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A review by aylart
Books do Furnish a Life: An electrifying celebration of science writing by Richard Dawkins
challenging
informative
slow-paced
2.5
This was probably just about the worst place to start reading the work of Dawkins...
I wanted to get into his books since I had heard so much about him, and was tempted by this very recent work with a title that greatly intrigued this bookish nerd. Fair warning: the title is misleading!
This is a collection of previously published reviews, forewords, afterwards, and transcribed interviews. "previously published" means some are older than I am. Without much new material or a clear theme to bind these pieces together, it becomes repetitive fast, and fails to go beyond the surface of any issue. It ends up feeling like a gratuitous way of churning out another book.
This irritation also did not help me to overlook the sometimes arrogant, pompous writing. I normally don't mind so much, but for a book specifically about "the literature of science", I was not impressed with the clarity of the writing and I did find myself needing to look up words.
Nevertheless, I am intrigued by some of the content and not quite discouraged enough to keep me from trying one of his actual books (as in: one cohesive book instead of a collection of recycled stuff). I hope I won't regret it as I did this one.
I wanted to get into his books since I had heard so much about him, and was tempted by this very recent work with a title that greatly intrigued this bookish nerd. Fair warning: the title is misleading!
This is a collection of previously published reviews, forewords, afterwards, and transcribed interviews. "previously published" means some are older than I am. Without much new material or a clear theme to bind these pieces together, it becomes repetitive fast, and fails to go beyond the surface of any issue. It ends up feeling like a gratuitous way of churning out another book.
This irritation also did not help me to overlook the sometimes arrogant, pompous writing. I normally don't mind so much, but for a book specifically about "the literature of science", I was not impressed with the clarity of the writing and I did find myself needing to look up words.
Nevertheless, I am intrigued by some of the content and not quite discouraged enough to keep me from trying one of his actual books (as in: one cohesive book instead of a collection of recycled stuff). I hope I won't regret it as I did this one.