Brief Candle in the Dark

My Life in Science

De: Richard Dawkins

Narrado por: Richard Dawkins

In this hugely entertaining sequel to the New York Times bestselling memoir An Appetite for Wonder, Richard Dawkins delves deeply into his intellectual life spent kick-starting new conversations about science, culture, and religion and writing yet another of the most audacious and widely read books of the twentieth century—The God Delusion.

Called “one of the best nonfiction writers alive today” (Stephen Pinker) and a “prize-fighter” (Nature), Richard Dawkins cheerfully, mischievously, looks back on a lifetime of tireless intellectual adventure and engagement. Exploring the halls of intellectual inquiry and stardom he encountered after the publication of his seminal work, The Selfish Gene; affectionately lampooning the world of academia, publishing, and television; and studding the pages with funny stories about the great men and women he’s known, Dawkins offers a candid look at the events and ideas that encouraged him to shift his attention to the intersection of culture, religion, and science. He also invites the reader to look more closely at the brilliant succession of ten influential books that grew naturally out of his busy life, highlighting the ideas that connect them and excavating their origins.

On the publication of his tenth book, the smash hit, The God Delusion, a “resounding trumpet blast for truth” (Matt Ridley), Richard Dawkins was catapulted from mere intellectual stardom into a circle of celebrity thinkers dubbed, “The New Atheists”—including Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.

Throughout A Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins shares with us his infectious sense of wonder at the natural world, his enjoyment of the absurdities of human interaction, and his bracing awareness of life’s brevity: all of which have made a deep imprint on our culture.

Hero

Get well soon Professor Dawkins. You sir are my candle in the dark. Thank you.

A dry biography - well read to hold some interest

Academic stories told well, but I won't be passing any along in conversation. I'd like to have heard a background of some of the memes he's generated.

A great read and really do humanize Mr.Dawkins

I love how mr.Dawkins lives a life filled of passion and integrity, both in the professional and the events of the everyday. He has done the world a lot of good and still remains humble and true to his cause.

A great read.

If you enjoy any of Richards other books, this is a must read. It ties in all of his other books.

Intriguing Second Half of the Autobiography

I really enjoyed this sequel to Dawkins' first autobiography An Appetite for Wonder I've read some of his books and have seen him speak twice, and after reading this two autobiographies I feel like I know him better. Like I said in the review of An Appetite for Wonder, I wish I would've know some of this information when I met him in person. Oh well.

Brief Candle in the Dark held my interest from start to finish. It was full of great science, consistently funny, and always fascinating. This second book starts up where the first left off - right after the publication of The Selfish Gene in 1976 but the events are not in chronological order but are organized by subject. For example, he devotes chapters to his lectures, debates, TV experiences, scientific studies, encounters with other notables of science and society, and other themes.

I was surprised to hear him lightheartedly chat about the time he was lampooned on South Park, considering how that all went down! He has spent time with innumerable big names in the scientific community Some of my favorites: he heaps admiration on to the brilliant planetary scientist Carolyn Porco and her stellar career (who appeared with him at the Dallas event I attended), talks about time spent with Neil Armstrong, and recounts the time spent with the famous paleoanthropologist Richard Leaky, which contains probably the most funny story in the whole book. He also gives a touching tribute to his friend, the great Christopher Hitchens.

To my delight he spends more time in this second installment skewering religion, particularly creationism. He is constantly being attacked by creationists. And when your best selling book is titled The God Delusion religious leaders are going to come after you and challenges to debate arrive fast and furious. One of the funniest anecdotes in this part of the book relates to a lecture with a Q&A he gave in Virginia in which nearby Liberty University (Jerry Fallwell's religious fundamental institution) sent a bunch of students to riddle Dawkins with questions about biblical "facts", fossil dating methods, evolution, etc., and one mentioned that Liberty possessed a three thousand year old dinosaur fossil and what did he think of that? He replied, “leave and go to a proper university”! Another enjoyable rebuttal of religious fundamentalism is his reading from and passionately rebutting a Jehovah Witness pamphlet which portents to explain how the world came about supernaturally rather than from a natural means. Dawkins states, "Creationists have lost ignominiously lost the argument, and deception is their last resort".

Dawkins didn't like debating theologians as he felt it gave them and their beliefs perceived equal footing with science upon the stage. He did some debates, though, and one memorable exchange went like this:

Jesuit Father George Coyne: "God is not an explanation, if I were seeking for a God of explanation I probably would be an atheist".

Richard Dawkins: "That's exactly why I am and atheist. If an all-powerful creator God is really there, how could he not be an explanation for things. Or if he's not the explanation for anything, what exactly does he do with his time to make him worth worshipping?"

He also talks a lot about his intellectual life and does a deep dive in to a few of his research projects. I didn't find these parts of the book as enjoyable as his personal anecdotes but the science was always fascinating and it was interesting to hear him talk about his thought processes and theories.

I listened to him narrate this on Audible. I think that's the way to experience this Richard is a great speaker. Admirers of him will enjoy his anecdotes and appreciate learning what makes this great scientist tick.