[ExI] Dawkins last book (was: pussy riot case)

[Stefano Vaj]

On 21 August 2012 03:12, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

> Dawkins is god.  If he did the above, I would rally in favor of having the
> queen arrested for voyeurism.
>

:-)

I happen to have just finished his last book, The Magic of Reality.

Big a fan as a I am, I must say that I was a little disappointed, because
the book goes much in the direction of popularisation of contemporary
scientific worldviews, and takes the pain of explaining concepts that are,
or should, be familiar to anybody with a high-school diploma.

"Should" may of course be the operational word here, but besides the fact
that some of us may be a little older or more culturally refined than his
intended audience, one wonders if this titanic effort to educate the rest
of the people out there has any chance of making a dent, given that most of
that public has probably become illiterate by now, or at least very
unlikely to buy a book of this sort.

But, hey, perhaps it could be adopted by teachers and forced upon its
readers, and as audio book it might have a lower accessibility threshold.

BTW, one think I found quite funny is that after repeating that a number of
subjects cannot be dealt extensively in the book because they are too
complicate for its scope, when Dawkins explains that matter is made of
molecules, and molecules of atoms, and atoms of particles and particles of
quarks, the author conclude: "I am not going to explain the last level more
in detail not because I think you would not understand it, but because *I*
do not understand it, and it is important to be aware of one's
limitations". :-D

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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