Darwin and Dawkins: a tale of two biologists
One public intellectual has spent his career defending the ideas of the other
GO TO ANY bookshop, and its shelves will be groaning with works of popular science: titles promising to explain black holes, white holes, the brain or the gut to the uninitiated. Yet the notion that a science book could be a blockbuster is a relatively recent one. Publishers and curious readers have Richard Dawkins to thank.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “A tale of two biologists”
Culture November 2nd 2024
From the November 2nd 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Angela Merkel sets out to restore her reputation
But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds
The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist
Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies
What to read to understand Elon Musk
The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction
Tech and religion are very much alike
They both have gods, rich institutions and secretive cultures
Woodrow Wilson’s reputation continues to decline
A dispassionate new biography chronicles the former president’s hostility to suffrage
The cult of Jordan Peterson
What the Canadian intellectual gets right about young men