Unweaving the rainbow: science, delusion, and the appetite for wonder

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 acclaimed scientist Richard Dawkins; Newton's unweaving is the key to 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 best-selling 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 Richard 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. ch. 1. Anaesthetic of familiarity -- ch. 2. Drawing room of dukes -- ch. 3. Barcodes in the stars -- ch. 4. Barcodes on the air -- ch. 5. Barcodes at the bar -- ch. 6. Hoodwink'd with faery fancy -- ch. 7. Unweaving the uncanny -- ch. 8. Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance -- ch. 9. Selfish cooperator -- ch. 10. Genetic book of the dead -- ch. 11. Reweaving the world -- ch. 12. Balloon of the mind.