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Does anyone enjoy reading Dawkings books?

mushy

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General opinion? I don't. I think he is too converned with sounding smart as opposed to just explaining things. Oh and in his last book he used the same thing over and over again

a___ is a ___ is a ____ (insert any word)
 
mushy said:
General opinion? I don't. I think he is too converned with sounding smart as opposed to just explaining things. Oh and in his last book he used the same thing over and over again

a___ is a ___ is a ____ (insert any word)
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I enjoy both Dawkins and Hawking.
 
mushy said:
General opinion? I don't.
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I do, although I am more interested in his writings regarding biology than his writings regarding religion. Not that I don't agree with many of his points concerning religion, but it just isn't anything new to me.

I think he is too converned with sounding smart as opposed to just explaining things.
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How so? I think he explains things quite clearly.

Oh and in his last book he used the same thing over and over again
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What thing was that?
 
mushy said:
Oh and in his last book he used the same thing over and over again

a___ is a ___ is a ____ (insert any word)
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What do you mean by "any word?" There is only one word to insert: atheism is atheism is atheism
 
Professor Yaffle said:
I enjoy his science books. I found The God Delusion a little tedious, and didn't finish it.
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I haven't read the God Delusion but I do enjoy his science books immensely.

"Unweaving the Rainbow" was a little too philisophical for me, but I don't know if you'd really call it a science book.
 
Professor Yaffle said:
I enjoy his science books. I found The God Delusion a little tedious, and didn't finish it.
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This, except I finished it, because, to be fair, though the beginning consisted mostly of arguments for why not to believe, which I was thoroughly familiar with, the later parts had interesting tidbits about stuff I didn't know, such as cargo cults, and other things.

And it also needs to be said that some of his science books, such as 'climbing mount improbable', and 'the blind watchmaker', pretty much directly address religious arguments.
Or do those not count as science books? Because I did enjoy them, and if they aren't science books, I haven't read many of his science books.
 
With Dawkins, you nearly always get a mix of science and anti-religion. (I don't remember anything specifically anti-religious in The Extended Phenotype, but it's been over a decade since I read it.)

I nearly always find his writing enjoyable, meaning that I think he says what he says in an almost unfailingly engaging way. I don't always enjoy what he has to say, though. I find his (or anyone's) anti-religious screeds a bit tiresome after a while, so with any of his books where the science/anti-religious ratio creeps down to 1:1 or lower, I tend to tune out.
 
I really enjoyed Ancestor's Tale and Selfish Gene. God delusion was okay, I suppose.
 
I read all of his books. Some more than once. Though, most of them are a blur.

The Ancestor's Tale is definately his best book: The most well written, and the most interesting and insightful "tales" (although they are all true). Also, the most fun to read through, despite its length.

The Selfish Gene is his most influential book, and therefore also his most important. Despite its title, it is really a book about the emergence of altruism in the natural world. And, one I would definately recommend!

The God Delusion was probably his "worst" book, but it was also of a very different subject than what he usually writes about. His arguments are well refined, at least.

The Extended Phenotype is very academically oriented. If you must skip over one of his books, it might as well be this one, unless you have an academic reason for reading it.

The Devil's Chaplain is a book of essays he wrote for various reasons, collected into one volume. Also recommeded. This was the first book of his I read.

All of his other books are pretty much a big blur, for me. Most of them were good, but I can't remember anything really distinct about any of the others.


ETA: I do remember that The Greatest Show on Earth had quite a few nice color photograph sections in it.
 
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mushy said:
Oh and in his last book he used the same thing over and over again

a___ is a ___ is a ____ (insert any word)
Click to expand...


His latest book is The Greatest Show on Earth, on evolutionary biology. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Not sure how you got "a___ is a ___ is a ____ " out of it, though.
 
I enjoyed all the Dawkins books I read. The Ancestor's Tale, The God Delusion, The Blind Watchmaker, The Sefish Gene, The Devil's Chaplain, etc.

Most of his books are scientific refutations of religious beliefs and were meant to be. I knew that going in.
 
aggle-rithm said:
That Dawkings. What a character!
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I rode the elevator (he would call it 'lift,' as he's an atheist) with Dawkings at the last TAM.

I was a bit speechless, but he agreed to sign my book.

Yup, Dawkings is a nice guy in person.
 
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AdMan said:
I rode the elevator (he would call it 'lift,' as he's an atheist) with Dawkings at the last TAM.

I was a bit speechless, but he agreed to sign my book.

Yup, Dawkings is a nice guy in person.
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Did he even add a "g" to the end of his name? what a cool guy!
 
AdMan said:
I rode the elevator (he would call it 'lift,' as he's an atheist) with Dawkings at the last TAM.

I was a bit speechless, but he agreed to sign my book.

Yup, Dawkings is a nice guy in person.
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...depending on who you ask.

He was a bit of a pompous ass when my father, biologist and fan, asked him to sign a book about (or by, I forget) his PhD advisor Niko Tinbergen at an event called the Niko Tinbergenlezing where Dawkins did a talk about Niko Tinbergen.
My father already owned the book Dawkins was signing there, and he therefore bought a Tinbergen book at the Tinbergen event. Dawkins simply refused to sign the book, because it wasn't his book.

I thought that was rather disappointing.
 
I've read the ancestor's tale and the god delusion but I found the former mire interesting.
 
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