''An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist'' is the first volume of the autobiographical memoir by British

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biol ...

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

. The hardcover version of the book was published in both the United Kingdom and the United States on 12 September 2013, and covers Dawkins's childhood, youth, studies and early career up to the writing of ''

The Selfish Gene ''The Selfish Gene'' is a 1976 book on evolution by ethologist Richard Dawkins that promotes the gene-centred view of evolution, as opposed to views focused on the organism and the group. The book builds upon the thesis of George C. Willia ...

''. A second volume, '' Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science'', covering the remaining part of his life, was released in September 2015.

Reviews

Early reviews were mixed. Marek Kohn of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper described it as warm and generous, while Eric Liebetrau of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' states the book's title is "ultimately a misnomer, as much of the narrative is a slog." The satirical magazine ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

'' describes it as "profoundly irksome...colourless....The self-absorption is extraordinary." Instead of providing a reflective memoir Dawkins "huffs and harangues". Leah Libresco Sargeant, writing for '' First Things'', finds the book "invites comparisons with

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

' '' Surprised by Joy''. Both are memoirs by thinkers who seemed a little surprised to end up as apologists, much less as writers whom growing numbers would credit with their conversion or de-conversion." In a review described by theologian Peter Leithart as "the very definition of withering", philosopher John Gray, writing in ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', criticized the book's "tone of indulgent superiority" and "Dawkins' inveterate literal-mindedness", and commented that Dawkins "writes well – fluently, vividly, and at times with considerable power. But the ideas and the arguments that he presents are in no sense novel or original, and he seems unaware of the critiques of positivism that appeared in its Victorian heyday."John Gray ''The New Republic'' "The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins", 3 October 2014
Accessed 25 January 2018 In his review, which was described by atheist philosopher

Stephen Law Stephen Law (born 1960) is an English philosopher. He is currently Director of the Certificate of Higher Education and Director of Philosophy at The Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford. Law was previously Reader in Philos ...

as "embarrassingly awful", Gray also criticized the frequent self-comparisons Dawkins makes to Darwin, writing "no two minds could be less alike" and that "(Darwin) understood science as an empirical investigation in which truth is never self-evident and theories are always provisional... Dawkins sees science as the triumph of certainty over superstition. But he shows very little interest in asking what scientific knowledge is or how it comes to be possible." In ''The Independent'', Brandon Robshaw describes the book as " ..a generous appreciation and admiration of the qualities of others, as well as a transparent love of life, literature – and science".Brandon Robshaw
"Book review: An Appetite For Wonder, by Richard Dawkins. An insight beyond the caricature"
''

'', Saturday 14 September 2013.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appetite for Wonder 2013 non-fiction books Science autobiographies Books by Richard Dawkins British memoirs English-language non-fiction books English non-fiction books Ecco Press books