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A Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays

by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 2,704 ratings · 67 reviews

One of the most renowned evolutionary biologists at work today. Richard Dawkins has written passionately for years on subjects that matter deeply to him - and matter urgently to all of us. A Devil's Chaplain brings together the best and most provocative of his essays, on subjects ranging from evolution to ethics, from travel to literature, from education to religion. The r...more

Hardcover, 264 pages

Published February 3rd 2003 by George Weidenfeld & Nicholson (first published January 1st 2003)

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Jun 12, 2007 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Devil's Chaplain is an excellent collection of Dawkin's writing, ranging across the topics of genetics, memetics, pseudoscience, religion, terrorism and the nature of life itself. This is a field trip through Dawkin's mind, including letters to the prime minister, introductions to the books of others, and pieces that have appeared in popular print. His eulogy for his good friend Douglas Adams is particularly touching, and no less so is his treatment of his late rival, Stephen Jay Gould. But th...more

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Sep 20, 2009 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This collection of essays, written before Professor Dawkins succumbed to the pomposity that is sadly so often an accompaniment to fame, and started to confuse intellect with wisdom, is one of my favorites. Most of the thirty or so essays in the book display the charm, erudition, and clarity of exposition that are characteristic of his earlier work, though some of the pieces dealing with religion prefigure his subsequent descent into shrillness and condescension.

The tone of the final essay, "A P...more

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Sep 12, 2010 Eric Orchard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book begins brilliantly. the esays in the sections Science and Sensibility and Light will Be Thrown are amazing, powerful examples of writing on science, life and culture. I felt that the essays more concerned with religion fell off the rails. I found these essays less reasonable and often ugly.

This is understandable as some were written directly after September 11 2001 and in a state of anger.

I found the letter to his daughter especially off putting. at one point writing that her dog is...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Walter Villalobos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Resumen Dawkins

En cada una de las líneas que forman este recopilatorio de sus escritos mas sobresalientes, se puede percibir la esencia misma de Dawkins. Todo aquel que lo ha visto y ha leído el libro, sabrá de lo que hablo. Si bien la primera edición es del 2003, al día de hoy se mantiene firme como un árbol robusto que resiste grandes vientos.

Cada uno de los apartados trata diversas temáticas de la vida diaria, como el mismo título lo dice: desde ciencia pura hasta una carta personal. Sin luga...more

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Sep 06, 2010 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As you would expect, this is a stimulating sets of essays, reviews and recollections from evolution's finest advocate. As an introduction to the theory of evolution, its impact on the other sciences and the necessarily complications for dogmatic thinking in other fields it has created through the ages - and still does - it is first class. His short shrift with 'Intelligent Design' and 'Alternative Medicine' is delightfully to the point.

Many of the pieces, though, show a more 'human' side (Dawkin...more

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May 22, 2012 Sarah Coughlon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Now that I've read Dawkins' essays, it's all downhill from here... I guess I have to read The God Delusion now. Sadface.

Dawkins is a really cool scientific thinker, and a decent critic of other things. This book is 250 pages of editorials and book reviews originally published in the world's leading newspapers and magazines: for what that's worth, it's a nice book. I think that the biggest disappointment for me (having just read his work on evolution and avoided his various other polemics like th...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Aysun rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, non-fiction

This book is just as aggressive as I thought it'd be from its name. So the sensitive religious people should be warned in case of an offence.

It was a really nice collection of essays on various topics. I found some parts with less Biology to be a little boring, probably cause I've already read many books pointing out the negative sides of religions. I read those parts mostly skimming so as not to get bored and abandon the book. But I've noticed that the author's writing style will never not be...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Jim Razinha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Richard Dawkins more often than not is labeled arrogant, whther in print, in lecture or in person. Having read, listened and talked to Dawkins, I would be hard pressed to argue the contrary. Nevertheless, I still like him and what he has to say, even if I don't understand everything.

The Devil’s Chaplain is a collection of essays published in 2003, that according to the backleaf of the paperback, is “an enthusiastic declaration, a testament to the powers of rigorous scientific examination to reve...more Richard Dawkins more often than not is labeled arrogant, whther in print, in lecture or in person. Having read, listened and talked to Dawkins, I would be hard pressed to argue the contrary. Nevertheless, I still like him and what he has to say, even if I don't understand everything.

The Devil’s Chaplain is a collection of essays published in 2003, that according to the backleaf of the paperback, is “an enthusiastic declaration, a testament to the powers of rigorous scientific examination to reveal the wonders of the world.” Well, I think it is a wonderful collection ranging from the pedantic to the candid, from righteous to humble (if you look close, you’ll see this). He can be wittily entertaining and maddeningly academic, but never boring. And he doesn’t pull punches (no expects that anyway).

Dawkins grouped his essays into six (actually seven) sections and provides a foreword to each, explaining his choices for inclusion.

In “Science and Sensibility” he talks about Darwin (of course). He examines the relativity of truth as related to perspective, with science as the only real truth. He looks at the human ape family tree, ethics in genetic studies, relates his experiences as a jury member (prompting me to rethink the jury concept). Two of my favorite essays in this section look at quackery of new age crystal proponents and a brilliant review of “Intellectual Impostures” by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont (published in the US as “Fashionable Nonsense”)offering Dawkins’ Law of Conservation of Difficulty and a web link to a hilarious site: The Postmodernism Generator (http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/post...” that “will spontaneously generate for you, using faultless grammatical principles, a spanking new postmodern discourse, never before seen.”

In “Light Will Be Thrown”, the chapters look at Darwinism’s effect outside biology and Darwinism as a universal truth. He also relates with palpable distaste his experience with the “murky underworld of creationist propaganda.” Within that chapter is a fascinating look at information transfer, one of the best, if dry, reads in the book.

In “The Infected Mind”, Dawkins concentrates all barrels on religion. He revisits memes and his view of religions as viruses of the mind. He dismisses claims of the convergence of science and religion, and does a number on the tendency to afford religious spokesmen a “privileged platform”, such as including their opinions in scientific discussions where they have no place.

“They Told Me, Heraclitus” is a collection of tributes and eulogies to Douglas Adams, W.D. Hamilton and John Diamond, the last exposing some of the snake oil masquerading as “alternative medicine.”

“Even the Ranks of Tuscany” blows the lid off the exaggerated conflict between Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould. Dawkins freely admits he was neither close friends with Gould nor in agreement on their respective views of evolution, but he was highly respectful of Gould’s scientific approach and laudatory of Gould’s writing. The chapter contains some reviews of Gould’s books, both favorable and unfavorable, and concludes with a sad recounting of a final collaborative effort against the intelligent design movement that was cut short before publication by Gould’s death.

After a chapter on Africa, he concludes with a moving letter to his (then) ten year old daughter entitled "Good and Bad Reasons for Believing"(less)

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Jul 19, 2012 John Orman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this collection of his best essays, Dawkins uses wit and an analytic mind to speak out against pseudoscience, religion, and mysticism. One essay takes on "crystal power." As far as religion and science ever converging, Dawkins answers with an emphatic NO!

One essay is a moving eulogy written for Douglas Adams in 2001. Quite interesting is his Correspondence with a Darwinian Heavyweight, an exchange of letters between Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould.

Also quite revealing is the author's open lette...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Dan Arel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, religion, science

This book was fantastic! A collection of essays, from his love of science, to book reviews and personal battles with other famous scientists. Ending w/ the famous letter to his 10 year old daughter.

I personally loved the section and essays on pseudoscience, religion and the back and forth between him and Stephen J Gould. I found each essay to be inspiring and never boring. At the end of each, you would check the clock to see if you had time to read one more.

As with all of Dawkins books, I finish...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Kieran rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a great collection of essays, for the most part. The only reason I did not hand over five stars is that I got horribly lost in the collection of prefaces to other books and eulogies for people I had never heard of. In saying that, the two pieces on Douglas Adams were wonderful (though I have read them elsewhere). I suppose in their own right these pieces were brilliant, though I am not sure that putting them in this collection gave them the context they deserved! The strong ending, support...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Daniela rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“What a book a devils chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low, and horrid cruel works of nature”, Writes Charles Darwin half jokingly to his friend when describing the process of natural selection and how imperfect the natural world is. This letter that would of normally be seen as obsolete inspired Mr. Dawkins to combine a collection of his essays and others essays to explain why we shouldn’t fear science and to describe why naturals selection should not be seen as “wastef...more

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Sep 19, 2008 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some excellent essays. A touch too close to being a bit racist here and there, but perhaps that was inaccuracy of language. For the first time I think I actually understand something about evolution. His point about the 98% figure of genetic similarity with chimps was well made. He cited the fact that if you compare two books, there will be a lot of common letters and the figure would suggest similarity. But if you were to compare them sentence by sentence, they would probably share only a tiny...more Some excellent essays. A touch too close to being a bit racist here and there, but perhaps that was inaccuracy of language. For the first time I think I actually understand something about evolution. His point about the 98% figure of genetic similarity with chimps was well made. He cited the fact that if you compare two books, there will be a lot of common letters and the figure would suggest similarity. But if you were to compare them sentence by sentence, they would probably share only a tiny fraction of commonality.

What I still don’t understand about theorists on evolution is how they still discuss superiority or desirability for breeding in terms of strength, speed, size etc. After many hundreds of thousands of years during which human cooperation in agriculture, shared civilisation and eventually technological change has transformed the success rate of the species, why are qualities of cooperation, constancy or intellect now not also included in the factors that influence natural selection? Perhaps they are. Maybe I should read late Darwin.

The idea that atheists just go one God further was also a point well made. Many of us would admit to being atheists when it comes to Mithras, Zeus, Thor, etc etc. Of all the Gods, most people who claim not to be atheists probably only admit a belief in one and thus reject thousands of other. It’s a bit like claiming to be a vegetarian on the grounds that you don’t eat duck, but do eat all the rest of the animal world.

The point about cloning and identical twins was made a few too many times, I think, but then it was a collection of essays. It is a point, however, that the non-scientist would find it hard to relate to, since for someone from that starting position the twins are “natural” and the “clone” is not, despite the fact that genetically they represent identical concepts. The position would be really interesting, however, if the twins, or triplets or quads etc arose as a result of in vitro fertilisation and then implantation, and hence were not “natural”.
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Dec 18, 2008 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

This book is a collection of Dawkins's essays, book reviews, forewards, eulogies, letters, etc. from the past 25 years. The 32 essays are organized thematically into different sections such as "Science and Sensibility," which is Dawkins's magnificant ode to science and reason, and "The Infected Mind," which forms the bulk of his polemic against the virus-like persistence of religion. Other chapters discuss such varied topics as 'alternative' medicine, genetic information content, the flaws of th...more This book is a collection of Dawkins's essays, book reviews, forewards, eulogies, letters, etc. from the past 25 years. The 32 essays are organized thematically into different sections such as "Science and Sensibility," which is Dawkins's magnificant ode to science and reason, and "The Infected Mind," which forms the bulk of his polemic against the virus-like persistence of religion. Other chapters discuss such varied topics as 'alternative' medicine, genetic information content, the flaws of the trial by jury system, postmodernism, the different brands of Darwinism that various biologists ascribe to, cultural relativism, Moore's Law, cloning, and Africa as Dawkins's personal birthplace as well as the cradle of humanity. Despite the wide breadth of these topics, Dawkins does an excellent job of synthesizing them all together to form a coherent vision of his intellectual passions.

Like any great scholar, Dawkins understands his material well enough to tailor it to whatever specific audience he happens to be writing for, in this case the general public. Without trivializing or oversimplifying, Dawkins is able to explain biological ideas of great complexity for someone with only a modicum of scientific background (like me!). More than that, he does so in a way that grips the reader's interest and attention. After reading this book, I felt that I had spent time in the presence of a truly great mind, a mind unafraid of tackling questions that others gloss over and of expressing his opinions straightforwardly and logically. On top of his great skill with prose, Dawkins is a gifted explainer – he finds exactly the right metaphors and exactly the right examples to illustrate a principle clearly, and as a result, I think anyone who reads this book will end up learning a lot about biology and the way that scientists think, even if they aren't scientifically inclined.

"Good and Bad Reasons for Believing," the final essay in this book, is an open letter that Dawkins wrote to his daughter when she was 10. It's a beautiful ending to the collection because it represents a genuine sharing of wisdom, a lesson not in what to think, but in how to think about the world. I highly recommend this book for anyone, religious or not, scientifically inclined or not.

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Mar 22, 2007 Kalilah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone with a less the thorough understanding of evolution, (too many of us I fear )

Very interesting if superficial look at aspects of science, philosophy, sociology and of course evolution. The authors passion for his topics is evident and infectious even though at times the arguments and terminology may confuse those not thoroughly versed in the field.

There are numerous attacks on religious and other belief systems which do not rely on, or require, evidence so if you are a believer and sensitive about your beliefs or your right to those beliefs, then be warned, this book wil...more

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Dec 20, 2008 Brian Steed added it · review of another edition

Great read, as Dawkins always is, and as a collection of short pieces it’s much more readable than most of his other books, which tend to be in-depth explanations of evolutionary theory. Dawkins seems to enjoy a “love him/hate him” relationship with the public, mostly because of his militant atheism. I always find it to be a very well-reasoned militant atheism, so I’m firmly in his camp.

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May 17, 2013 Andy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some very thought provoking writing, though since the realm of molecular biology is moving very rapidly I am sure that Professor Dawkins would want to revise some things now.
The essays on evolution are quite brilliant, clearly explained and well written. As a reader experience (not as a scientific experience) I preferred Gould's writing, which are littered with literary anecdotes and oddities.
I won't comment on his position on religion except to say that he does tend to repeat himself in this ty...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Tiamoyo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was torn between liked it and really liked it because well, Dawkins is pretty pompous on occasion. His observations are for the most part insightful and interesting but sometimes I just want to smack him upside the head and remind him that he's preaching to the choir so he can ease off a bit (irony intended).

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Nov 20, 2011 Steve Bradshaw rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hit and miss. A selection of Richard Dawkins' essays. Many of the topics are covered by him elsewhere, but still an enjoyable read. My favorite essays were his eulogy for his friend Douglas Adams and his attack on rival, Stephen Jay Gould. The later essays were a lot more interesting.

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Apr 25, 2013 Doc Kinne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a good introduction to Richard's general writings. It is a collection of essays over the years. Most are quite good. I thought it bogged down a bit toward the end when he presented forwards to several books. The book ends smashingly however with a letter to his then 10-year old daughter.

Recommended for thoughtful people, even if you find yourself skimming some parts.

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Jul 13, 2012 Pippa222 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science

A really good collection of essays, without too much of the anti-anyone who believes in God stance that has marred some of his later writing. His is a diverse mind, interested in a lot of different things, and it is a joy to skip from topic to topic with him. I enjoyed this.

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Mar 13, 2009 Stuart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-and-philosophy, essays-letters-anthologies, not-owned

A well structured compilation of the essays of Richard Dawkins regarding various issues. If you are a close follower of Dawkins' work, much of what you read here will be familiar, but for an introduction to his contribution to a variety of subjects, this book is ideal.

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Aug 02, 2007 Dan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: science-y geekwads

I read this for Dawkins's correspondance with his academic rival/intellectual equal (essentially, his American counterpart) Stephen Jay Gould, which was quite interesting. As this book was published shortly after Gould's death, Dawkins included a touching eulogy to the man with whom he clashed academically for three decades, but greatly admired as a dedicated scientist, evolutionary biologist, and friend. Dawkins admits that while it has yet to be determined who will be victorious on the schola...more

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Mar 02, 2009 Nuphile rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I prefer it when Dawkins sticks to the science and leaves out the philosophy, not because I think he's so incorrect, but because I think his arrogance distracts from his correctness.

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Feb 21, 2011 David Siemer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a fan of Dawkins, this is somewhat repetitive with other books I really liked - such as God Delusion and Greatest Show on Earth. I would only recommend this one for serious fans.

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Mar 03, 2008 Levi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction-essays

This is a collection of several of Dawkins' essays. It's a good read because none of them are really too long, and they cover a range of topics from evolution (of course) to medicine to religion to genes. There are a couple book reviews which can get a little cumbersome, but they are rounded out by other sections such as African experiences and illuminating eulogies. The best part is a letter Dawkins wrote to his own daughter when she turned 10, called "Good and Bad Reasons for Believing". It's...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Baal Of rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An excellent collection of essays by Dawkins. People who accuse him of being belligerent, dogmatic, or militant have clearly either not actually read his work, or they have approached the books with a pre-conceived idea. His writing is lucid and illuminating. His reviews of Gould's work show just how much the differences between them have been exaggerated by people whose intention it is is to discredit evolutionary theory.
On a side note, Dawkins had the same gripe about the excess of mind-numbin...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Matt Durand rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kind of a mixed bag, but the title essay is the most powerful, moving piece of writing he's ever done, and a personal inspiration to me.

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Aug 08, 2012 Fernando rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Algunos artículos me gustaron, otros (como las reseñas de libros) no me parecieron tan interesantes, la carta a su hija es muy buena.

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Jul 27, 2011 Erroll Treslan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hope every parent gives their child Dawkins' letter to his daughter to read on their 10th birthday.

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“We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realize that we are apes.” — 56 people liked it

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