The Magic of Reality

Starred review from September 26, 2011
In this outstanding "graphic science book," evolutionary biologist Dawkins (The Selfish Gene) teams up with illustrator Dave McKean (The Graveyard Book) to examine questions in everyday science, such as: why seasons occur; what things are made of; and whether there's life on other planets. They explain the answers from mythological and cultural points of view before diving into the chemistry, biology, and physicsâall in language that advanced middle school, or most high school, students can absorb. Rather than oversimplifying things, Dawkins's explanations demonstrate that life on earth is magical enough without tricks of the eye or supernatural theories. Appearing on every page, McKean's illustrations cover the gamut from prehistoric creatures along the evolutionary chain to a sequence showing how the immune system defends the body from a flu virus. This book may be exactly what's needed to increase science literacy for readers of all ages.

June 1, 2011

Author of The Selfish Gene, much-decorated evolutionary biologist Dawkins has taught at both Berkeley and Oxford; illustrator McKean spooked up Neil Gaiman's Coraline, designed the Broadway musical Lestat, brought many of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter creatures to the screen, and in general is responsible for hundreds of book and CD covers and advertising illustrations. What a team to highlight the world's wondrous natural phenomena.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2011

A resounding denunciation of the enemies of science--namely, magical and supernatural thinking.

Dawkins has long been a noted evolutionary biologist--and atheist--who has made his cases in a succession of influential books: The Selfish Gene, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The God Delusion, etc. His argument here takes unaccustomed form: namely, a book seemingly addressed to readers of middle- and high-school age, and illustrated with skillfully rendered cartoons by noted comic artist McKean (Coraline, Wizard and Glass, etc.). Dawkins can sound a little forced when removing his Oxbridge gown to speak to these novices, as when he writes of the supercontinent of 150 million years ago, "They were all one big land mass called Gondwana (well, it wasn't called Gondwana then--the dinosaurs who lived there didn't call anything anything, but we call it Gondwana today)." Tetchy or not, Dawkins gamely jumps into his main subject, which is to consider the universe in all its glory, magical without creator or deity in the sky. He approaches this directly and indirectly: Here he considers why bad things happen to good people (call it randomness--and, Dawkins stresses, the real question is, "Why does anything happen?"), there the belief of some people in past lives, alien abductions and original sin. Dawkins will certainly win no friends among the set of folks inclined to get their science from the Creation Museum, for whom he would seem to have little patience in turn.

Watch for this to be mooted and bruited in school board meetings to come. And score points for Dawkins, who does a fine job of explaining earthquakes and rainbows in the midst of baiting the pious.

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