An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist is the first volume of the autobiographical memoir by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. 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. 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 newspaper described it as warm and generous,Marek Kohn, The Independent – "Book review: An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist, By Richard Dawkins", 27 September 2013 Accessed 25 January 2018 while Eric Liebetrau of the Boston GlobeEric Liebetrau: "‘An Appetite for Wonder’ by Richard Dawkins- Memoir details the early life of an influential atheist" Boston Globe 30 September 2013 Accessed 25 January 2018 states the book's title is "ultimately a misnomer, as much of the narrative is a slog." The satirical magazine Private Eye describes it as "profoundly irksome...colourless....The self-absorption is extraordinary." Instead of providing a reflective memoir Dawkins "huffs and harangues".Beyond Belief. Private Eye no.1350. 4 October 2013. p27 Leah Libresco Sargeant, writing for First Things, finds the book "invites comparisons with C. S. Lewis' 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."Leah Libresco Sargeant: "Incurious Dawkins A review of Richard Dawkins’ memoir, An Appetite for Wonder.", March 2014, at First Things Accessed 25 January 2018
In a review described by theologian Peter Leithart as "the very definition of withering",Peter Leithart: First Things "Evangelical Atheism", 1 October 2014, at patheos.com/blogs Accessed 25 January 2018 philosopher John Gray, writing in The New Republic, 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 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", The Independent, Saturday 14 September 2013.
Notes and references