Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

Review by Malcolm Martland on show Feb 25th.
I know that in pubs, clubs and other places it is not good form to talk about politics or religion but this book invites discussion of both. I do realise I should have understood what to expect as Richard Dawkins is a famous atheist and author of” The God Delusion” – and of course he went to Oxford which explains a lot!

But this book is about science, science for the people, and it’s nothing that most graduates in Natural Sciences don’t know and couldn’t write – but most of them didn’t. There was very little new that I had not already learnt at school and university 40 years ago – and Watson and Crick’s DNA proposition was 1953 and Darwin’s Origin of Species 1859.

Very grandiose writing – Dawkins seems determined to put as much information as he can on every page – repetitive too – self quoting in abundance. Yes I agree with him and did enjoy the book but he does bang on and on. But despite that it is a very informative and enjoyable book. I particularly enjoyed his clear description of radio-isotope decay and its use in archaeological and fossil dating. But all facets of evolution are fascinating – it is evolution that is one of the wonders and miracles of life.

But he does keep trying to prove himself against the Creationists. As a scientist I don’t give a damn what creationists think about evolution because they I think are not just fundamentally wrong but stupidly opinionated too? They might be very nice people but just are not worth talking to on the subject until they have accepted some proper science.

But I do worry about Dawkins’ viewpoint. He tells us things like Nature’s conscience is neither benevolent nor divine – I’m not sure if he is attributing a “being” to “Nature” or not. He sometimes seems to be creating his own god = Nature, and forming his own religion -Evolution – major prophet Charles Darwin, disciples Crick and Watson and of course Dawkins (aka Darwin’s rottweiler) and his followers Ben Goldacre and Markus Brigstock. They even had their own strange carol service for non-god believers recently. OK I’m fine with them not believing but please shove a parallel religion at us, makes me suspect they will all become zealous converts from agnosticism or atheism in later life like CS Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge and many others.

What the book did for me however, is make me get out all those science books I’ve been meaning to read or reread – Bill Bryson’s, A Short History of Nearly Everything, some 1950’s Pelican paperback’s by Ralph Buchsbaum, Animals without backbones and more – so Richard Dawkins has rekindled my enthusiasm for science for which I am grateful.

My verdict: a very interesting and informative read covering a huge topic – but if you can dispense with the religious bigotry try reading Steve Jones’ “Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England” instead – I intend to.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins 2009 Bantan Press rrp £20 (paperback due out 29 April 2010 rrp £8.99)

Review by Malcolm F. Martland 25 February 2010