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A review by grantkeegan
Books do Furnish a Life: An electrifying celebration of science writing by Richard Dawkins
4.0
Richard Dawkins is one of the best thinkers and writers alive today. He is exceptional at exploring and presenting ideas in the name of critical thinking, science, and the fight for rationality. He is a source of inspiration for many free-thinkers, myself included. And this book is a good way to explore a lot of his often-missed essays, reviews, and introductions to other works.
Books Do Furnish a Life is a collection of reviews, responses, and forewords to other books where Dawkins deconstructs ideas that he either agrees or disagrees on. It is also a way to introduce someone to the main topics he has focused on over decades of his career.
The best way I can describe this book is as a brief overview of Richard Dawkins’ main ideas that are found throughout his own books. From evolution to atheism and the fight against unfounded ideas, it was nice to go back and review these important concepts.
Although the book’s style can be a surprise for some, I enjoyed this format of Dawkins writing an essay on each book that has inspired him, with an overarching theme that ties together each chapter. It reminded me of John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed, also released this year which is also a showcase of the authors’ shorter, but equally important ideas compared to full books.
As is usual with his works, Books Do Furnish a Life is full of amazing writing that makes me feel inspired by the wonders of science. As someone who primarily has read Dawkins on his takes on religion, I can’t wait to read more classics on evolution, such as The Selfish Gene.
Sometimes the book can get repetitious, especially in the middle chapters. This might come from the fact that the book is a collection of separate writings that cover the same topics of Darwinian evolution and atheism over again. But it is still enjoyable, although reading the whole thing with no rest (like I did) might get tiresome as the same ideas are repeated often.
I definitely recommend Books Do Furnish a Life if you are a fan of Richard Dawkins as I am. If you are unfamiliar with him, I suggest reading his previous works before this one. But I think any person passionate about science and reason will take a lot of value from this collection.
Final Score: 82/100
For more reviews and cool content follow me on:
▶️ My Film and Gaming YouTube Channel - https://youtube.com/channel/UCpWCw5dVvb4QUGYHRrx4kmw
Books Do Furnish a Life is a collection of reviews, responses, and forewords to other books where Dawkins deconstructs ideas that he either agrees or disagrees on. It is also a way to introduce someone to the main topics he has focused on over decades of his career.
The best way I can describe this book is as a brief overview of Richard Dawkins’ main ideas that are found throughout his own books. From evolution to atheism and the fight against unfounded ideas, it was nice to go back and review these important concepts.
Although the book’s style can be a surprise for some, I enjoyed this format of Dawkins writing an essay on each book that has inspired him, with an overarching theme that ties together each chapter. It reminded me of John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed, also released this year which is also a showcase of the authors’ shorter, but equally important ideas compared to full books.
As is usual with his works, Books Do Furnish a Life is full of amazing writing that makes me feel inspired by the wonders of science. As someone who primarily has read Dawkins on his takes on religion, I can’t wait to read more classics on evolution, such as The Selfish Gene.
Sometimes the book can get repetitious, especially in the middle chapters. This might come from the fact that the book is a collection of separate writings that cover the same topics of Darwinian evolution and atheism over again. But it is still enjoyable, although reading the whole thing with no rest (like I did) might get tiresome as the same ideas are repeated often.
I definitely recommend Books Do Furnish a Life if you are a fan of Richard Dawkins as I am. If you are unfamiliar with him, I suggest reading his previous works before this one. But I think any person passionate about science and reason will take a lot of value from this collection.
Final Score: 82/100
For more reviews and cool content follow me on:
▶️ My Film and Gaming YouTube Channel - https://youtube.com/channel/UCpWCw5dVvb4QUGYHRrx4kmw