Mr Dawkins tries, but doesn't get to go deeper more than a joking atheist can be. ( )

Gives a good introduction to science and scientists. Interesting and fascinating. Rigorous and invigorating. ( )

How do you pick the best science writing of the twentieth century? Really it all comes down to a matter of opinion, which almost always results in the complaint and special pleading for authors and works left on the cutting room floor (I mean no geology! Come on can’t we get just a little respect). Richard Dawkins never the less makes the noble and very worthwhile attempt to collect some of the very best that science has to offer from the scientist themselves.

The book itself is a collection of over a hundred short passages, excerpts, essays, and even a few poems taken from the likes of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Francis Crick, Stephen Gould, Brian Greene, Jared Diamond, Alan Turning, Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan, Primo Levi, the list goes on and on. Just this alone would make a great collection, but Dawkins also includes the men and women that contributed so much to the worlds of astronomy, oceanography, evolution, particle physics, and genetics that most and certainly I have never had the pleasure of coming across before. Dawkins introduces each and every essay with a humbling and often personal anecdote informing the reader on not just who the author is but why they are important and why they deserve to be included with the ranks of the very best.

The book is organized into four distinct groups “What Scientists Study,” “Who Scientists Are,” “What Scientists Think,” and “What Scientists Delight in” providing a unify theme that serves as a backdrop of the often awe inspiring essays that follow. At times the essays can be a bit dry, but Dawkins tries to reveal the whole spectrum that science has to offer. It’s also not a light fluffy affair; some science literacy is needed because Dawkins does not shy away from the technical here. I found myself doing something I love with really great non-fiction works: further research. Not being so well versed in some of the genetics and higher mathematics/physics I was required to independent research and information gathering to grasp the full meaning of that particular essay. I learned so much more than I ever expected.

The excerpts and short passages could be so tantalizing that I was sometimes left wishing for more. Couple that with the exposure to works by scientist I would have never come across before has caused my wishlist to implode. I only wish there were more collections like this one by different editors to really show off the diversity of that science has to offer. ( )

Really interesting stuff. ( )

I got this book from the library, thinking it would be a series of essays on different aspects of science. However, it turned out to be a completely different sort of book – short extracts from books and articles by scientists themselves, more often about their lives or thoughts than about the actual science. All the famous names are represented – Einstein, Oppenheimer, Crick & Watson, etc., as well as quite a few I had never heard of.

I guess Dawkins’ aim was to show the breadth of thinking of the scientists, and to highlight the quality of their writing, to encourage people to read and engage with them more often. Most of the extracts were interesting enough, but reading hundreds of them one after the other is probably not the best way to approach them. If I owned this book, it would be nice to dip into it every now and then, but as it was a library book I had to read it all within a few weeks. Given its size and price, I don’t know how many people, particularly non-scientists, would actually buy their own copies, and this need to read it quickly must restrict the extent to which Dawkins’ aim can be achieved. Maybe a better approach would be to read a bit on each library visit, and hope no one wants to borrow it! Still, for the sheer breadth and quality of the extracts, I would recommend this book. ( )