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
Discover more
Pep Guardiola, football’s greatest coach, is in a bind
A serial winner is learning how to lose
The Economist’s word of the year for 2024
The Greeks knew how to talk about politics and power
What do feta, cucumbers and cottage cheese have in common?
Social media and the internet are changing how people cook and relate to food
Germany’s former chancellor 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