If you’re looking for a book that makes science interesting not only for adults but also for children above 12 then you should definitely read Richard Dawkins’s The Magic of Reality (2011).
Richard Dawkins is a well-known English ethologist and evolutionary biologist who’s book the Selfish Gene (1976) famed the gene-centered view of evolution (natural selection and evolution considered from the perspective of genes).
As an adult reading the book, it felt like being back in school and college foundation science classes, refreshing my memory regarding many theories that I haven’t visited for more than 20 years, with names such as Bohr and Mendel mentioned in different chapters.
The book is divided into 12 chapters that begin with a question such as: “what is a rainbow?” or “why are there so many different kinds of animals?”. To put things into perspective, Dawkins starts with different myths and religious believes that explains each phenomenon before moving into scientific theories.
And this is where the book gets its title as Dawkins explains: “The magic of reality is neither supernatural nor a trick, but – quite simply – wonderful. Wonderful, and real. Wonderful because real”. The hardcover version of the book has amazing illustrations by Dave McKean, an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer, that could be a bonus to visual learners (I read the paperback yet had a peak through the hardcover on Amazon. Really captivating!).
What makes this book a memorable read is the simplicity of the language used although it’s pure science. Dawkins simplifies science in a way that you wish you had such a great teacher in school to guarantee your passing of high school exam with flying colors (ask our generation about the nightmares we faced learning physics and chemistry on the hands of Arab teachers.
Many of us ended up having private tuition at home to ensure passing the exams). Other than that, I enjoyed reading different myths from around the world and marvel as many of them were almost similar yet continents apart.
My favourite chapters were the one marked with philosophical streaks such as the last two that were called: “why do bad things happen?” and “what is a miracle?” respectively. However, there are parts of the book that could be insensitive to monotheistic believes as Dawkins compares stories from the Bible and Torah (especially creation ones) to science discoveries based on empirical evidence.
On top of the list is Darwinism that is still prohibited in many schools around the world. There are chapters in the book explaining it and giving detailed examples to clarify any doubts the reader might have.
Besides this book, Dawkins had published many others and presented several documentaries. He was bestowed with honorary doctorates from various universities in the UK and other outstanding awards from around the world, including Sri Lanka’s ichthyology that called a fish after him: Dawkinisa.
He's considered a public intellectual who had shared his ideas through media, especially regarding his books and atheism. However, during this book tour in America in 2011, Dawkins’ visit to the Wyndgate Country Club in Rochester Hills, Michigan was cancelled after his interview in the O’Reily Factor in which according to Dawkins the organizers had accepted O’Reily’s “twisted interpretation of the book without having read it personally”.
This caused a controversy as many considered it a violation to Civil Rights Act that prohibit discrimination against religious point of view, which led to a court case where the book tour sponsors won over the club in 2013. In general, the book is a fascinating read that should be read with an open mind.
(The writer is a certified skills trainer and author)
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