I cannot think of a better introduction to science than this book by Richard Dawkins, a renowned English evolutionary biologist and former esteemed professor at Oxford University. Dawkins has made science simple and fun, through real, well told stories and analogies plucked from everyday life.
If you have never been interested in science, and it seemed daunting to you, then this book - The Magic of Reality - is just the right pick for you. All the main sciences: astronomy, biology, geology, physics or chemistry, everything has been covered in this book with impressive detail too!
Richard Dawkins introduces many old myths and tales before denying them with scientific possibilities. Dawkins says that there are two kinds of magic - one real based on evidence and facts, and the other mere fantasy and derived from wishful thinking. Dawkins argues that it is much more easier to comprehend the real magic rather than living in delusions.
For example - the rainbow was considered sort of like a bridge between the heavens and the earth. The great gods would use this "magical" bridge of the colorful rainbow to descend and to ascend.
In the words of Richard Feynman, the great American physicist and Nobel laureate, "God was always invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand."
Dawkins has eloquently described the many reasons why rainbows form, not just rain, why they're vibrant in color, where to find them, and at what angle, all the details of this optical phenomenon, and in fact there's a whole chapter dedicated to the rainbow which is worth the read beyond imagination.
So, the whole point of the book is that truth is even more beautiful than the popular fantasy. Next to the magic of reality, Dawkins says, the other magic, although to some extent entertaining to see or hear, become cheap by comparison.
Only if one possesses curiosity and patience to understand this titular magic of reality, which Dawkins makes fun to grasp with his book, then one can really be able to recognize the great beauty that is prevalent in the world. Not superficially but wholeheartedly. The essence of this book is "science is beautiful" and "you will love science once you understand it."
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