Top 3 Dawkins Books

[Arivaderchi]

I figured that this would be the best forum to post this in, even though I already own The God Delusion, specifically since this forum relates to books (even though I'm not looking for atheist books in particular).

I'm going shopping later today and I'm gonna stop by Barnes and Noble and pick up some Dawkins books (biology is my favorite science/educational subject besides psychology), and I was wondering which books by Dawkins you would recommend. I'm looking into The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Unweaving the Rainbow, and The Greatest Show on Earth (although I preferably would like to wait for the latter to be out in resold paperback, rather than trade paperback/hardcover). So, what are your suggestions?

[Synackaon]

That is four books.

[lukec]

Selfish Gene for sure, the other two are fairly basic so if you already know a bit about bio maybe skip. But if I had to choose one, Watchmaker is it.

I would also recommend "Evolution" by Donald Prothero in place of the two.

[Arivaderchi]

(29th January 2010 19:22)Synackaon Wrote:  That is four books.

I know how to count.

I was simply making a list of possible purchases, and then the people who have actually read them could break down which books are most worth a read.

[leo-rcc]

I agree with Prothero on Evolution. For Dawkins I'd suggest "The blind watchmaker" or "Climbing mount improbable".

[Arivaderchi]

I'm back... sadly the selection was relatively slim. They had about four or five books by Dawkins; the two I purchased were The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker.

@leo: Climbing Mount Improbable looked interesting to me online, and if they had it I would have probably considered purchasing it. Sadly, the "local" Barnes and Noble wasn't too big on selection... I might try Borders next time.

[EvidenceVsFaith]

I saw Dawkins himself write on his RDF forums (to paraphrase: ) that he believes that 'Climbing Mount Improbable' is actually a better book than 'The Blind Watchmaker' (according to him), and that he thinks he might attribute the greater success of 'The Blind Watchmaker' to perhaps a superior title. And that it is of course really the content and not the title that matters.

EvF

[Arivaderchi]

I've heard a similar consensus around the net (primarily lurking his forums and Amazon). I definitely want both of his other books, but store didn't have them, I didn't have the money in my pocket to purchase them all, and I would feel a bit uncomfortable walking up to the register with 10 or so Dawkins books, being that it would be socially abnormal being a 16 year old who doesn't fit the typical stereotype of "glasses, acne, internet-freak, ugly, etc."

...also I don't buy hardcover, so I have to wait some months for The Greatest Show On Earth, which supposedly is a really good one.