Richard Dawkins on The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True in Berkeley

Richard Dawkins on The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True

Berkeley Arts & Letters Presents Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins, the world’s most celebrated evolutionary biologist, has spent his career elucidating the many wonders of science. Now, he takes a broader approach and uses his unrivaled explanatory powers to illuminate the ways in which the world really works. With clever thought experiments and jaw-dropping facts, The Magic of Reality explains a stunningly wide range of natural phenomena: How old is the universe? Why do the continents look like disconnected pieces of a jigsaw puzzle? What causes tsunamis? Why are there so many kinds of plants and animals? Who was the first man, or woman? Starting with the magical, mythical explanations for the wonders of nature, Dawkins reveals the exhilarating scientific truths behind these occurrences. His is a page-turning detective story that not only mines all the sciences for its clues but primes the reader to think like a scientist as well.

“Exhilarating. The clearest and most beautifully written introduction to science I've ever read. Again and again I found myself saying "Oh! So that's how genes work!" (or stars, or tectonic plates, or all the other things he explains). Explanations I thought I knew were clarified; things I never understood were made clear for the first time. My favourite adjective of praise has always been "clear", and this book has clarity all the way through.”
-- Philip Pullman, author of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ and the His Dark Materials trilogy

Richard Dawkins is a Fellow of the Royal Society and was the inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. The Wall Street Journal said his “passion is supported by an awe-inspiring literary craftsmanship.” The New York Times Book Review has hailed him as a writer who “understands the issues so clearly that he forces his reader to understand them too.” He is the acclaimed author of many books including The Selfish Gene, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Ancestor’s Tale, The God Delusion, and The Greatest Show on Earth.

At First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way at Dana, Berkeley; enter via courtyard on Dana) *Note: this program is suitable for curious junior and senior high school students.

We welcome as co-sponsors Center for Inquiry San Francisco and SANE

Tickets $12 ($7 students, including OLLI, in advance only at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006; $15 at the door (all)

Categories: Literary & Books | Science | Religion & Spirituality