title: Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder
author:  Richard Dawkins 
description: Why do poets and artists so often disparage science in their work? For that matter, why does so much scientific literature compare poorly with, say, the phone book? After struggling with questions like these for years, biologist Richard Dawkins has taken a wide-ranging view of the subjects of meaning and beauty in <i>Unweaving the Rainbow</i>, a deeply humanistic examination of science, mysticism, and human nature. Notably strong-willed in a profession of bet-hedgers and wait-and-seers, Dawkins carries the reader along on a romp through the natural and cultural worlds, determined that "science, at its best, should leave room for poetry."
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  RICHARD DAWKINS - UNWEAVING THE
  
  RAINBOW
  
  SCIENCE, DELUSION AND THE APPETITE
  
  FOR WONDER.
  
  'The product of a beguiling and fascinating mind and one generous enough to
  attempt to include all willing readers in its brilliantly informed enthusiasm'
  
  MELVYN BRAGG, OBSERVER
  
  Keats accused Newton of destroying the poetry of the rainbow by explaining the
  origin of its colours, thus dispelling its mystery. In this illuminating and
  provocative book, Richard Dawkins argues that Keats could not have been more
  mistaken and shows how an understanding of science inspires the human
  imagination and enhances our wonder of the world.
  
  'A brilliant assertion of the wonder and excitement of real, tough, grown-up
  science'
  
  A. S. BYATT, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BOOKS OF THE YEAR
  
  'The way Dawkins writes about science is not just a brain-tonic.
  
  It is more like an extended stay on a brain health-farm ... You come out
  feeling lean, tuned and enormously more intelligent'
  
  JOHN CAREY, SUNDA