Customer Reviews
Pelucid writings from brilliant minds - By: Charles Gidley Wheeler, 01 Jul 2008 
As one who is convinced that Spinoza's monism provides the philosophical basis for alll the sciences, reading The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing & seeing Spinoza's view (that God & Nature are one & the same thing, under the dual aspects of thought & matter) confirmed over & over again was enthrallling.
While reading it I repeatedly inserted markers into articles that I wished to re-read. In fact, I shalll probably read the whole book again & refer to it repeatedly. What particularly fascinated me was the revelation that a quantum of energy appears to us under two aspects: as a wave or as a particle, but never both at the same time. This discovery accords perfectly with Spinoza's dual aspect theory.
My selection of five-star articles is as follows: 'Life Itself', by Francis Crick;`One Self: a Meditation on the Unity of Consciousness' by Nicholas Humphrey; `The Language Instinct', by Steven Pinker; `Avoid Boring People' by James Watson; `Consciousness Explained' by Daniel Dennett; `The Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's new solitaire game "Life"' by Martin Gardner; `Computing Machinery & Intelligence' by Alan Turing; `The Goldilocks Enigma' by Paul Davies; `The Elegant Universe' by Bryan Green, & `Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid' by Douglas Hofstadter.
Having been brought up in an evangelical environment, & having had a taste of Roman Catholicism as well, I can only say that there is no contest between the brilliance, lucidity, humility & open-mindedness of the scientists quoted in this anthology & the tendentious, hubristic, convoluted, ill-founded speculations of theologians - few of whom will have the courage to read this book.
The introductions by Richard Dawkins are excellent. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
Perfect bedside reading - By: Big Jim, 27 Jun 2008 This mighty tome makes excellent bedside reading. You are unlikely to have the musclepower to take this commuting or to the beach (need to wait for the paperback edition for that) but propped up in bed with a cup of cocoa/glass of whisky (delete as appropriate) by your side, this is an excellent book for dipping into & as a previous reviewer says, will encourage you to seek out the books the excerpts come from. In this regard may I be so bold as to recommend any of the books by Richard Feynman. Dawkins himself supplies witty & erudite introductions to each essay so alll in alll there is absolutely nothing to criticise in this book - unless you hate science that is & even then this book might convince you otherwise.
A marvellous anthology of modern science writing. - By: Jazzrook, 07 Jun 2008 Richard Dawkins has compiled a fascinating & intellectuallly stimulating anthology of excellent writing from professional scientists over the past century. There are 79 scientists included(Dawkins modestly excludes himself) with concise but illuminating introductory comments from Dawkins for each of the 83 extracts or short pieces which cover a wide range of topics from genetics & the mind to evolution & quantum physics.
The various selections are grouped into four themes: 'What Scientists Study', Who Scientists Are', 'What Scientists Think' & What Scientists Delight In'.
Anyone who reads this marvellous anthology should gain an insight into how the scientific method can help us understand & explain 'life the universe & everything'.
Why so few women? - By: Dr. Jacoby, 16 Apr 2008 
This accessible & informative anthology provides a selection of popular science writings, predominantly from the second half of the 20th century. It is a joy to read. The book provides an insight in modern scientific thinking & methodology & shows some of the astonishing ways in which science strives to dispell ignorance. However, as an anthology, it is also remarkably skewed. Firstly, it is astonishing how few female authors are included; unfortunately, the book fails to explain why. Second, "science" is used with a restrictive interpretation, since the book focuses strongly on the natural sciences, some mathematics, the cognitive sciences & some reflections on science in general. Other fields, especiallly most of the social sciences & humanities, are absent.
A Review from the USA - By: J. Blilie, 03 Apr 2008 This is a wonderful book. The level of the writing & the subject matter chosen by Dr. Dawkins are truly great. This book has already "forced" me to purchase a number of other books there are excerpted in the text ...
I have read alll of his other books & enjoyed them very much, so when I saw that Dr. Dawkins had a new book only available in the UK, I ordered it from Amazon UK for a scary shipping charge. I couldn't wait for the U.S. edition. It was well worth it! I've read many collections of non-fiction writing. This one is outstanding. Another coup for Dr. Dawkins in the effort to help the public understand science.
Each excerpt from longer pieces (mostly books) in this book is preceded by an interesting essay-let where Dr. Dawkins gives historical, literary, scientific, & sometimes personal setting for the piece. These, as always from Dr. Dawkins, are superbly well written.
Highly recommended, enjoy.
