If anyone in modern science deserves to regard his or her own contribution with pride, even with triumph, it is Richard Dawkins… Vastly illuminating.” — New York Times Book Review
“. . . a jam-packed memoir by a brilliant, complex, and contradictory man. . . . What makes Candle a page-turner is Dawkins’ engaging, conversational style and hilarious anecdotes.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
“...fascinating, thoroughly readable, and joyful. . . . Dawkins offers great insight into the nature of science and introduces readers to many of the major players responsible for creating the field of evolutionary biology.” — Publishers Weekly
“Displays all the intelligence, insight, clear-thinking, literary quality, and at time provocative observations we have come to expect from Dawkins.” — Skeptical Inquirer
“Readers of Brief Candle are in for many treats: lively prose from one of our greatest living writers; stimulating ideas on the nature of life and the human condition; and the opportunity to eavesdrop on the workings of an extraordinary mind, intellectually fierce yet personally generous.” — Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Language Instinct and The Better Angels of Our Nature
“Filled with delight. . . . He gives full credit to collaborators, shares of his loves as well as his sorrows, and adds a wealth of interesting details about the inspiration for his books and his popular writing’s relationship to his purely scientific work. ” — Oregonian
“This is the Richard Dawkins I have come to know and respect as a friend, colleague, and fellow traveler. For those who want some insight into the true nature of the man behind The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion, this book is sure to please, and perhaps surprise.” — Lawrence M. Krauss is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist and the author of bestselling books including The Physics of Star Trek, and A Universe from Nothing. He co-starts with Richard Dawkins in the film The Unbelievers.
“Richard always writes like he’s telling you a story, which is why so many of us non-science people understand science better than we used to. But when the story is his own life, it’s doubly compelling.” — Bill Maher
“Brief Candle in the Dark provides so many pleasures: the searing clarity of scientific insights and explanations; the depth of wit and width of erudition; a prose which can soar to poetry while never losing its accuracy; an inspired delight in the beauty of nature’s ways.” — Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away
“Brief Candle in the Dark gives future historians [Dawkins’] pathway to greatness that begins with the publication of his monumental The Selfish Gene and climaxes with the book that may do more to elevate atheism to a legitimate position than any that came before, whose impact reverberates still.” — Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist at Scientific American, author of The Moral Arc
“Sometimes funny, sometimes fascinating, and always interesting, Dawkins takes us through his later years, revealing the humanity behind the man like never before. Brief Candle in the Dark reminds us, warmly and eloquently, that the greatest accomplishments are achieved when science is bolstered by good will and kindness.” — David Silverman, President of American Atheists, Inc.
“In Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins takes us through a journey of anecdotes and conversations with world-class scientists and thinkers. You don’t have to be a scientist to appreciate how deeply Dawkins loves interpreting science for the rest of us in this remarkable book about his own life.” — Herb Silverman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, founder and president of the Secular Coalition for America, and author of Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt.
Readers of Brief Candle are in for many treats: lively prose from one of our greatest living writers; stimulating ideas on the nature of life and the human condition; and the opportunity to eavesdrop on the workings of an extraordinary mind, intellectually fierce yet personally generous.
. . . a jam-packed memoir by a brilliant, complex, and contradictory man. . . . What makes Candle a page-turner is Dawkins’ engaging, conversational style and hilarious anecdotes.
This is the Richard Dawkins I have come to know and respect as a friend, colleague, and fellow traveler. For those who want some insight into the true nature of the man behind The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion, this book is sure to please, and perhaps surprise.
Lawrence M. Krauss is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist and the author of bestselling books in
Richard always writes like he’s telling you a story, which is why so many of us non-science people understand science better than we used to. But when the story is his own life, it’s doubly compelling.
Filled with delight. . . . He gives full credit to collaborators, shares of his loves as well as his sorrows, and adds a wealth of interesting details about the inspiration for his books and his popular writing’s relationship to his purely scientific work.
Brief Candle in the Dark gives future historians [Dawkins’] pathway to greatness that begins with the publication of his monumental The Selfish Gene and climaxes with the book that may do more to elevate atheism to a legitimate position than any that came before, whose impact reverberates still.
Displays all the intelligence, insight, clear-thinking, literary quality, and at time provocative observations we have come to expect from Dawkins.
If anyone in modern science deserves to regard his or her own contribution with pride, even with triumph, it is Richard Dawkins… Vastly illuminating.
New York Times Book Review
Brief Candle in the Dark provides so many pleasures: the searing clarity of scientific insights and explanations; the depth of wit and width of erudition; a prose which can soar to poetry while never losing its accuracy; an inspired delight in the beauty of nature’s ways.
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
In Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins takes us through a journey of anecdotes and conversations with world-class scientists and thinkers. You don’t have to be a scientist to appreciate how deeply Dawkins loves interpreting science for the rest of us in this remarkable book about his own life.
Herb Silverman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Sometimes funny, sometimes fascinating, and always interesting, Dawkins takes us through his later years, revealing the humanity behind the man like never before. Brief Candle in the Dark reminds us, warmly and eloquently, that the greatest accomplishments are achieved when science is bolstered by good will and kindness.
Filled with delight. . . . He gives full credit to collaborators, shares of his loves as well as his sorrows, and adds a wealth of interesting details about the inspiration for his books and his popular writing’s relationship to his purely scientific work.
06/15/2015 Internationally acclaimed scientist, writer, and professor Dawkins returns to the subject of himself in this second autobiographical work following 2013's well-received An Appetite for Wonder, which chronicled his childhood and early academic work. In this new title, he charmingly relates stories concerning conferences, publishers, awards, and television productions—extolling the public spaces that allow scientists to share their work and ideas. Dawkins saves his highest praise for his colleagues and collaborators, reiterating the point that the most successful and respected teachers are those who keep learning. The book's last section is saved for an explanation of the major ideas put forth in the author's 12 published works. VERDICT Dawkins, a convincing speaker and writer, is in some circles considered controversial for challenging religious viewpoints. This work provides a welcome companion to his previous books. New readers looking to acquaint themselves with Dawkins's research on religion and evolutionary biology should start with his prize-winning works The God Delusion or The Selfish Gene.—Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib.
Subtitled “A Life in Science,” Dawkins’s book is not a straight biography but a discussion of his public and professional lives. As narrator, the evolutionary biologist, most known for the book THE SELFISH GENE, is somewhat soft-spoken but clear, expressive, and authoritative when required. His manner is natural, as if he were simply having a conversation about his life. His pacing is excellent, and he conveys his feelings effectively with intonation and manner. Since it’s his book and his life, we get his authentic reactions, including, for instance, one point when he seems to choke up. This is an interesting, intelligent, and appealing survey of a civilized (in the best sense) and accomplished life, a pleasurable program listeners will be sorry to finish. W.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
FEBRUARY 2016 - AudioFile
2015-06-04 The second volume of the acclaimed evolutionary biologist's autobiography. Dawkins (An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist, 2013, etc.) begins this installment with the bewildering experience of attending a celebration of his 70th birthday when he still felt, at least spiritually, like a 25-year-old. At the close of the first volume, he had just published his groundbreaking book The Selfish Gene (1976). His metaphorical personification of the gene as the agent of natural selection raised a furor at the time and is still controversial. As Dawkins is at pains to explain, he intended to compare economic-utility functions that maximize profitability with the successful reproduction of genes over generations. Despite widespread misunderstanding, his intention was not to suggest that they replace the function of individual, decision-making organisms but rather to apply the method of cost-benefit analysis used in economics to the process of natural selection. The author also explicitly distances himself from genetic determinists who attempt to explain human behavior mechanistically—e.g., attributing a specific behavior to a genetic predisposition, as might be the case with a putative aggressive gene. Dawkins refers readers to his 2004 book The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, in which he discussed his recent views about higher-level genetic cooperation. The Selfish Gene and his spirited defense of atheism, The God Delusion (2006), are his most controversial works, and many readers will welcome his belated attempts to heed criticisms of his unnecessarily abrasive style when debating religious opponents. However, Dawkins justifiably boasts about his publishing success: "through nearly 40 years, not one of my twelve books has ever been allowed to go out of print in English." Though the narrative could have used some pruning, the author provides an entertaining portrait of his life and times, including the quaint customs still in practice at Oxford. An impressive overview of Dawkins' life's work, written with the freshness of youthful vigor.