Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science
Written by Richard Dawkins
Narrated by Richard Dawkins
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
In this hugely entertaining sequel to the New York Times bestselling memoir An Appetite for Wonder, Richard Dawkins delves deeply into his intellectual life spent kick-starting new conversations about science, culture, and religion and writing yet another of the most audacious and widely read books of the twentieth century—The God Delusion.
Called “one of the best nonfiction writers alive today” (Stephen Pinker) and a “prize-fighter” (Nature), Richard Dawkins cheerfully, mischievously, looks back on a lifetime of tireless intellectual adventure and engagement. Exploring the halls of intellectual inquiry and stardom he encountered after the publication of his seminal work, The Selfish Gene; affectionately lampooning the world of academia, publishing, and television; and studding the pages with funny stories about the great men and women he’s known, Dawkins offers a candid look at the events and ideas that encouraged him to shift his attention to the intersection of culture, religion, and science. He also invites the reader to look more closely at the brilliant succession of ten influential books that grew naturally out of his busy life, highlighting the ideas that connect them and excavating their origins.
On the publication of his tenth book, the smash hit, The God Delusion, a “resounding trumpet blast for truth” (Matt Ridley), Richard Dawkins was catapulted from mere intellectual stardom into a circle of celebrity thinkers dubbed, “The New Atheists”—including Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.
Throughout A Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins shares with us his infectious sense of wonder at the natural world, his enjoyment of the absurdities of human interaction, and his bracing awareness of life’s brevity: all of which have made a deep imprint on our culture.
Richard Dawkins
RICHARD DAWKINS is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. He is the author of 15 books includingUnweaving the Rainbow, A Devil’s Chaplain, and The God Delusion.Dawkins lives in Oxford.,
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Reviews for Brief Candle in the Dark
46 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love everything by Dawkins. This is is another great read.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An interesting author, person and storyteller. I find him to be remarkable in that sense that he truly embodies the good elitism. To have the higher expectations and aspirations but not to be “better than others”. Also got this feeling about making into ideas the sense about the discussion of “religion vs science”. First, is not truly an issue. Religion has no change of discussing issues like the beginning of the universe or life or the explanation about how nature works! No matter what you do, how allegoric you might want to be, all religions ideas about these subjects have thousand years and more. Would you ask a tribal man for the plans to create an iPhone? Sure he knows much more things, and even much more important things, but that is not the question. If I need the plans for the iPhone, I will not ask them to a tribal man, or to a farmer, or to a fishermen, or to a politician or a doctor. Then why should you accept explanations from people that lived thousands of years ago? Just on face value and because someone tells you to do it? Do you really think that stories brand the “word of god” from people that lived a thousand years ago and more, have a chance to explain these subjects better than people from the 20th or 21st century! Doesn’t make sense! Religion must be taken on face value. You believe because you want to believe. Its not about evidence, it’s not about facts, you believe and that’s that. And that has value. And that is necessary, for a lot of us, need to Prayer to feel a part of something greater, or chase away darkness and pain.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5More claptrap from a most tedious want to be intellectual. Don't waste your time as I did - you will be yawning pretty much from the start.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very important for increasing my knowledge and understanding. Simply great!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I've not read this book in digital form,but had the pleasure of wetting the fingers and scouring through it's pages. Dawkins is brilliant, and this book is show of it. A great look into the man that is Dawkins. 10/10
1 person found this helpful