The theme and purpose of "Unweaving The Rainbow" becomes clear from the preface. Dawkins writes:

"A foreign publisher of my first book confessed that he could not sleep for three nights after reading it, so troubled was he by what he saw as its cold, bleak message....

and after a few more anecdotes:

.....To accuse science of robbing life of the warmth that makes it worth living is so preposterously mistaken, so diametrically opposite to my own feelings and those of most working scientists, I am almost driven to the despair of which I am wrongly suspected."

The book is a successful antithesis to the mistakenly perceived existential despair supposedly inherent in a scientific worldview - far from stealing away the wonder and mystery of the world, science offers depth and understanding that leads to a greater wonder and appreciation of life than ever could be attained by a worldview inhabited by ghosts and goblins.

The optimal audience for this book would be the people who love the supernatural, who watch every UFO-show, absorb every "mystery" constructed by the TV shows that delve into the "unexplainable" with dollar signs in the eyes of the producers. Of course, unfortunately that is the audience least likely to ever pick this book up from the bookstore or a library. Still, for the rest of us, this book has a lot to offer.

With the "ghosts" of literary masters of the past watching over his shoulder and adding their quotes for the writer to pick apart or to create atmosphere with, Dawkins dispels misconceptions that lead us astray in our thinking of science. He points out the flaws in our thinking, and the mistakes we tend to fall pray to in making judgements of the world and how it should be perceived. He traces the sources of superstition with wit and charisma, showing how many habits can be traced down to the tendency to spot patterns even when there really are none there to spot.

Dawkins covers a lot of ground in this book, from the history of physics to the usefulness of simple ideas in a variety of fields. His style is thoroughly enjoyable, and although he doesn't go very deep into the subjects he handles, he remains faithful to the purpose of the book: to shake awake the slumbering scientist inside all of us, and to instill in the reader the idea of the real world, the one that needs no pixie dust or falsely perceived cheap thrills to invoke awe, deep appreciation and wonder in us.

As the quote from Shakespeare (that also appears in this book), so beautifully sums up:

"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess."


Recommended: Yes