Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love

Amazon.com
Richard Dawkins has an opinion on everything biological, it seems, and in A Devil's Chaplain, everything is biological. Dawkins weighs in on topics as diverse as ape rights, jury trials, religion, and education, all examined through the lens of natural selection and evolution. Although many of these essays have been published elsewhere, this book is something of a greatest-hits compilation, reprinting many of Dawkins' most famous recent compositions. They are well worth re-reading. His 1998 review of Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont's Fashionable Nonsense is as bracing an indictment of academic obscurantism as the book it covered, although the review reveals some of Dawkins' personal biases as well. Several essays are devoted to skillfully debunking religion and mysticism, and these are likely to raise the hackles of even casual believers. Science, and more specifically evolutionary science, underlies each essay, giving readers a glimpse into the last several years' debates about the minutiae of natural selection. In one moving piece, Dawkins reflects on his late rival Stephen Jay Gould's magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, and clarifies what it was the two Darwinist heavyweights actually disagreed about. While the collection showcases Dawkins' brilliance and intellectual sparkle, it brings up as many questions as it answers. As an ever-ardent champion of science, honest discourse, and rational debate, Dawkins will obviously relish the challenge of answering them. --Therese Littleton


From Publishers Weekly
Oxford don Dawkins is familiar to readers with any interest in evolution. While the late Stephen Jay Gould was alive, he and Dawkins were friendly antagonists on the question of whether evolution "progresses" (Gould: No, Dawkins: Yes, depending on your definition of "progress"). Dawkins's The Selfish Gene has been very influential, not least for his introduction of the "meme," sort of a Lamarckian culturally inherited trait. In this, his first collection of essays, Dawkins muses on a wide spectrum of topics: why the jury system isn't the best way to determine innocence or guilt; the vindication of Darwinism (or what he insists is properly called neo-Darwinism) in the past quarter-century; the fallacy in thinking that individual genes, for instance a "gay gene," can be directly linked to personality traits; what he sees as the dangers of giving opponents the benefit of the doubt just because they wrap their arguments in religious belief; several sympathetic pieces on Gould; and a final section on why we all can be said to be "out of Africa." Fans of Dawkins's earlier books should snap up this collection. Readers new to him may find that the short format (many of these essays were originally forewords to books, book reviews or magazine pieces) doesn't quite do his reputation justice. Dawkins will antagonize some readers by his attacks on religion: his tone in these essays may fall just short of intellectual arrogance, but he certainly exhibits an intellectual impatience not always beneficial to his argument. Still, Dawkins's enthusiasm for the diversity of life on this planet should prove contagious. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Scientific American
Dawkins, a renowned evolutionary biologist who now holds an endowed chair as professor of the public understanding of science at the University of Oxford, is a man of firm opinions, which he expresses with clarity and punch. His topics in this collection of essays range widely--academic obscurantism, his "distrust of the jury system" and "where we go wrong in education" among them. He also enlarges on concepts he put forward in his acclaimed book The Selfish Gene and in introducing the meme. That is the name he gave to "mind viruses," or the idea "that self-replicating information leaps infectiously from mind to mind." He sees religions as such viruses. "To describe religions as mind viruses," he writes, "is sometimes interpreted as contemptuous or even hostile. It is both.... As a lover of truth, I am suspicious of strongly held beliefs that are unsupported by evidence."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The first collection of essays from renowned scientist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins is an enthusiastic declaration, a testament to the power of rigorous scientific examination to reveal the wonders of the world. In these essays Dawkins revisits the meme, the unit of cultural information that he named and wrote about in his groundbreaking work The Selfish Gene. Here also are moving tributes to friends and colleagues, including a eulogy for novelist Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; correspondence with the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould; and visits with the famed paleoanthropologists Richard and Maeve Leakey at their African wildlife preserve. The collection ends with a vivid note to Dawkins's ten-year-old daughter, reminding her to remain curious, to ask questions, and to live the examined life.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Dawkins is creative, articulate and, above all, emotional.—Christine Kenneally

Publishers Weekly

Oxford don Dawkins is familiar to readers with any interest in evolution. While the late Stephen Jay Gould was alive, he and Dawkins were friendly antagonists on the question of whether evolution "progresses" (Gould: No, Dawkins: Yes, depending on your definition of "progress"). Dawkins's The Selfish Gene has been very influential, not least for his introduction of the "meme," sort of a Lamarckian culturally inherited trait. In this, his first collection of essays, Dawkins muses on a wide spectrum of topics: why the jury system isn't the best way to determine innocence or guilt; the vindication of Darwinism (or what he insists is properly called neo-Darwinism) in the past quarter-century; the fallacy in thinking that individual genes, for instance a "gay gene," can be directly linked to personality traits; what he sees as the dangers of giving opponents the benefit of the doubt just because they wrap their arguments in religious belief; several sympathetic pieces on Gould; and a final section on why we all can be said to be "out of Africa." Fans of Dawkins's earlier books should snap up this collection. Readers new to him may find that the short format (many of these essays were originally forewords to books, book reviews or magazine pieces) doesn't quite do his reputation justice. Dawkins will antagonize some readers by his attacks on religion: his tone in these essays may fall just short of intellectual arrogance, but he certainly exhibits an intellectual impatience not always beneficial to his argument. Still, Dawkins's enthusiasm for the diversity of life on this planet should prove contagious. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A major Darwinian apologist, Dawkins put forth the idea that genes play a role in natural selection and dismissed so-called intelligent design theories of creation. This collection of disparate writings and essays, first published in scholarly monographs, newspapers such as the Guardian, and the electronic edition of Forbes, reinforces his position. In some selections, he eloquently pits scientific endeavors such as genetic engineering against what he sees as muddled and uninformed critics. In others, he ridicules pseudoscience as exemplified by "crystals" and misuse of scientific terminology in the social sciences. In "Darwinism Triumphant," Dawkins promotes his view that Darwin's theories have a universality-the question of how life evolved on earth-unmatched by thinkers such as Marx or Freud. His criticism of religion ("a dangerous collective delusion") reaches a crescendo of invective in his response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. A highlight is "Son of Moore's Law," which makes a striking analogy between increasingly inexpensive computing power and increasingly inexpensive genetic sequencing. At its best, the book reflects both the author's delight in science and the range and extendibility of his knowledge. It will complement any popular science collection in a public or academic science library and delivers an illuminating portrait of an extremely challenging and multifaceted contemporary scientist. (Many of these essays are also available on the unofficial Dawkins web site, www.world-of-dawkins.com.)-Garrett Eastman, Rowland Inst., Harvard Univ. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews