And he does, but it\u2019s a bit of a ramble. The book starts out promisingly enough. It has a good title, borrowed\u00a0 Do not all charms fly Keats\u2019 complaint about the aesthetically destructive power of \u2018cold philosophy\u2019 and his easy seduction by mystery and superstition strike the modern scientific mind as little more than romantic notions <\/em>and are easily dismissed. Dawkins has little trouble hitting his stride early on, and explores some interesting ideas en route to building his case for the enrichment of beauty by the good offices of science. However, his chosen path\u00a0is not a very direct one and ultimately the book turns out to be a compendium of parts that don\u2019t add up satisfactorily.<\/p>\n The opening section is followed by three chapters of examples, all drawn from physics, that are clearly designed to illuminate\u00a0the beauty revealed when science penetrates beneath the surface. But the execution feels clunky. Dawkins invokes the image of the barcode\u00a0to explain first spectroscopy, then the analysis of sound by Fourier techniques and finally DNA fingerprinting. This an odd choice of metaphor since the barcode is a thoroughly pedestrian image that widens rather than bridges the gap between scientific and aesthetic sensibilities. His working of the material also felt laboured. Dawkins is clearly more at home (as later in the book) on matters biological and evolutionary. I\u2019m not sure it was intentional but I was left to conclude that\u00a0the scientific analysis of nature necessarily involves a large amount of tedious spadework: you have to dig for your nuggets. That’s not a bad message but I’m not sure how many converts it will have\u00a0won.<\/p>\n These chapters are followed by one that unpicks human credulity; Dawkins makes some worthwhile points but he also works over some easy targets \u2013 astrology and paranormalism \u2013 in a rather long-winded and unsubtle fashion. He is on better form warning of\u00a0the dangers of not properly appreciating\u00a0probability but slips again in the following chapter by devoting much of it to an extended attack on the writings of Stephen J Gould which, at a distance of 17 years, seemed to have lost its purpose.<\/p>\n In the home stretch there is a rather nebulous argument in favour of \u2018good poetic science\u2019 \u2013 the useful and appropriate application\u00a0of metaphor \u2013 but Dawkins’\u00a0efforts are undermined by being interwoven with an rather defensive rebuttal of those who apparently have not read The Selfish Gene <\/em>with sufficient attention. This section also dwells on accounts of how our evolutionary history is embedded in our genes and our brains; while\u00a0quite\u00a0interesting in themselves, I struggled to relate these to his central thesis. In the end I was glad to be done with\u00a0Unweaving the Rainbow. G<\/em>ood here and there for making you think but dare I say it lacks poetry?<\/p>\n The second book of my reading fortnight was John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s 1963 classic\u00a0The Spy who Came in from the Cold<\/em>, which was recommended to me by Mike Taylor<\/a>. In contrast to Dawkins\u2019 wayward perambulation, this was a taut, brilliantly constructed narrative – cold, hard, cynical, tragic. I devoured the book\u00a0in two days. John Banville said of it: \u2018A masterpiece, the best espionage novel ever written\u2019 and I\u2019m not about to disagree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two weeks, two books. In Unweaving the Rainbow Richard Dawkins takes issue with the poets. He argues that the poetry revealed deep within Nature by scientific investigation is more wondrous than the musings of those who make do with superficial … Continue reading ![\"Unweaving](\"https:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7394\/16487858466_e880fac98e_n.jpg\")
<\/a>from Keats\u2019 poem Lamia<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>which contains the lines:<\/p>\n
\nAt the mere touch of cold philosophy?
\nThere was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
\nWe know her woof, her texture; she is given
\nIn the dull catalogue of common things.
\nPhilosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,
\nConquer all mysteries by rule and line,
\nEmpty the haunted air, and gnom\u00e8d mine\u2014
\nUnweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made
\nThe tender-person’d Lamia melt into a shade.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7306\/16326133718_a7147aaeaf_n.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n