Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

Pros: Scholarly and thorough presentation of evolution as the explanation for life

Cons: Dawkins confidence in his ideas has been described by some as arrogance

The Bottom Line: Essential reading for a laymans understanding of evolution!

Review: This is Dawkins second best-selling book on evolution, following his first, The Selfish Gene. The Blind Watchmaker was first published in 1986, and this review is based on a...

Pros: Passionate and detailed description of evolutionary biology

Cons: Displays a misguided faith in science which adds fuel to the fire of creation controversy

The Bottom Line: The book does not deliver on its promise to reveal the solution to the mystery of life

Review: Introduction

This book is written in the conviction that our own existence once presented the greatest of all mysteries, but it is mystery no longer because it is solved. With this stunning sentence begins one of the...

Pros: Lots of information, clear explanations

Cons: Subtle feeling of being talked down to at times

The Bottom Line: This describes in no uncertain terms why evolution is the best explanation yet for the variety and complexities of living organisms.

Review: Dawkins draws his title from the writings of the 18th century philosopher William Paley, who made the argument that just as one can see conscious design in the specialization and complexity of a pocket watch--a complicated bit of machinery for his...

Pros: Intelligent, crafts a beautiful argument. Should be required reading.

Cons: Hasn't been read by enough people.

The Bottom Line: This book offers a sound argument in favor of evolution, and against creationist silliness. It should be required reading in schools around the nation.

Review: Richard Dawkins is, along with the late Stephen Jay Gould (The Structure of Evolutionary Theory) one of the best known evolutionary biologists. Dawkins and Gould represent the public faces of a minor disagreement between biologists. Gould was...

Pros: Through, enjoyable and accurate.

Cons: An appendix delving deeper into genetics is something I would have appreciated.

The Bottom Line: This book should be found on every bookshelf. It is a wonderful, thoroughly enjoyable book on the graceful, gradual and fundamentally unpredictable way in which life is continuously moulded.

Review: Having read quite a bit on evolution before this, I still feel that this landmark book deepened my understanding of the subject.

Whatever the opinion one holds of it, it seems to be a universal truth that everybody thinks they know what...

Pros: Very thorough and convincing, best book on the subject

Cons: Can be difficult to read, discounts higher-power in creation of life

Review: Even though it?s been hundreds of years since Darwin first proposed the theory of evolution, the issue is still hotly debated, or even worse, ignored to avoid the potential controversy.

The controversy regarding evolution is usually based...

Pros: Explains clearly once and for all how it happens in and of itself

Cons: Concentrates on the concept of evolution, to the expense of genetics, etc.

The Bottom Line: Another excellent introduction to Natural Selection/Evolution by Richard Dawkins.

Review:
A lot of people have trouble really understanding evolution. Or they find it hard to conceive how a perfectly random process can create such complex creatures as ourselves.

This book clearly and "deeply" explains why it all happens by...