Richard Dawkins: online writings

• An Early Flowering of Genetics - an edited version of Richard Dawkins' introduction to a new edition of Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man, published by Gibson Square Books, price £10. This piece also appears in A Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays by Richard Dawkins, published by Weidenfeld February 13th, 2003, price £16.99  The Guardian Review, February 8, 2003. 

• One Year On: A Special Report - We asked 10 leading figures for their thoughts on the events of September 11 and its ramifications throughout the past year The Independent Review, September 11, 2002

• The Joy of Living Dangerously - tribute to Sanderson of Oundle, former Schoolmaster and promoter of children's education, The Guardian Review, July 6, 2002

• Young Earth Creationists teach bad science and worse religion - Response and explanation about why teaching young earth creationism as part of the science curriculum at Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead is the main issue.  The Daily Telegraph March 18, 2002 

• A Scientist's View - Richard Dawkin's response to Creationism being taught as truth. The Guardian March 9, 2002
  

• Children Must Choose Their Own Beliefs - In an open letter to Estelle Morris, Richard Dawkins calls on the Government to think again about funding yet more divisive faith schools, The Observer, December 30, 2001. Letters of response - printed January 6, 2002

• The Word Made Flesh - Today we can read human and ape genetic legacies. In 50 years, we could resurrect the past, says Richard Dawkins The GuardianDecember 27, 2001

• Time to Stand Up - The essay is a follow-up to Dawkins' powerful article, "Religion's Misguided Missiles. "Stop respecting religion and start submitting it to the same scutiny as any other idea or argument, says Richard Dawkins. And September 11th 2001 makes this scrutiny more urgent than ever... " Written for Freedom From Religion Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin, September 2001

• Religion's Misguided Missiles - reaction to September 11th events in the USA, The Guardian September 18, 2001

• Lament for Douglas - "This is not an obituary, there’ll be time enough for them.  It is not a tribute, not a considered assessment of a brilliant life, not a eulogy.  It is a keening lament, written too soon to be balanced, too soon to be carefully thought through.  Douglas, you cannot be dead." The Guardian May 14, 2001

• Obituary for Mike Cullen by John Kemp and Richard Dawkins The Guardian April 10, 2001
  

• No faith in the absurd by Richard Dawkins, TES Opinion Feb 23, 2001
  Backlash against church schools drive by Clare Dean, TES Feb 23, 2001 - "The eminent scientist Richard Dawkins is leading a growing chorus of criticism of the Government's plan for more religious schools."
  • Mr Blunkett has got it wrong on church schools, The Independent Feb 24, 2001
  • Dawkins leads atheist revolt against 'evil' church schools by Ben Russell, The Independent Feb 24, 2001 
  • Letter to the Editor from Richard Dawkins, The Independent Feb 26, 2001 
• What is True?  published title "Hall of Mirrors" -  Why science is not a faith stance and scientific truth is not one among many possible 'truths'. Discusses ultra-feminist criticisms of 'masculine' science; Popper and Kuhn. Forbes ASAP October 2, 2000

• They Were Wrong- Greenpeace's action was vandalism and inhibited the need for scientific research  The Observer Sunday September 24, 2000

• Admit you're wrong, Gordon Brown, The noted Oxford scientist takes issue with the Chancellor on his view of Oxford 'elitism', The Observer, Sunday May 28, 2000.
  

• An open letter from Richard Dawkins to Prince Charles, The Guardian May 21, 2000  also posted at EDGE. -  A response to  Prince Charles' Reith Lecture

• How do you wear your genes?,  - "Scarcely a day goes by without the papers breaking the news of some dramatic new gene. It's always described as a gene "for" some very specific thing...". Evening Standard Online April 3, 2000

• Richard Dawkins' Obituary of W.D. Hamilton  From edge.org, also appeared in The Independent - March 10, 2000

• Snake Oil and Holy Water, - Illogical thinking is the only thing joining science and religion together. One of many essays by scientists and thinkers, Forbes ASAP, BIG ISSUE IV : "THE GREAT CONVERGENCE", October 4, 1999

• An eclipse? It's my kind of magic,  - "A solar eclipse has an undeniable aura, but stripping away all its mystical baggage, says Richard Dawkins, reveals the true magic - science, The Sunday Times, July 25, 1999

• "Is Science Killing The Soul ?" -  a discussion with Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker. Transcript of the February 10, 1999 Guardian-Dillons Debate at the Westminster Central Hall in London in an event chaired by Tim Radford, Science Editor of The Guardian.". From John Brockman's EDGE webzine.February 10, 1999

• The "Information Challenge",  - Richard Dawkins answers the question. The Skeptic, Vol 18, No 4 Dec 1998

• Where do the real dangers of genetic engineering lie?,  - Scare stories about genetic engineering may divert our attention from areas where we do need to be on our guard against cynical exploiters.--The London Evening Standard Aug 19, 1998

• Postmodernism Disrobed,   - Richard Dawkins' review of Intellectual Impostures by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont. Profile Books 1998, £9.99. To be published in U.S.A. by Picador as Fashionable Nonsense.--Nature 394, pp 141-143 July 9 1998

• The Improbability of God - Op-Ed article partly based on The Blind Watchmaker and Climbing Mount Improbable. Free Inquiry (Summer 1998) v18, n3

• Science and Sensibility - Queen Elizabeth Hall Lecture, London Mar 24 1998, Series title: Sounding the Century (‘What will the Twentieth Century leave to its heirs?’)

• Darwin and Darwinism - from BBC TWO's Evolution Weekend website. A longer version of this article, authored by Richard Dawkins, first appeared in the British Edition of Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) Encyclopedia 98.

• When Religion Steps on Science's Turf & The Emptiness of Theology, Free Inquiry (Spring, 1998 - Volume 18, Number 2 ) - Darwin Re-crucified

• The Evolution of Bill Clinton: Sex and Power, The Observer [London] March 22, 1998 - (remember please that "is" does not mean "ought"!?

• What’s Wrong with the Paranormal?, - almost unrecognizably hacked-about version of this appeared in the Sunday Mirror [London] (Sunday, Feb 8 98), under the headline "Aliens are not among us."--The Sunday Mirror [London] Sunday, Feb 8 1998

• Why I am a secular humanist,  - The members of the International Academy of Humanism reflect on the guiding principles of their lives. Includes Richard Dawkins and E.O.Wilson.--Free Inquiry (Wntr 1997 v18 n1)

• Trial by Jury,  - published title "Three herring gull chicks . . . the reason juries don't work"--The Observer [London] Nov 16, 1997

• Human Chauvinism: a review of S.J.Gould's Full House,  - baseball / is evolution progressive?--Evolution June 1997 Vol. 51 No. 3 

• "Dolly and the cloth-heads", "Religious spokesmen and spokeswomen enjoy an inside track to influence and power which others have to earn through their own ability or expertise." (thanks Josie Carpenter)--The Independent Mar 8, 1997

• The "Alabama Insert": A Study in Ignorance and Dishonesty, Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science (Jan 97) - transcript of a lecture by Richard Dawkins from the Franklin Lectures in Science & Humanities, Auburn University April 1, 1996.

• Is Science a Religion?, - The 1996 Humanist of the Year asked this question in a speech accepting the honor from the American Humanist Association.--The HumanistJan/Feb 1997

• Thoughts on Cloning Humans, published title "The Secret Confessions of a Closet Clone" London Evening Standard Feb 25, 1997

• An exchange from The Independent February 20 & 24 1997:
  • (link down) The nature of our DNA will always lag behind nurture: Gene testing is pointless. Our fates are more likely to be shaped by our postcodes by Polly Toynbee
  • A response: What your genes reveal about you: Nature and nurture is not an either/or issue by Richard Dawkins The Independent February 24, 1997
  
  
• Richard Dawkins' 10 favorite books of the century,  The Telegraph Feb 15 1997 

• Appearing on the EDGE website: "To Arrive at the EDGE of the World's Knowledge"
  • Biography of Richard Dawkins
  • Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder (the lecture same as above) - Nov 12, 1996
  • The Third Culture react to the Richard Dawkins lecture  - Dec 27, 1996  
  • Spare Me Your Memes - Jaron Lanier debates Charles Simonyi and Mike Godwin on the concept and value of Memes- Dec 27, 1996
  • Implications of Natural Selection and The Laws of Physics - Physicist Lee Smolin poses questions for Richard Dawkins- Jan 6, 1997
• How we got a head start on our animal natures,  - Our selfish genes made brains that turned the tables on them--The Sunday Times Dec 29, 1996

• So why don't animals have wheels?, The Sunday Times Nov 24, 1996

• The Richard Dimbleby Lecture: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder, BBC1 Nov 12, 1996 

• Book reviews of Narrow Roads of Geneland and The Song of the Dodo, The Times Aug 29, 1996

• Human gullibility beyond belief, - the "paranormal" in the media--The Sunday Times Aug 25, 1996

• The Conquest of the Air,  - the gradual evolution of flight--The Times April 1, 1996

• Try a close encounter with Truth, - book review of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan--THE TIMES February, 1996

• All Our Yesterdays.  - "Evolutionist Richard Dawkins found heroes and inspiration for the future, too, when he returned to Kenya to search for his roots, our species' ancestors, and a well-loved childhood garden."--The Times (of London) Travel December  31, 1995

• The Real Romance in the Stars,  Astrology as an enemy of truth. And a response - The Independent December 1995

• Where d'you get those peepers, - eyes have evolved many times, often in little more than a blink of geological history--New Statesman & Society Jun 16, 1995  pg.29

• No mercy on the violent river of life,  - his summary of River out of Eden--The Telegraph May 10, 1995
• An exchange between Michael Poole and Richard Dawkins. Posted by Christian Students in Science (CIS). Originally published in Science and Christian Beliefin Vol 6 April 1994 and Vol 7 1995:
  • A Critique of Aspects of the Philosophy and Theology of Richard Dawkins by Michael Poole, Visiting Research Fellow at King's College, London
  • A Reply to Poole by Richard Dawkins
  • A Response to Dawkins by Michael Poole

• The "know-nothings", the "know-alls", and the "no-contests" (has no official title), - lecture about different styles of religious belief--The NullifidianDecember, 1994 

• The "St Jude" mind virus, - chain letters (co-authored by Dawkins)--Nature, Vol.371, No.6492, 1994 pp.23-24 

• Gaps in the Mind, - we are African apes-- from The Great Ape Project.

• Burying the vehicle (discussion). . Remarks on an earlier article by Elliot Sober and David Sloan Wilson, who made a more extended argument in their book Unto Others : The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior--Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol.17, No.4, pp.616-617 (1994)

• The evolutionary future of man, - a biological view of progress--Economist September 11, 1993, p.87

• Viruses of the Mind,  computer viruses and memes --Free Inquiry, Summer 1993, pg 34-41 

• Review of Stephen J. Gould's book Wonderful Life, Sunday Telegraph, February 25, 1990

• Universal parasitism and the co-evolution of extended phenotypes, Whole Earth Review 1989

• Review of Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology and Human Nature by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin and R.C.Lewontin. From "Sociobiology: the debate continues", New Scientist January, 24, 1985

• Review of Richard Milton's The Facts of Life: Shattering the myth of Darwinism.New Statesman, London, August 28, 1992. (Richard Milton's alternativescience.com and a review of Milton's website from Robert Todd Carroll))

• Review of Blueprints: Solving the Mystery of Evolution By Maitland A. Edey and Donald C. Johanson. Illustrated. 418 pp. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. New York Times, April 9, 1989