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| The Blind Watchmaker | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £6.49
You Save: £2.50 (28%)
New (27) from £4.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  77 reviews
Sales Rank: 1300
Media: Paperback
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0141026162
EAN: 9780141026169
ASIN: 0141026162
Publication Date: April 6, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Life changing July 8, 2007
44 out of 48 found this review helpful
Richard Dawkins's brilliant explanation of the theories of Charles Darwin is must-reading for anyone interested in the origin and diversity of life.
I picked this up after reading that Douglas Adams (author of "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy") credited this book with confirming his atheism and filling out his understanding of Darwinism. There certainly is not much left for a deity to do by the time Dawkins finishes explaining the story of life as we know it.
There are a number of mind-blowing concepts discussed in the book, such as Dawkins's discussion of probability. Dawkins writes that our perception of probablity is necessarily limited by the fact that we only live for a few decades. If we lived for say, half a million years, we would probably avoid crossing streets (if you crossed the street every day for half a million years, you would consider getting struck by a conveyance as a likely outcome.)
I have to agree with some reviewers that the prose was a bit tough to get through in places, but I still had to give this book five stars for its overall impact. I will never look at the world the same again.
 The Blind watchmaker by a blind author. May 22, 2007
9 out of 59 found this review helpful
I had heard so much about how wonderful this book was that I decided to read it for myself. Having done so I must credit Richard Dawkins with great writing skills. In many ways he is a story teller par excellence and this "gift" is summed up in this quotation from page 74 of The Blind Watchmaker, "But when we are prevented from taking a journey in reality, the imagination is not a bad substitute."
The only problem that I have with the above quotation is that use of the imagination must never be presented as anything other than what it is, and any attempt to present it as scientific fact should be rigorously resisted. Unfortunately this is not what Dawkins does; for his imaginative musings are often presented as fact.
Take for example the human eye. He has no evidence for the evolution of the eye. Is this a problem to him as it was to Darwin? In no way, the imagination is his substitute for evidence. Imagine a very small change to the eye, he writes, multiply this by 1000 or if you need more steps to make the transition plausible in your mind simply allow yourself to assume 10,000 or 100,000 (page 78) . Notice the words he uses, "imagine" "allow yourself" "assume." He ridicules religious people who lacking empirical evidence still believe in God. "God of the gaps" is his dismissive response, but he himself gladly presents "Evolution of the gaps" when he has no empirical evidence.
The possibility (which Darwin clearly recognised) of intelligent design and/or irreducible complexity in the human eye, are simply not considered and would be brushed aside as pseudoscientific nonsense. Yet the complete absence of empirical evidence for the evolution of the eye leaves us with what other alternatives?
Dawkins actually starts quite well in his book as he explains that design can occur naturally or accidentally or indeed as the result of the laws of physics, as for example the design of crystals as seen in the snowflake. He conveniently forgets to go on to explain design systems that is designs which have a specific function as of course is the case in Paley's watch. The simplest bacterial cell has every design system known to man, from open loop, closed loop, adaptive, self diagnostic, self repairing and self replicating - these last two still being beyond man's ability to produce. All of these have sophisticated functions which indicate prior purpose and above almost everything else in world shout out intelligent design to say nothing of the sophisticated encoded information system in DNA.
Space forbids further comment. One thing is clear. Richard Dawkins is totally committed to evolution as being a proven fact. His faith and commitment are the equal of the religious fundamentalists he often mocks, since he is willing to believe things not only lacking in evidence but even contrary to the evidence. The sub title of this book ought to be "Why belief in evolution precludes people from seeing design in the Universe." Truly this is "blind faith" and this book "The Blind Watchmaker" is written by a blind author.
Genius April 15, 2007
47 out of 57 found this review helpful
If you are a lay person, a scientist, but especially if you are religious, and you want to understand evolution and perhaps a little about the true 'meaning' of life....start here. Indeed even if you understand evolution....or think you do....read this masterful offering anyway. This book has a rich texture full of stunning details, is brilliantly argued and yet easy to follow. No one since Darwin has written a better book on the subject of evolution.
Enchantingly beautiful fiction March 22, 2007
62 out of 268 found this review helpful
Musings of a fideist (a materialistic fideist).
Richard Dawkins has a breathtaking gift for expressive, catchy writing. His handling of illustration and narrative flow like silk. Yet he reminds me of an eloquent 19th century clergyman. His persistent dedication to the high altar of gradualistic explanation, however incredibly improbable, stretches credulity to breaking point. Take for example his extraordinary leap on p.134, para 1, where self-replicating RNA will almost magically come into being - 'all so utterly simple and automatic'. There it is by fiat - Dawkins wishes and so it must be! Abracadabra! Those who have worked in the field know how fasitidious and temperamental RNA and enzymes can be even in the best conditions - yet here it is in rock pool. There are some problems even billions of years won't solve - ask the mathematicians.
Or take his extraordinary and uncharacteristically rambling tautology about the peacock's tail, pp 203-206, which boils down to an unexplained discrepancy in tail length (p204) and majority female taste (p205)! This is no cogent defence of evolution of an extraordinarily complex structure, just a mystical will-of-the-wisp-like weaving of concepts to meet his desired end.
He reiterates Darwin's acid test of his own theory, on p 91, but if really believed what he wrote there, he would have abandoned neo-Darwinism years ago - I have long since published one very clear example of what he seeks, and his written answer to me was that he couldn't answer it, and there are myriad more.
Dawkins is a magician with words, though not as self critical and cautious as he ought to be with scientific argument.
Revalatory March 18, 2007
40 out of 54 found this review helpful
I approched this book as an individual who has only the slightest knowledge of sciences,D.N.A, Evolution, Human Biology etc. I have always been rather agnostic, wondering were the harm was in religion in it's best practice.
It wasn't an easy read by any stretch and I often had to reference online information and re-read sections until I had gained a true understanding of Dawkins' text.
This book showed me so much, that before had held a mystique and innocent wonder, for which I am very, very grateful. Dawkins' work is revalatory to me personally and I would recommend it to anyone who has ever been curious as to how the world works and how it's inhabitants came into being.
Dawkins' work has an innate charm and wonder, catching the reader up into his incredible joy of progressive science. His analytical approach is never staid or sterile, instead it brings a sense of discovery that I have never experienced in a fact based tome.
I have whilst reading the book seen his documentories 'The Blind Watchmaker' and 'The Root Of All Evil?' and these too had a very simmilar impact.
I felt liberated and refreshed after readind this book, as I have never before.
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