I’m no science geek, in fact I happily admit to still being quite impressed by the magical ability of my fridge to spit out ice at the touch of a button, so you know a science dude is impressively famous when he’s one of just three living science dudes I would be able to pick out in a lineup.
Richard Dawkins is a fascinating bloke who has a knack for writing fascinating books.
The God Delusion in 2006 put him centrestage as the ultimate sceptic, and The Selfish Gene gave us a new view of evolution and introduced us to the term “meme”. And where would the internet be without memes?
However, while this latest book is a lot more personal it is every bit as interesting.
Dawkins lets us in on his early life, showing us a little of what made him the man he is today.
Those experiences, from a childhood in colonial Africa to his time at Oxford, an Elvis record and a later taste for Bach all served to deliver to the world a man who changed the way many of us think and turned science on its head.
Aside from all that, he also comes across as a warm and funny bloke who has had a pretty great life.
You don’t have to be a science junkie to enjoy an interesting life story.
And in case you are wondering who the other two science dudes are that I could pick out in a lineup: Stephen Hawking and Dr Sheldon Cooper.
Bazinga!