The Greatest Show on Earth has a Sneak-Peak

Richard Dawkins’ new book, The Greatest Show on Earth: the Evidence for Evolution, is due to hit the shelves on September 22nd but he’s written an article in the Times Online, a U.K. news outlet, which appears to be an excerpt from the as-yet-to-be-published text, probably the preface. Here’s an excerpt of the excerpt:

The Greatest Show on Earth is a book about the positive evidence that evolution is a fact. It is not intended as an anti-religious book. I’ve done that, it’s another T-shirt, this is not the place to wear it again. Bishops and theologians who have attended to the evidence for evolution have given up the struggle against it. Some may do so reluctantly, some, like Richard Harries, enthusiastically, but all except the woefully uninformed are forced to accept the fact of evolution.

I’m looking forward to his book and hope it’s released on Kindle as well as hardcover, but it doesn’t seem to be coming out in that format right away. If his article/excerpt is any indication, the book promises to be a good read. In the link above, Dawkins refers to the “40-percenters” -that 40% of the United States that believes the history of the Earth is measured in thousands of years rather than billions and that human life began with two humans named “Adam” and “Eve” who didn’t have navels. While Dawkins doesn’t intend Greatest Show to be a “antireligious” book, I’m sure that’s exactly how many of the “40-percenters” will take it.

But I hope they read it anyway.

This will definitely be a book I’m going to purchase with the intent to loan out from time to time. Time will tell if I’ll loan and recommend it more than Carl Sagan’s A Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.

Click the link in the book title or in my picks on the sidebar if you want to pre-order The Greatest Show on Earth: the Evidence for Evolution from Amazon for over $10 off the cover price (as of today’s date anyway).

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