Owls of North America
Einstein unravels relativity. Schrödinger ponders life. Oppenheimer reflects on nuclear war. These three luminaries here join an impressive constellation of other modern scientists who have brightened the last century through both their research and their writing. Biologist-author Dawkins brings to his anthology-building task a perfect fusion of scientific intelligence and literary discernment, carefully selecting and annotating pieces remarkable both for theoretical acumen and stylistic grace. The range of specialties represented runs very wide—astrophysics and microbiology, anthropology and computer design—but discernible commonalities emerge in four thematic sections devoted to what scientists study, who they are, what they think, and even what they admire. A few selections will appeal chiefly to scholars (such as John Maynard Smith’s examination of how nervous systems evolved in flying creatures); however, the majority of the pieces address topics of deep interest to general readers—in language wonderfully free of jargon. Most of the writers, indeed, seem to have read and taken to heart the insights excerpted from molecular biologist James Watson’s lively autobiography: Avoid Boring People (2007). --Bryce Christensen