The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design
by: Richard Dawkins
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Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's researchshows that most scientists today are not formally religious, butDawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:
The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins'ssecond book, refers to the Rev.William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology,which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to concludethat a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organismsproves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearancesto the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces ofphysics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is theblind watchmaker."
Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: hedoesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out foryourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the firstartificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your ownMac or PC.
Product Description:
Patiently and lucidly, this Los Angeles Times Book Award and Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize winner identifies the aspects of the theory of evolution that people find hard to believe and removes the barriers to credibility one by one. "As readable and vigorous a defense of Darwinism as has been published since 1859."--The Economist.
Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's researchshows that most scientists today are not formally religious, butDawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:
I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinianworld-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theorythat could, in principle, solve the mystery of ourexistence.
The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins'ssecond book, refers to the Rev.William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology,which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to concludethat a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organismsproves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearancesto the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces ofphysics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is theblind watchmaker."
Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: hedoesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out foryourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the firstartificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your ownMac or PC.
Product Description:
Patiently and lucidly, this Los Angeles Times Book Award and Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize winner identifies the aspects of the theory of evolution that people find hard to believe and removes the barriers to credibility one by one. "As readable and vigorous a defense of Darwinism as has been published since 1859."--The Economist.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- The Secret of Life
In this rightly called classic book, Richard Dawkins unveils nothing less than the
Secret of life, the principle that encompasses all forms of living things, human, animal, plant, bacterial and even, if any, extraterrestrial. It is a principle that explains why we exist and why we are as we are. That principle is Darwinism.
Darwinism is a cumulative process based on step-by-step transformations (mutations) which arrive by chance. But, the cumulative selections (survivals) of the mutations ... Read More
Rating: 
- Caught up in the discussions of the day
While the point Dawkins makes is obviously right and a good point, he frequently looses himself in endless repetition of the same argument, and many of the chapters serve to refute discussions of the day or more frequently discussions of the early days of Darwinism.
I read the 2006 edition cover to cover and had hoped that he would update this with some of the more interesting questions - how genes get expressed, more modern knowledge of embryology, but found that the latest edition does not share ... Read More
Rating: - Things change over time; given enough time they can change into something different
This is Richard Dawkins' most accessible book on evolution. I always had the feeling that, having composed this most erudite layman's guide to the theory of evolution, he must have imagined that he would then be able return to his daily academic research. But even he must have underestimated the persistence of the deniers. (Why do non-scientists not work themselves up into a fury of denial over quantum thermodynamics, for example?) In effect, he has had to write the same book several times more.
One ... Read More
Rating: 
- Pseudoscience
Is Mr. Dawkins sincere? I say this because it seems that Gould's passing created an economic opportunity for Dawkins on capitalizing off evolutionary controversy as Gould did. Most people would ignore evolutionary literature on the book shelf that didn't have Gould's name on it. I remember those days well. Dawkins writes not so much as an apologist for evolution theory as he does to generate controversy to sell books. But, why sell your soul to tell a lie just for the sake of a little worldly gain in this ... Read More
Rating: - An irreducibly complex book
Richard Dawkins have written several books the titles of which have become household words: "The Selfish Gene", "The God Delusion" and "The Blind Watchmaker". I'm still waiting for "The Extended Phenotype" to join this exclusive club!
"The Blind Watchmaker" was first published in 1986 and has become something of a modern classic. I'm sure you heard of Dawkins' biomorphs, The Argument from Personal Incredulity, that Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist, or that the ... Read More
- The Secret of LifeIn this rightly called classic book, Richard Dawkins unveils nothing less than the
Secret of life, the principle that encompasses all forms of living things, human, animal, plant, bacterial and even, if any, extraterrestrial. It is a principle that explains why we exist and why we are as we are. That principle is Darwinism.
Darwinism is a cumulative process based on step-by-step transformations (mutations) which arrive by chance. But, the cumulative selections (survivals) of the mutations ... Read More
- Caught up in the discussions of the dayWhile the point Dawkins makes is obviously right and a good point, he frequently looses himself in endless repetition of the same argument, and many of the chapters serve to refute discussions of the day or more frequently discussions of the early days of Darwinism.
I read the 2006 edition cover to cover and had hoped that he would update this with some of the more interesting questions - how genes get expressed, more modern knowledge of embryology, but found that the latest edition does not share ... Read More
- Things change over time; given enough time they can change into something differentThis is Richard Dawkins' most accessible book on evolution. I always had the feeling that, having composed this most erudite layman's guide to the theory of evolution, he must have imagined that he would then be able return to his daily academic research. But even he must have underestimated the persistence of the deniers. (Why do non-scientists not work themselves up into a fury of denial over quantum thermodynamics, for example?) In effect, he has had to write the same book several times more.
One ... Read More
- PseudoscienceIs Mr. Dawkins sincere? I say this because it seems that Gould's passing created an economic opportunity for Dawkins on capitalizing off evolutionary controversy as Gould did. Most people would ignore evolutionary literature on the book shelf that didn't have Gould's name on it. I remember those days well. Dawkins writes not so much as an apologist for evolution theory as he does to generate controversy to sell books. But, why sell your soul to tell a lie just for the sake of a little worldly gain in this ... Read More
- An irreducibly complex book Richard Dawkins have written several books the titles of which have become household words: "The Selfish Gene", "The God Delusion" and "The Blind Watchmaker". I'm still waiting for "The Extended Phenotype" to join this exclusive club!
"The Blind Watchmaker" was first published in 1986 and has become something of a modern classic. I'm sure you heard of Dawkins' biomorphs, The Argument from Personal Incredulity, that Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist, or that the ... Read More
