The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True

When I was a kid, I had a four volume set of science books. The name and publisher is long since lost to my memory, but the impact these books had on my young mind resonates even today. The volumes were richly illustrated, written in a lively and engaging manner, and addressed all the questions that my young mind could think of. Space travel, plate tectonics, microscopic wonders, time travel, etc. I recall hours and hours spent with this set of books; reading methodically or browsing aimlessly. So great was their impact on me that even into adulthood, when visiting my parents' house, I would pull these books off a dusty shelf in their basement and sit and reread portions out of sheer nostalgia and admiration. My recollections of this very special set of science books from my own childhood was powerfully evoked as I sat down with Richard Dawkins' new book The Magic of Reality. Within the first few pages, I was transported back to my 10 year old self by the style of writing and straightforward presentation of top notch science. Bill Bryson, in his A Short History of Nearly Everything, recalls his own experiences of childhood with science books, especially those used in elementary school classrooms. He bemoans the fact that so many times, those books presented fascinating content, but didn't answer the main question that he had; "how do they know that?" In Magic, Dawkins does answer that question, and does it in a way that I think will resonate with a whole new generation of young readers. The 12 chapters of Magic are structured around questions. Each chapter is titled by the topic question, "Who was the first person?" "Why are there so many different kinds of animals?" "What is a rainbow?" and so on. Each chapter begins with a survey of legend and mythology to explore how these questions were answered before the advent of science and the age of reason. The text is lavishly illustrated by Dave McKean with beautiful, colorful artwork. Every page has art, making for a compelling and interesting presentation. Dawkins' abilities as a communicator and explainer are well known. He is arguably the most significant popularizer of science since Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould. Predictably, given that his own expertise is in evolutionary biology, he has made his most significant impact in presenting evolution to a general readership. His first book, The Selfish Gene, is recognized as a seminal work and has sold over 1 million copies since its publication in 1976. He has been one of the most outspoken scientific voices combatting creationism in all its forms, and many of his publications in the 1980's and 90's were wonderful expositions of natural selection (The Blind Watchmaker and Climbing Mount Improbable). His most recent book prior to Magic was The Greatest Show on Earth, his major exposition of the evidence in favor of Darwin's theory. So it's no surprise that I found the most engaging material in Magic are the chapters that deal directly with evolution. Dawkins takes it as a given that his readers - kids - are capable of understanding where we really come from. Evolution may be a complex academic discipline, but its basic tenants can be understood by anyone bothering to look at the issue seriously. With this book, Dawkins presents yet another opportunity for people to do so, this time in a vehicle aimed at young readers. Many of the arguments he presents can be found in other forms in some of his earlier writings. My favorite, by far, is found in chapter 2, "Who was the first person?" In this chapter, he uses an analogy that he's used before to illustrate the principle of gradual change and the fuzzy boundaries between species. Imagine, he says, if you take a picture of a person each and every day of their life. The picture taken on Tuesday, October 4th will look much like the picture taken Monday, October 3. In fact, over a period of days or weeks, not much change will take place. However, compare the October 4th picture with the picture of the same date of the year before, and you'll see some noticeable change. Compare pictures taken a decade apart, and you'll see even more dramatic differences. So then, he continues, when did the infant become the toddler? When did the child become the adolescent, or the boy the man? Such distinctions are impossible to identify on the scale of the minute changes that take place day to day. Dawkins then enlarges the model and asks us to image a picture taken once a generation; a man compared to his father, his grandfather, great grandfather, and so on, back in time over tens, hundreds and thousands of generations. How far back to we have to go before our ancestors are so very different from us? It's a fascinating thought experiment, and one that he and McKean illustrate beautifully by adding a horizontal stack of photographs to the bottom of each page of the chapter, thousands of photos tightly stacked and trailing across the page and onto the next. At intervals, the illustrations show a random picture plucked out so we can see it. Here a distinctly primitive man (the 50,000th-great-grandfather), two pages later a distinctly simian creature (your 250,000th-great-grandfather) and so on. His point, of course, is that imperceptible changes, when stacked up over hundreds of thousands of generations, add up to real and substantial changes, and the eventual emergence of new species. The book is filled with many such apt presentations and illustrations, but some of the content felt a bit forced. It appeared almost as though Dawkins had certain topics that he wanted to (or felt he needed to) cover, but rather than having an entire chapter devoted to then, he shoehorned them in somewhere else. One example of this occurs on pages 106-107, a two-page spread that illustrates and explains the phenomenon of free-fall, so-called weightlessness. This two-page spread is anchored by a McKean reproduction of Isaac Newton's classic illustration of the cannon atop a mountain sitting atop a miniature earth. Dotted lines illustrate how the cannon ball falls to the ground after it's fired from the barrel. The further the ball is hurled though, the further around the curved surface of the earth it travels, because the curvature causes the surface to drop away from the ball, even as the ball is dropping toward the ground. Finally, the ball is fired with enough velocity that it continues all they way around, as the ground drops away at the same rate that the ball falls. Ignoring resistance from the atmosphere, the ball would "fall" around the Earth forever. It's a typically clear and compelling explanation, and illustrated beautifully, and you would not be surprised to find it in a chapter entitled "Why are people and things weightless in spaceships?" or something similar. This explanation, however, is in the chapter entitled "Why do we have winter and summer?" Now clearly, the concept of an orbit is important here, because a necessary part of the explanation of the seasons involves understanding the behavior of the Earth as it orbits the sun. However, it seemed a bit pedantic and overkill to have it embedded in the main narrative of the chapter on seasons instead of as a sidebar or inset. Or indeed, as a separate chapter altogether, dedicated to the interesting topic of weightlessness. This observation leads me to another on the book itself. I was surprised when it arrived in the mail and found it was such a big book. Two hundred seventy pages (including index) and in a large format with fairly dense text. For some reason, ever since I heard about the book in pre-publication press releases, I was expecting a children's book. I had envisioned a large layout, 40-50 page book aimed at predominantly early elementary aged kids. This book is clearly aimed at younger readers, but much more middle school to younger high school students. The material is simplified, but by no means simple. Though Dawkins has made his reputation as a scientist and science popularizer, over the last five years he has also become well known as one of the most outspoken atheists and critics of religion in the world. His best selling book is not about biology at all, but atheism. His 2006 publication of The God Delusion sold over 2 million copies and raised the issue of atheism to the level of a major public conversation. What role, if any, does Dawkins' outspoken criticism of religion play in this new book? As one might predict, he does not shy away from the question, but neither does he confront it head on. As noted earlier, each chapter commences its exploration of the question at hand by surveying the myths and legends that were used to explain the unknown prior to the rise of science. Even before he brings the introductory chapter to a close, he fires a shot at a theistic sacred cow with this salvo, concluding a section under the heading the "slow magic of evolution:" The magical changing of a frog into a prince would be not gradual but sudden, and this is what rules such things out of the world of reality. Evolution is a real explanation, which really works, and has real evidence to demonstrate the truth of it; anything that suggests that complicated life forms appeared suddenly, in one go (rather than evolving gradually step by step), is just a lazy story - no better than the fictional magic of a fairy godmother's wand. This is characteristic of Dawkins' approach to the question of religion or theism in this book. He does not attack particular beliefs or creeds; he pointedly identifies sloppy thinking and anti-science superstitions. He treats Christianity as just another mythological tradition; one of many. Again, in chapter 7 (What is a rainbow), he says of the story of Noah's flood: In fact, it is obvious that the Jewish story of Noah is nothing more than a retelling of the older legend of Utnapishtim. It was a folk tale that got passed around, and it traveled down the centuries. This straightforward dismissal of the obvious point (at least obvious to skeptics of religion) that a story is just a story, and much different from a serious history or legitimate scientific explanation. Whether those stories are part of a cherished religious tradition or not makes no difference in this volume. This is not a book about bashing religious thinking in general, nor any specific religious tradition. Perhaps his most pointed directive aimed at religion comes in the final two chapters, "Why do bad things happen?" and "What is a miracle?" But even here, it's far from a confrontational critique. In these chapters, Dawkins returns to his strength: a simple and elegant discussion of the natural world and the nature of randomness. It's human nature to look for patterns or meaning. Children, when asked why trees have such rough bark, may reply that it's so animals can scratch themselves by rubbing against them. Likewise, we as a species are primed to see meaning and patterns, especially in the absence of other obvious reasons. Here, he both simplifies and expands upon the argument he and others have used in the past. Religion is simply a subset of thinking in which the formerly unexplainable was rationalized. Most of the reasons that gave rise to religious and other mythological forms of thinking have been slowly whittled away by the steady progress of science and reason. Dawkins' explanation of the nature of miracles and miraculous thinking simply assumes that there is no reason to believe that this trend will not continue. To my humanist and atheistic sensibilities, his approach is both obvious and gratifyingly simple. Magic is a good book, and a great addition to the library of any student interested in science or the natural world. It will make a great gift this holiday season. It is also a natural step on the, er, evolution of Richard Dawkins' recent literary contributions. His first eight books focused mostly within his field of evolutionary biology, either directly, via historical survey and narrative, or by virtue of his defenses against creationism. He then departed significantly from this course with the 2006 publication of The God Delusion. Next came The Greatest Show on Earth, an inspired collection and presentation of the evidences for evolution. Dawkins has clearly articulated a two-pronged approach to his craft as a promulgator of science education: affirmative presentation and explanation of the science, and a proactive attack on what he sees as the chief enemy of science: the proliferation of supernaturalism (chiefly religion). His forays into documentary filmmaking mirror this dual approach. The appearance of The Magic of Reality this year makes perfect sense to me because it beautifully embodies both messages. Having spoken loud and long in this vein, a book aimed at younger audiences makes perfect sense Let me end this review with a prediction. Dawkins is not done. I believe that within two years we will see a major television documentary release on the scale of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Dawkins has shown that he can command major audiences in his public speaking tours. He has appeared on Colbert, and his previous television documentaries have shown that his personal charm and commanding presence translate well into the visual medium. Cosmos has never been equaled in its popularity, reach or enduring appeal. Richard Dawkins will make that leap and produce a series for public television (and a US release) that will rival and perhaps even surpass Sagan's own "magic."

The Magic of Reality is a wonderful book. Dawkin's masterful prose is once again well deployed to popularize science. Unlike Dawkin's other books (except the God Delusion), this book is written for a wider and a younger audience. Dawkin's project is to convince readers that scientific explanations for the world have an inherent beauty and are far more fulfilling the other explanations. The books is structured in a formulaic manner in as much that every chapter begins with a questions which is followed by a non-scientific answer which is meant to be in sharp contrast with the rest of the chapter where Dawkins proceeds to answer the question scientifically. In effect Dawkins wants to convince the reader that "the only good reason to believe that something exists is if there is real evidence that it does" (15). He suggests that this can be done by "creating models of what might be real and then testing those models to see whether they successfully predict things" (16). Dawkins proceeds to introduce different definitions of magic and claims that science imbues the world with poetic magic. Ultimately, Dawkins wants to show readers that "the real world, as understood scientifically, has magic of its own - the kind I call poetic magic: an inspiring beauty which is all the more magical because it is real and because we can understand how it works" (31). Never mind, I must add, that this beauty is a strange one for it is not inherent but it is attributed to facts, ideas, and theories once these are deemed to have explanatory power. I will briefly describe the contents of the book (spoiler alert!). Chapter 1 seems to answer who was the first person (no one; these distinctions are difficult to discern, parental generations and offspring always seem alike but we can notice difference when we compare points that are separated by many generations). Chapter 3 is about "why are there so many different kinds of animals?" (the answer is natural selection) & describes animals as "what am I looking at is an elaborate machine for passing on the genes that made it. I'm looking at a survival machine for genes. Next time you look in the mirror just think: that is what you are too" (75). Chapter 4 is "what are things made of" Here Dawkins discusses how Greece, China and India all came to belief that matter was composed of air, water, fire and earth. Until one ancient Greek Democritus thought they were composed of indivisible parts (atoms). Here Dawkins defines elements, compounds, isotopes, protons, etc. Chapter 5 is about why we have night and day, winter and summer. Seasons, Dawkins writes, are explainable by yearly orbiting of the Earth around the sun (at about 93 million distance), and the daily changes are explainable by the planets spinning round and round (103). When a part of the planet faces the sun they have day. The Earth revolves around the sun in a circle like ellipse but it is also on tilted axis of 23.5 degrees; thus the part of the Earth tilted towards the sun experiences summer. Chapter 6 is about what the sun is (a star where elements a produced). Chapter 7 is about "what is a rainbow", water bends light and as water droplets fall the ones they are replaced by bends light in a similar fashion thus to an observer a rainbow appears (he far end of the droplets behave as mirrors). Each colour bends differently and each droplets bends all light that pass through it; however, we only see one colour per raindrop. Chapter 8 is about "when and how did everything begin" (big bang). Chapter 9 addresses the question of whether "we are alone"; Dawkins speculates that life exists on "probably on millions of planets" (186). He also makes argument about traits we should expect to see (i.e. eyes). Chapter 10 is about Earthquakes. Later, Dawkins moves on to less scientific questions like Why do bad things happen (Chapter 11). This is mostly because being good or bad does not affect what happens to you. Chapter 12 is about miracles, here Dawkins talks about coincidences that may appear significant but actually must, by definition, occur quite commonly (i.e. thinking of someone and that person rings you up while ignoring all the times this has not happened). Phenomena that remains unexplained is not necessarily magic but rather it is a puzzle waiting to be solved. This is a book aimed at children or at readers with basic questions about basic things (although many well educated folk may have forgotten the reasons why some of these things occur (like rainbows)). The book is well written and the inclusion of myths at the beginning of most chapters provides a contrast with the scientific explanations (and the myths are also interesting in of off themselves). Ultimately, Dawkins wants to convince readers that "I hope you agree that the truth has a magic of its own. The truth is more magical - in the best and most exciting sense of the word - than any myth of made up mystery or miracle. Science, has its own magic: the magic of reality" (257). Dawkins does marshall a convincing set of explanations that show that science can be marvelous, exciting and poetic. However, in his zeal to maximize the poetry of reality, the book may be undervaluing other important aspects of our lives. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful read.

Richard Dawkins tienen muchos libros sobre divulgación científica, pero este libro es una obra de arte. Las ilustraciones son espectaculares, la impresión es muy buena y tiene cuidados todos los detalles. Es de tapa dura lo que se agradece. El libro es un repaso sobre preguntas básicas de ciencia, que el autor va explicando con un lenguaje muy sencillo a través de ejemplo y las ilustraciones. Altamente recomendable.

De linguagem muito simples com analogias ótimas! Ele vai respondendo cientificamente perguntas importantes e interessantes do mundo sempre com a visão científica. Recomendo.

Definitely buy, if not for your children, then for yourself. Don't pay attention to one-star reviews, they will reflect the reviewers' religious beliefs and not the worthiness of The Magic of Reality. What will you tell your geeky children the next time they pester you about where life came from, how the universe started and why bad things happen to us? For thousands of years the only answers we had came from myths and other made up stories, but now we have a much much better way of explaining things with science. Dawkins' book is a stab at putting together the scientific answers to these and a few more questions, like what are rainbows and stars, how come there are so many different forms of life and so on. It doesn't cover every single question a fairly intelligent tweenager may ask, but it has a pretty good go at it. You could say that most of it is covered anyway in school course books, but The Magic of Reality has a new angle or two. First of all, it Dawkins precedes most scientific explanations with the corresponding myths. For example the chapter on the real causes of earthquakes comes introduced by the Japanese myth of a giant catfish. The not so hidden agenda is to show that myths, including those from the Bible, don't really explain anything and are just so stories. Don't be fooled by the apparent sympathy towards such folktales. Dawkins also shows quite clearly that some of them are not just harmless treasures of our more ignorant past but can still actively poison our minds. Second, it comes with an added value of fantastic illustrations that are easily the book's strongest selling point. In the age of kindle, this is a book to have a hardcover copy of on your shelf. Although it may be useful as either an introduction to science for children or a revision for older readers like me, it doesn't cover all the fields and the view of science and scientific progress is somehow simplified (but not dumbed down). For a history of science with all its naughty and nasty bits grab a copy of A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It is also my personal opinion that it doesn't quite capture the mind-boggling awesomeness of reality the way Robin Ince did in his TED talk, but sadly Ince hasn't written it down yet.

This book really is an introduction to the world of science, and how science answers questions that were previously answered using magical or supernatural explanations. Like a US reviewer said, when I was younger, I believed in supernatural explanations and phenomena. As a curious lad, I was eager to soak up any information that I could, and some of those explanations sounded pretty plausible. The only problem (and it was a big one) was that I didn't have a gauge for how reliable one explanation was compared to another. Metaphorically, neither did humanity until science came around. In both cases (mine and humanity's), science provided the tool for which to measure how reliable an explanation was in relation to another. How to compare two otherwise equal explanations based on explanatory and predictive power based on reliable data. This book pits common stories of creation and causation on a whole rage of topics, from the origins of species, to what we are made of, to the cycles of seasons and day/night. Most of the chapters start off with a "magical" explanation that is based on religion. All religions are represented here, including ancient and/or tribal religions. The book then moves on to explaining the phenomenon in question using simple, logical science. I've rated this book five stars, but for two important audiences, it won't be. First, for experienced scientists or science readers, this book will be pretty low-level. It's aimed at people who aren't familiar with science and its explanations (e.g., Dawkins cites ~20% of Europeans don't know how long it takes us to orbit the sun, and why- this is the book for them). It would also work well for younger readers. I can see ages 12+ absorbing this book quite well. In fact, that's around the time it would probably be most helpful (12-14), as it outlines how science works and why its explanations are superior to those of magical or supernatural causes. I enjoyed reading the book myself, but found very little of it new. Still, I'm glad that I have it as a reference for kids and adults who aren't as familiar with the science presented in this book. Second, this book will not be very popular with devoutly religious people. Dawkins once more takes square aim at the major religions, pointing out how unlikely some of their "stories" are. In particular, the last chapter is a chapter on miracles, where Dawkins adopts Hume's stance on miracles. They are likely to be true if the alternate explanation (that they aren't true, that say, 500K people mass hallucinated someone parting the water of San Francisco Bay) is more likely to be false than the miraculous explanation. Of course, there are no such examples, leading Dawkins to claim that miracles are very likely false. In an important way, I agree strongly with the point he is trying to make. In essence, coincidences that seem miraculous (e.g., dreaming of an uncle the day that uncle dies) are really just the product of odds we're not good at calculating, recognizing, or even understanding. That's a good point, and well worth making. But I think he could have done more by directly challenging some kinds of magical explanations (e.g., psychic powers) more directly, including evidence from neuroscience. Instead, his choice of attacking religious stories represents a confrontational choice of topic that is going to drive some people away from this book. I don't disagree with the need and value of challenging any belief, but I think that some of the people who could most benefit from this book will simply be turned off by it. I hope they aren't, but I'm guessing they will be. Which is too bad. Because, as Dawkins says, there is a certain poetic magic to reality once you understand it more. From the immense size of the universe to the evolution of minute structures, I've certainly found that scientific, reality-based explanations are every bit as majestic, awesome, and satisfying as magical or supernatural explanations ever could be. Science really is far and away the best tool for understanding the universe around us, and ourselves in it. Science really is an almost magical invention (in the poetic and metaphoric sense) that has allowed us to discover and explain things not only beyond what we thought possible, but also beyond what we ever imagined existed! If that's not magic enough for you, I don't know what could be! Magic and myths might be cool, but the reality of universe is even cooler.

Conoscevo già il libro l'ho regalato, Dawkins è tra i miei preferiti e sono d'accordo con lui su molti suoi modi di vedere, è forse un libro per ragazzi ma io, che non so niente di astrofisica, ho capito cosa sono i "red-Shift". Stupendo, va divulgato