By RICHARD DAWKINS
Added: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:00:00 UTC

See more about the book at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Book-Modern-Science-Writing/dp/0199216800/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205553034&sr=8-5


Synopsis
Selected and introduced by Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is a celebration of the finest writing by scientists for a wider audience - revealing that many of the best scientists have displayed as much imagination and skill with the pen as they have in the laboratory. This is a rich and vibrant collection that captures the poetry and excitement of communicating scientific understanding and scientific effort from 1900 to the present day. Professor Dawkins has included writing from a diverse range of scientists, some of whom need no introduction, and some of whose works have become modern classics, while others may be less familiar - but all convey the passion of great scientists writing about their science.

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Description from OUP.com:

Boasting almost one hundred pieces, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is a breathtaking celebration of the finest writing by scientists--the best such collection in print--packed with scintillating essays on everything from "the discovery of Lucy" to "the terror and vastness of the universe."

Edited by best-selling author and renowned scientist Richard Dawkins, this sterling collection brings together exhilarating pieces by a who's who of scientists and science writers, including Stephen Pinker, Stephen Jay Gould, Martin Gardner, Albert Einstein, Julian Huxley, and many dozens more. Readers will find excerpts from bestsellers such as Douglas R. Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach , Francis Crick's Life Itself , Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey , Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea , and Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us . There are classic essays ranging from J.B.S. Haldane's "On Being the Right Size" and Garrett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" to Alan Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" and Albert Einstein's famed New York Times article on "Relativity." And readers will also discover lesser-known but engaging pieces such as Lewis Thomas's "Seven Wonders of Science," J. Robert Oppenheimer on "War and Physicists," and Freeman Dyson's memoir of studying under Hans Bethe.

A must-read volume for all science buffs, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is a rich and vibrant anthology that captures the poetry and excitement of scientific thought and discovery.

Features:
Peter Atkins
Per Bak
J.D. Bernal
Colin Blakemore
John Tyler Bonner
Sydney Brenner
Jacob Bronowski
Rachel Carson
Subramaniam Chandrasekhar
Francis Crick
Helena Cronin
Antonio R. Damasio
D'Arcy Thompson
Paul Davies
Daniel C. Dennett
David Deutsch
Jared Diamond
Theodosius Dobzhansky
Freeman Dyson
Sir Arthur Eddington
Maitland Edey
Albert Einstein
Loren Eiseley
Richard Feynman
R. A. Fisher
Kenneth Ford
Richard Fortey
George Gamow
Martin Gardner
S. J. Gould
Brian Greene
Richard Gregory
J. B. S. Haldane
W. D. Hamilton
Garrett Hardin
Alister Hardy
G. H. Hardy
Stephen Hawking
Douglas R. Hofstadter
Lancelot Hogben
Fred Hoyle
Nick Humphrey
Julian Huxley
James Jeans
Donald Johanson
Steve Jones
Jonathan Kingdon
David Lack
Richard Leakey
Primo Levi
Roger Lewin
John Maynard Smith
Ernst Mayr
Peter Medawar
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Roger Penrose
Max Perutz
Steve Pinker
Martin Rees
Mark Ridley
Oliver Sacks
Carl Sagan
Erwin Schrodinger
Claude Shannon
G. G. Simpson
George Gaylord Simpson
Lee Smolin
C. P. Snow
Russell Stannard
Ian Stewart
Lewis Thomas
Niko Tinbergen
Robert Trivers
Alan Turing
James D. Watson
Warren Weaver
Steven Weinberg
John Archibald Wheeler
G. C. Williams
Edward O. Wilson
Lewis Wolpert

Review from New Scientist:
"THIS brilliant collection includes pieces by some of the very best-known scientists - Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, to name a few - with engaging introductions by Richard Dawkins. You'll also find contributions from the likes of Rachel Carson, C. P. Snow and Alan Turing. Gems include Richard Gregory's fantastically entertaining Mirrors in the Mind and Primo Levi's intimate biography of a carbon atom. If you could only ever read one science book, this should probably be it."

From issue 2645 of New Scientist magazine, 01 March 2008, page 53

This new book is currently available on Amazon.co.uk, but will be released on May 15th through Amazon.com (US). It is available for pre-order now.

TAGGED: BOOKS, RICHARD DAWKINS, SCIENCE

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