Richard Dawkins
British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who served as Oxford University’s professor ‘for public understanding of science’ until 2008, is one of our most frequently recommended authors on Five Books (see our expert interviews below). Rising to public prominence with his book, The Selfish Gene, he is now as well known for his public advocacy of atheism, also a very popular subject on Five Books.
Books by Richard Dawkins
“The Ancestor’s Tale is so clever. Its structure is inspired by Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: it’s a pilgrimage through human existence. The pilgrims are walking backwards through human evolution. Every so often they meet up with our earlier cousins; so, for example, first they meet other primates starting with chimpanzees, because they are our closest cousin. We separated from them about 6 million years ago. On it goes until eventually they start meeting bacteria. I loved that; I thought it was brilliant.” Read more...
Dorothy H. Crawford, Medical Scientist
The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution
by Christopher Hitchens, Daniel C Dennett, Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris
"One of the things we've all met is the accusation that we are strident or arrogant or vitriolic or shrill. What do we think about that?"—Richard Dawkins
In The Four Horsemen, introduced by the always interesting and entertaining Stephen Fry, we can read the transcript of a 2007 discussion between four prominent atheists: Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, whose books you'll see recommended on Five Books time and time again. The conversation took place in Washington DC and the video of it, which you can see here, went viral.
“Richard Dawkins is very funny. One of the reasons for reading The God Delusion is that it will disabuse you of the idea – which is a common stereotype of atheists – that they are utterly humourless…Dawkins also explains a lot about why he disagrees with people who reconcile science and religion. I agree with him on this. I actually do think they are irreconcilable.” Read more...
Susan Jacoby, Journalist
“If I had to pick just one self-contained book that lays out Dawkins’s philosophy and methodology, and shows his literary skills, I would have to pick this one.” Read more...
Jerry Coyne, Biologist
“I chose this because I think it expresses a really important idea. Richard Dawkins wrote this book not long after The Selfish Gene came out. That was his landmark book, in which he argued for a gene-centric view of evolution. Genes build bodies. They build traits, which are known as phenotypes, in order to be replicated in the next generation. In this book Dawkins took this argument to the next level. He said that when we think of the phenotype, we think about fur or eyesight or the red blood cell’s ability to take in oxygen. But genes influence behaviour, and so behaviour is part of the phenotype. And that behaviour allows animals to change their environment in ways that can then raise their reproductive success.” Read more...
The best books on The Strangeness of Life
Carl Zimmer, Journalist
“I think for lots of people, it was an entry point into thinking about applying evolutionary principles to human behaviour.” Read more...
The best books on Cultural Evolution
Joe Henrich, Biologist
Interviews where books by Richard Dawkins were recommended
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1
The Selfish Gene
by Richard Dawkins -
2
Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution
by Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd -
3
Guns, Germs and Steel
by Jared Diamond -
4
The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire
by Joyce Marcus & Kent Flannery -
5
The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition
by Michael Tomasello
The best books on Cultural Evolution, recommended by Joe Henrich
The best books on Cultural Evolution, recommended by Joe Henrich
What role did culture play in human evolution? Why did human brains get so big so quickly? When and why did inequality first emerge in human society? Harvard professor and author Joe Henrich picks some of the best books for understanding ‘cultural evolution.’
The best books on Quantum Theory, recommended by Vlatko Vedral
The professor of quantum information theory at Oxford tells us about books that successfully popularise quantum physics and the science of complex systems. Look, no equations!
The best books on The Strangeness of Life, recommended by Carl Zimmer
The science writer and award-winning blogger Carl Zimmer discusses the strangeness of life, from viruses to manipulative flatworms
The best books on The Emergence of Understanding, recommended by Peter Atkins
Science is the only way to make sense of the world around us and the scientific method the only way to establish truth, says Peter Atkins, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Author of several chemistry textbooks as well as many popular science books, he recommends books that track the evolution of our understanding about the world around us, starting with an anthology of sacred texts and ending with Shakespeare.
The best books on Evolution, recommended by Jerry Coyne
Evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne tells us why Darwin is still essential reading and sifts the vast amount of more recent writing on evolution for books that are both inspiring to scientists and accessible to general readers. He picks the best books on evolution.
Kenneth Miller recommends the best Arguments against Creationism
Biology professor—and Catholic—Kenneth Miller tells us what we should read to understand the battle being fought between scientists and creationists.
The best books on Being Sceptical, recommended by James Randi
Former magician and internationally renowned debunker of paranormal claims James Randi sharpens his knives against proponents of flim-flam, pseudoscience and the so-called paranormal – and tells us where the creator of Sherlock Holmes went badly wrong. He selects the best books on scepticism for Five Books.
The best books on Being Inspired by Science, recommended by Tom Clarke
The Science Correspondent for the Uk’s Channel 4 discusses the magical allure of science. He chooses five great books on subjects ranging from genetics to natural history and astro-physics
The best books on Atheism, recommended by Susan Jacoby
The main reason for the survival of religion is not a desire to live a better life, but our fear of death, says atheist author and independent scholar Susan Jacoby. Here she recommends five books she considers essential to “understanding the merits of atheism.”
The best books on Viruses, recommended by Dorothy H. Crawford
Many of us have developed a new fascination for viruses and virology during the global COVID-19 crisis. Here, Dorothy Crawford, professor of medical microbiology and the author of Viruses: A Very Short Introduction, selects five of the best books on viruses for the general reader.
