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Wednesday, November 25, 2009 | Science : TGSOE | print version Print | Comments |

Document Simon P's Review: The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, by Richard Dawkins

by Simon Parker - bookgeeks

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
CLICK HERE to see more about Richard Dawkins' new book The Greatest Show on Earth

http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2009/11/24/simon-ps-review-the-greatest-show-on-earth-the-evidence-for-evolution-by-richard-dawkins/

One of the great shames of modern life is that Richard Dawkins is, for the time being, lost to the noise of the intense argument surrounding him. To be fair, he does more than his bit to generate this noise and to some, persuasion has long since given way to antagonism. To these people, even to some liberal agnostics, he is no longer Britain’s communicator in chief of natural wonder but AN Other zealot occupying an entrenched position.

So much so, it may just be that he is now only preaching to the converted, while the other lot have a finger firmly inserted in each ear singing “la la la”. What a pity, because at his fluent best Richard Dawkins is the greatest communicator of complex scientific ideas in living memory.

If he carked it tomorrow, Dawkins’ reputation would probably not rest on this massive contribution to the public understanding of wonder, but on the anti God stuff. It is true he doesn’t subscribe to the notion religion should be respected merely because lots of people believe in it and his waspishness does not seek accommodation with faith because, according to him, when it comes to how the world came into being and how we came to be what we are, there simply isn’t one. But his real life’s work is dedicated to promoting an evidentially orientated view of the beauty and grandeur of life on Earth.

Some argue that this is “Scientism”, i.e. an alternative belief system. I’ve never thought this fair due to one crucial difference: scientists cheerfully abandon their own theories all the time when faced with contrary evidence. For example no scientist “believes” in gravity, they accept the current theory that explains it, but if that theory should fail it will be discarded and a new one developed. In Dawkins’ world, which greatly resembles the real one, hypotheses are continuously tested, disproved, discarded and replaced in a gradual accretion of knowledge of the world as it really is, instead of how some would wish it to be.
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http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2009/11/24/simon-ps-review-the-greatest-show-on-earth-the-evidence-for-evolution-by-richard-dawkins/

Comments 1 - 13 of 13 |

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1. Comment #434756 by quaredunt on November 25, 2009 at 5:21 am

 avatarI like the part about the waspishness. You get this picture of the The Dawkins Wasp darting in and out around the head of some bewildered creationist who is flailing around trying to swat him away ... like the driver in the ITV series, "Collision", the one who "began" the series of events that caused the massive pile up on the highway. OOPS!

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2. Comment #434791 by keddaw on November 25, 2009 at 10:20 am

 avatarWASP - White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

Probably not the best description of Richard Dawkins.

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3. Comment #434804 by gos on November 25, 2009 at 11:33 am

 avatarDecent review, but poorly edited.

It is true he doesn’t subscribe to the notion religion should be respected merely because lots of people believe in it and his waspishness does not seek accommodation with faith because, according to him, when it comes to how the world came into being and how we came to be what we are, there simply isn’t one.


"One" what?

"waspish aides apart" - aides?

"the Snopes monkey trial" - Snopes?

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4. Comment #434805 by quaredunt on November 25, 2009 at 11:36 am

 avatarRE: Comment #434791 by keddaw on November 25, 2009 at 10:20 am

How about White African Science Pedagogue?
or
Witty Atheist Science Provocateur
or
Wicked Antichrist Secular Pest

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5. Comment #434827 by PERSON on November 25, 2009 at 12:54 pm

 avatarWonderfully Articulate Science Professor?
Wants All Superstition Purged?

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6. Comment #434932 by Friend Giskard on November 25, 2009 at 3:48 pm

 avatar
"One" what?

An accommodation. (?)

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7. Comment #434947 by quaredunt on November 25, 2009 at 4:08 pm

 avatarRE: Comment #434827 by PERSON on November 25, 2009 at 12:54 pm

I think WASPs are finally coming into their own.

What A Scientific Phenomenon!

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8. Comment #435120 by quaredunt on November 25, 2009 at 7:11 pm

 avatarRE: Comment #434804 by gos on November 25, 2009 at 11:33 am

asides (misprint)

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9. Comment #435122 by j.mills on November 25, 2009 at 7:16 pm

 avatar
The Greatest Show On Earth is a significant contribution to a wider understanding of the world as it is – if only people could read it without hearing the noise of the surrounding argument.
This guy is a little exasperating, suggesting Dawkins' "entrenched" position on atheism obstructs his writing on evolution, whilst simultaneously recognising the "controversy" that makes TGSoE necessary. If, as he wishes, "people could read it without hearing the noise of the surrounding argument", there would be no need for them to do so!

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10. Comment #435199 by Pilot22A on November 25, 2009 at 9:25 pm

 avatarI've never met Professor Dawkins, but his books, of which I now have most, make clear the various bits of information about evolution I learned in college, mostly because evolution was not taught in my prep schools.

That said, I must agree with the author of this article, who in no way denigrates the professor's accomplishments, that Professor Dawkins gets down in the mud with the ignorant evolution deniers.

I would prefer, and it's my take on this subject, that he remained above the fray and simply continued to educate those people with his books.

Professor Dawkins writings, by themselves, express most elegantly the derision he has for deniers, and he will never persuade the theist to think and trying is pointless.

These people don't deserve, and haven't earned the privilege, of debating him.

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11. Comment #435226 by j.mills on November 25, 2009 at 10:16 pm

 avatar'Tisn't quite so black and white, Pilot22A. There are surely 'unreachable' people who will not hear, but there are also religious waverers who may benefit from seeing their own doubts articulated. See their accounts in this site's Converts' Corner, for instance:

http://richarddawkins.net/convertsCorner

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12. Comment #435297 by littletrotsky13 on November 26, 2009 at 12:22 am

I know a few waverers around right now, who've never understood evolution and want to learn more, and if you can find a better scientist to explain it than Dawkins then you know more of them than I do.
Because as far as I can see he's a good scientist but more importantly he's an excellent teacher, and that's why his books are so successful: they contain simple explanations to a non-scientist while retaining the vast majority of the details, which is someting that few if any of my proffessors are capable of doing to a great degree (still, if it makes me actually do the research myself...).

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13. Comment #435508 by quaredunt on November 26, 2009 at 5:33 pm

 avatarRE: Comment #435226 by j.mills on November 25, 2009 at 10:16 pm

So right! I have come to think the same way; that Dawkins is actually always aiming at the waverers not "preaching to the choir" or to rabid Creationists. If the waverer has any lingering notion of 'creation' then that's what he's aiming to rid us of. It seems like he's attacking the extreme form of it, but when you think about it even a mild form of it is an "all or nothing" kind of belief ... that of the waverer. As Hitchens often points out, most Americans, for example, who tell pollsters they are Christians, don't believe half the stuff they are supposed to believe. Most are waverers.

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