{"id":8879,"date":"2014-02-16T10:14:28","date_gmt":"2014-02-16T15:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=8879"},"modified":"2014-02-16T10:14:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-16T15:14:28","slug":"dawkins-doesnt-sate-an-appetite-for-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/02\/dawkins-doesnt-sate-an-appetite-for-wonder.html","title":{"rendered":"Dawkins Doesn’t Sate an ‘Appetite for Wonder’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My March issue of\u00a0First Things<\/em> has just arrived in the mail, and, with it, my review of Richard Dawkins\u2019s memoir<\/a>, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Here\u2019s how it begins:<\/p>\n

Richard Dawkins\u2019\u00a0An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>invites comparisons with C. S. Lewis\u2019\u00a0Surprised by Joy<\/em><\/a>. 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. Unfortunately, there is much more joy in Lewis\u2019 work than there is wonder in Dawkins\u2019.<\/p>\n

When Dawkins recounts stories from his childhood in Africa or schooling in England, he seldom enters into his thoughts or feelings. (The volume, first of a promised two, goes up to the publication of\u00a0The Selfish Gene\u00a0<\/em>in 1976, when Dawkins was a lecturer in zoology at Oxford.) The story of his circumcision is used to set up an aside about German law. We learn about his frustration with legal accommodation of religion, but nothing about if and how he had any personal feelings on the topic\u2026.<\/p>\n

Dawkins speaks in defense of the rights of individuals, but there are no\u00a0people<\/em>\u00a0with thoughts and feelings in his anecdote. His infant self can be excused for not having a reaction, but a memoirist adds context to the stories he tells by reflecting on their impact on his present self. Yet Dawkins remains \u00adimpassive.<\/p>\n

Read the whole thing at <\/em>First Things\u2026<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It turns out I like his straight science writing much more than his memoir or theology. \u00a0I had read\u00a0The God Delusion<\/em><\/a> as an atheist, and decided not to pass it along to my Catholic boyfriend, since Dawkins was punching below his weight. \u00a0There are certainly enough fundamentalist evangelicals to be worth rebutting, but it\u2019s not very fun or instructive to watch. \u00a0I much preferred\u00a0Unweaving the Rainbow<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The book I reviewed is the first in a two volume memoir, and I suspect I\u2019ll be taking a pass on part two. \u00a0But I have plenty on my plate for the time being. \u00a0I\u2019m off to the library to pick up Scott Stossel\u2019s\u00a0My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and Andy Weir\u2019s\u00a0The Martian<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0Plus, on my nightstand (or, rather, the bit of floor serving as my nightstand til I own furniture), I\u2019ve got the\u00a0next<\/em> book I\u2019m reviewing for\u00a0First Things<\/em>, Richard Beck\u2019s The Slavery of Death<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My March issue of\u00a0First Things has just arrived in the mail, and, with it, my review of Richard Dawkins\u2019s memoir, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist. \u00a0Here\u2019s how it begins: Richard Dawkins\u2019\u00a0An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist\u00a0invites comparisons with C. S. Lewis\u2019\u00a0Surprised by Joy. Both are memoirs by thinkers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":8880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviewsrecommendations"],"yoast_head":"\nDawkins Doesn't Sate an 'Appetite for Wonder'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My March issue of\u00a0First Things has just arrived in the mail, and, with it, my review of Richard Dawkins's memoir, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/02\/dawkins-doesnt-sate-an-appetite-for-wonder.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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