Richard Dawkins

[Supernova141]

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Richard_Dawkins_2.jpg

I've been reading up on this guy for some time now, and I think he's a damn genius and an inspiration. He has quite a number of books, and unfortunately I can't read ALL of them. So, any recommendations of where to start?

[VK-Skelton]

I've been meaning to read 'Unweaving the Rainbow' for a while (my old chemistry teacher recommended it to me). Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unweaving_the_Rainbow) gives a pretty good description of it;
Dawkins addresses the misperception that science and art are at odds. Driven by the responses to his books The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker wherein readers resented his naturalistic world view, seeing it as depriving life of meaning, Dawkins felt the need to explain that, as a scientist, he saw the world as full of wonders and a source of pleasure. This pleasure was not in spite of, but rather because he does not assume as cause the inexplicable actions of a deity but rather the understandable laws of nature.

His starting point is John Keats' well-known accusation that Isaac Newton destroyed the beauty of the rainbow by explaining it. The agenda of the book is to show the reader that science does not destroy, but rather discovers poetry in the patterns of nature.

[Frank Castle]

He has DVDs if you're too lazy to read. However, if you're really interested in his books, 'The God Delusion' is one of the best ones out there in my humble opinion.

[VK-Skelton]

I don't know if The God Delusion is his best book, but it is the most controversial, what with the religious (or not) themes it has.

[Supernova141]

Well Atheism WAS the main reason I began looking into this guy, so I guess it's only fitting that I begin there. I knew I loved the guy when he said religion qualifies as a delusion.