Review:
For more than a week Richard Dawkins was at fault for
breaking my back as I carried his latest book, The Magic of Reality, with me to
read on the train. Hard cover and all, this is a big heavy book, especially
when compared to the anorexic Kindle ebook reader I do most of my reading with.
Still, I took the burden happily. Obviously, this reader
will do his best to read everything coming from Dawkins’ direction, but this
time there was more to it: The Magic of Reality is a book aimed at younger
readers, and past evidence – coming in the shape of the very last essay in
Dawkins’ Devil’s Chaplain – suggested the author has a special knack when it
comes to writing for children. You can say how good The Selfish Gene is and you
can argue how influential The God Delusion is, but if you were to ask me which
specific Dawkins article I enjoyed the most I will point you to that particular book closing letter he wrote his daughter. Not to mention Dawkins’ Growing Up in the Universe lectures, where he proved his ability to deal with the younger amongst
us.
Structure wise, The Magic of Reality is a book that raises
questions, one question per chapter, and then provides answers for them across
15 chapters or so. Questions range from who was the first person ever to why we
have seasons, how rainbows work, whether we are alone in the universe and what
constitutes a miracle. In laying the answers to all of these once sentence long
questions Dawkins uses a repeating trick: he starts by providing the mythical
answers (e.g., Adam and Eve in the case of the first person ever), and then progresses
to science’s answer. By doing so he clearly demonstrates just how much more
fascinating the true answer is to the imaginary one – hence the book’s title.
As one can expect from the sample questions I provided here, in answering the
questions Dawkins provides the reader with a grand yet simple overview of where
the forefront of science is at. Not only that, but through discussions on
concepts such as miracles and other supernatural stuff he gets to discuss and
impart on the reader what the philosophy of science is, a concept much more
important to grasp then the latest achievements in quantum physics. As if by accident, Dawkins gives religion a good bash here and there as he guides us throughout the book.
Where The Magic of Reality excels is in conveying the very
basics of scientific knowledge. I’ll give you an example that I’ve mentioned
here in the past: I graduated a technical high school and did several
university physics courses, but during the course of it all no one explained to
me why the moon orbits the earth and doesn’t just fall into it. Dawkins does,
and he does it so elegantly a child should easily understand it; similarly,
children should have an easy time understanding his explanations on the
spectrum or natural selection. You can argue I’m pretty dumb if I didn’t figure
out for myself why the moon doesn’t fall down on us using the knowledge I’ve
accumulated over the years; I won’t argue with you there. What I will argue,
though, is that having a teacher like Dawkins by my side would have made life
so much easier, so much more exciting.
There was a reason for me straying from my habit of ebook exclusive book purchasing, and that reason is the graphic design of The Magic of Reality.
Every page of this book is loaded with graphics by artist Dave McKean. The
artwork is quite good and works extremely well in conveying the book’s message.
Take my four year old as an example: he was so tempted by the photos that by
now he can tell you why frog with the longer legs managed to escape the snake
and bring forth future generations of frogs. In other words, the four images of
frogs escaping from a snake featured in two pages of the book were all
it took for my son to be interested and then understand the basics of evolution by natural selection.
Quite an achievement, isn’t it?
I liked the way the artwork is integrated into the book more
than I liked the artwork itself. Usually with books that include images of
sorts you have to break the flow of the reading in order to check the images
out, and then go back to the main story; not with The Magic of Reality. Here
the art is so well integrated that the reading is flawless. You read The Magic
of Reality from start to finish, graphics and all. [At this point I will add
the book’s iPad version, available at the iTunes app shop, is rumoured to offer
a fully interactive reading experience. If you can bear reading of an LCD
screen (I can’t, at least not for long periods), and if you have an iPad at
your disposal, then perhaps this is the version for you.]
Those of us familiar with Richard Dawkins’ writing will
recognize repeating motifs. Obviously, the guy knows how to explain evolution,
but readers of Unweaving the Rainbow will find a lot of similarities with that
book, too. The main difference between earlier books and The Magic of Reality
is the language: aimed at younger audiences, the latter features much less a
poetic language and short sentences. It’s obvious Dawkins made some significant
efforts to appeal to younger readers, and as far as I am concerned it works
well: although the subject matter can be complicated, nothing in The Magic of
Reality proved hard to understand. In other words, Richard Dawkins kept to his
trademark ability of explaining things in fluid language that even my
grandmother should be able to understand while not sounding as if he’s even
slightly condescending. Of all of Dawkins’ qualities, this one is the one that
appeals to me the most. So much so that every time I read something of his I
feel sad for not having him as one of my university teachers. Luckily for me, Dawkins
is a prolific book writer of consistent greatness. Indeed, The Magic of Reality left me in anticipation for what Dawkins may throw my way next.
Overall:
I can only lament not having a guide of Richard Dawkins by
my side when I was at the age group The Magic of Reality is aimed for. I can
only lament all the years I spent not having a book providing the basic
overview of science that The Magic of Reality provides.
I needn’t lament any longer. The Magic of Reality is an
excellent book and an excellent all around experience that delivers through and
through, both to younger ones as well as this older reader. I missed my
chances, but my son won’t have to. The Magic of Reality deserves a glowing 5 out of 5.
P.S. Richard Dawkins, you can break my back any time you
feel like.
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