About the book
The British biologist Richard Dawkins wrote The Magic of Reality with illustrations by Dave McKean, setting the myths people invented to explain nature beside what science has since found. Most chapters open by retelling creation stories from traditions such as the Aztec, Maori, Babylonian and Nordic, then give the scientific account. Topics range from evolution and how new species arise to atoms, rainbows, gravitation, the life cycle of stars, plate tectonics and whether life exists elsewhere. Dawkins explains the title through what he calls poetic magic: the wonder of a real world that people can understand. He has said the book is meant for readers aged about 12 and up.
Bill Gates said Dawkins has a gift for making science fun and said it is as easy for younger readers to follow as the TV series Cosmos.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Bill Gates (Founder/Microsoft)
Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford, has a gift for making science enjoyable. This book is as accessible as the TV series Cosmos is for younger audiences—and as relevant for older audiences. It’s an engaging, well-illustrated science textbook offering compelling answers to big questions, like “how did the universe form?” and “what causes earthquakes?” It’s also a plea for readers of all ages to approach mysteries with rigor and curiosity. Dawkins’s antagonistic (and, to me, overzealous) view of religion has earned him a lot of angry critics, but I consider him to be one of the great scientific writer/explainers of all time.
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