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What is your favorite Richard Dawkins book?

Or do you not like him?

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  • Goonies_small
    Reputation: 956

    The Selfish Gene, hands down. It does an amazing job of explaining gene-centered evolution, and how genes adapt and interact within an organism and environment. By doing so it clarifies how such complex traits like reciprocal altruism can arise through evolution. I make it required reading for my evolution students.

    I'm not as much in for some of his "yay atheism" books, but the selfish gene is by far one of the greatest non-technical books on evolution out there.

    For similar reasons, I also love The Blind Watchmaker.

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  • David_library_small

    I enjoyed "The Ancestor's Tale," though I must admit I brought to it a keen interest in evolution.

    I confess I didn't get far with The God delusion - eh. (I'm a bit soured on atheist prognosticators after getting into a stupid argument with a drunk atheist author at a small press event, in which this iconoclast basically propped up a bunch of bearded, fatherly straw deities and then popped them over while I tried to get a word in about how maybe there was more to the spiritual impulse than just the big white father in the sky?) I'll stick to the fallibilist/agnostic label myself, because I've always felt perhaps one of our highest mental achievements is the realization that we might not know that much. As for the evils of religion, I find you can pretty much replace 'religion' with 'human society' and it still makes sense.

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  • Picture_115_small
    Reputation: 1033

    I've only ever read The God Delusion but found it was speaking more to people just beginning to doubt religion, a point I was long past. It did convince me to give up the Agnostic moniker, though. I'm looking forward to finally reading The Selfish Gene, however. Genetics is a pretty fascinating reading subject to me.

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  • 1061873134_seconddoc_small
    Reputation: 276

    God Delusion was rather poor (and keep in mind I'm an athiest) His best work though is The Selfish Gene.

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  • Spiralavatar_small
    Reputation: 131

    For me it's a tie between The Ancestors Tale and Unweaving the Rainbow.

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  • Medium_2868373187_b2c11c89cf_o_small
    Reputation: 2266

    I enjoyed the God Delusion a lot. Not because it was new or revolutionary for me, but because it did a good job of putting all the arguments necessary to convince a person that god doesn't exist in one place. It was a nice "Here, read this!" kind of book.

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  • Copenhagen_2_small
    Reputation: 77

    My suggestion would be just to read Stephen Jay Gould instead*.

    *(Unless you just want to read a book about human evolution by someone who is both incredibly cocky and named Richard. In that case, no doubt about it, you should read Richard Leakey)

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