Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is a British zoologist, formerly the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is also a very outspoken atheist.

Amongst his popular published output on zoology, biology and evolution his latest work, The God Delusion, is concerned primarily with religion, belief and the effects it has, and has had, on society, and why such should be considered anathema to those who value life.

Dawkins' outspokenness against various aspects of religion have been seen by some to be quite aggressive. He is famous for his opinion that labeling children with the religion of their parents is tantamount to child abuse, and for comparing the spread of religious beliefs to viruses.

Dawkins coined the term "meme" to describe how ideas (notably, religious belief) are spread and evolve using mechanisms similar to those of biological evolution.

Along with Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens, Dawkins participated in a two hour round-table discussion entitled the The Four Horsemen.

Publications

• The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-19-929115-2
• The Extended Phenotype, Oxford University Press, 1982. ISBN 0-19-288051-9
• The Blind Watchmaker, W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. ISBN 0-393-31570-3
• River Out of Eden, Basic Books, 1995. ISBN 0-465-06990-8
• Climbing Mount Improbable, W. W. Norton & Company, 1996. ISBN 0-393-31682-3
• Unweaving the Rainbow, Houghton Mifflin, 1998. ISBN 0-618-05673-4
• A Devil's Chaplain, Houghton Mifflin, 2003. ISBN 0-618-48539-2
• The Ancestor's Tale, Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN 0-618-61916-X
• The God Delusion, Houghton Mifflin, 2006. ISBN 0-618-68000-4

External links

• Richard Dawkins' web site
• The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
• Richard Dawkins multimedia archive
• Richard Dawkins' curriculum vitae
• The official channel at YouTube