, 245–6

animal as model of world 240

anteaters 242

ants 252–3, (68)

Appleyard, Bryan 37, (2)

aquatic mammals 242–5

arms race 232–3, (30), (145)

arts, spending on 5–6

Asatru Folk Assembly 19

Asimov, Isaac 27, 118, 142, (3)

asteroids, and mass extinctions 76, (1)

astrology 115–24, 185–6, (37)

astronomy 115–18, (122), (127), (128)

At Home in the Universe (S. Kauffman) 202–3, 207, (80)

Atkins, Peter, ix, 18, 30, (4)

swimming analogy for refraction, 44–5, (5)

Attneave, Fred 259, (6), (8)

Auden, W. H. 15, 199

aunt, Apthorpe’s or levitating 131

Maud 33

Australopithecus 288, 289, (90)

Aztecs 181, (54)

B

bacteria 9, (99)

and Gaia hypothesis 223–4, (97)

luminous 228

organelles 226–8, spirochaete 228, 230

bad poetry in science 180, 187, (58), (59)

barcodes x–xi, 49, 71, 81–2, 102

Barlow, Horace 257–8, (8)

bats, and sound 70, 72

and model of world 283, (31)

beauty 63–4

Bede, the Venerable 3

Bellamy, David 124

bestseller lists 291, (30)

Beyond Belief (television series) 126–7

Big Bang theory 60, (122), (135)

birds

flight control 274, (100)

keeping visual world constant 280

opening milk bottles 305, (52)

pigeons in Skinner box 162–5

sex chromosomes 236

song 79–81

birthdays, coincidence 152–4

Blackmore, Susan 302, 308, (10)

Blake, William 16–17

Blind Watchmaker, The (R. Dawkins...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• The Anaesthetic of Familiarity
• Drawing Room of Dukes
• Barcodes in the Stars
• Barcodes on the Air
• Barcodes at the Bar
• Hoodwink’d with Faery Fancy
• Unweaving the Uncanny
• Huge Cloudy Symbols of a High Romance
• The Selfish Cooperator
• The Genetic Book of the Dead
• Reweaving the World
• The Balloon of the Mind
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH
• Footnotes