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Childhood, Boyhood, Truth: From An African Youth To The Selfish Gene (2013)

by Richard Dawkins(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062225790 (ISBN13: 9780062225795)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Ecco Press

review 1: I noticed that many reviewers complained about the 'self-absorption' of this book. It was self-indulgent but then again every other book I have read in this genre has been the same and I feel that many of Dawkins' other writings are marred by his self-indulgence so I expected it here. The sections about his early life in Africa are genuinely fascinating. I know that public school and Oxbridge are the Ying and Yang of any respectable English intellectual but I couldn't interest myself in these sections. The section on public school was basically a repetition of 'Moab is my Washpot' by Stephen Fry and I struggled to read about Mr Dundle, faggers and fondlers yet again. More serious is the tone of pedantic intolerance which Dawkins frequently slips into and which I think... more is an inheritance from Bertrand Russell and this need that so many people have to constantly demonstrate their knowledge even when it's irrelevant, but on the whole I feel that weaknesses of the book were redeemed by the moments of humour and insight and the details of his early work in zoology.
review 2: Average. Glad I read it. I recommend this book to those interested in the life behind the ideas and/or the ambition of Richard Dawkins, who I greatly admire. I enjoyed reading about his background in private schools, computer programming, and his acknowledgment of the ideas of others who he studied under. This book reminds me that, in the age before affirmative action, what mattered most in terms of achieving academic positions was the social connections, which allowed his genius to flourish. I also liked the story of how the "Selfish Gene" came to be, and why it had such an odd cover. This book was paradigm shifting for me. less

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