Book details of 'Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder'

Title	Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder
Author(s)	Richard Dawkins
ISBN	0395883822
Language	English
Published	December 1998
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin Co

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder':

Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
Why do poets and artists so often disparage science in their work? For that matter, why does so much scientific literature compare poorly with, say, the phone book? After struggling with questions like these for years, biologist Richard Dawkins has taken a wide-ranging view of the subjects of meaning and beauty in Unweaving the Rainbow, a deeply humanistic examination of science, mysticism, and human nature. Notably strong-willed in a profession of bet-hedgers and wait-and-seers, Dawkins carries the reader along on a romp through the natural and cultural worlds, determined that "science, at its best, should leave room for poetry." Inspired by the frequently asked question, "Why do you bother getting up in the morning?" following publication of his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins set out determined to show that understanding nature's mechanics need not sap one's zest for life. Alternately enlightening and maddening, Unweaving the Rainbow will appeal to all thoughtful readers, whether wild-eyed technophiles or grumpy, cabin-dwelling Luddites. Excoriations of newspaper astrology columns follow quotes from Blake and Shakespeare, which are sandwiched between sparkling, easy-to-follow discussions of probability, behavior, and evolution. In Dawkins's world (and, he hopes, in ours), science is poetry; he ends his journey by referring to his title's author and subject, maintaining that "A Keats and a Newton, listening to each other, might hear the galaxies sing."
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
I believe that anyone of the scientific persuasion will enjoy reading this book. It is reasonable, readable, erudite, thought-provoking, and fun. What the book is about, however, is much harder to determine. The title comes from a line in a work of Keats, where the poet tries to make the point that Newton, by determining that white light is actually made up of the full spectrum, did a disservice to the arts by explaining one of the mysteries of life. Dawkins counters with the argument that science, by digging beneath the surface appearance of the world, uncovers a wealth of new wonders for poets and artists to explore. Initially it seems that this is to be the thesis of the work, and it does pop up time and again, with the author dragging bits of brightly coloured scientific discovery out of the academic trunk, and generally explaining them quite well. This main thread, though, tends to get lost among some rather tenuously related others. There is, for example, a digression through the paranormal and other types of pseudoscience. This section is very interesting, and definitely educational, but it is rather difficult to make the connection between the topics. There is also the problem that Dawkins appears to be preaching to the choir. I have noted that nerds will like the book: the arts crowd may not find it as much fun. This is not because the author is either speaking down to a non-scientific audience, nor above them. The science is chosen from a variety of fields, and from the more advanced reaches of those subjects in many cases. The explanations are very good, carefully presenting a tutorial without resorting to oversimplification. However, Dawkins tends to take artists (and particularly poets) to task for their failure to appreciate science, rather than stressing those who have succeeded in expressing the beauty of more sophisticated examinations of the universe. The material is drawn from many areas of science, but is not evenly distributed. Dawkins seems to have made a serious attempt to avoid dealing with his own field through the early chapters, in an effort to broaden the coverage, but then clumps all of the evolutionary biology together in the last half of the book. (One fairly large section seems to be dedicated to answering criticism of his earlier "The Selfish Gene.") Further distribution of this topic among the others would have enhanced the overall appeal of the work. The material is enjoyable and entertaining. The points, if not always cohesive, are generally well taken. The book is worthwhile, although probably not terribly important. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999
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Book description:

Did Newton "unweave the rainbow" by reducing it to its prismatic colors, as Keats contended? Did he, in other words, diminish beauty? Far from it, says 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 mystery. (The Keats who spoke of "unweaving the rainbow" was a very young man, Dawkins reminds us.) With the wit, insight, and spellbinding prose that have made his books worldwide bestsellers, Dawkins addresses the most important and compelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics to language and virtual reality, and combines them in a landmark statement of the human appetite for wonder. This is the book that Richard Dawkins was meant to write: a brilliant assessment of what science is (and what it isn't), a tribute to science "not because it is useful (though it is), but but because it is uplifting, in the same way as the best poetry is uplifting."