The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Edited by Richard Dawkins

Reviewing Dawkins's latest offering The Greatest Show on Earth in this paper, Marek Kohn noted how the academic bruiser was also "fired with the need to explain and inspire": "If Dawkins carries on in this way, he'll be hailed as a national treasure yet."

Further evidence of the humane didacticism of Darwin's most tenacious champion comes in this engaging selection. Though Dawkins's belligerent certainty alienates many, he includes a view from Carl Sagan: "We will always be mired in error.

The most each generation can hope for is to move the error bars a little." If some inclusions bristle with the equations that are the language of science, others act as easily negotiable foothills to these mathematical crags.